Indonesian boxer Chris “the Dragon” John retained his WBA featherweight title for the 15th time with a defeat of Ukrainian Stanyslav Merdov by unanimous decision at Challenge Stadium in Perth, Australia, on Wednesday night
ndonesian boxer Chris “the Dragon” John retained his WBA featherweight title for the 15th time with a defeat of Ukrainian Stanyslav Merdov by unanimous decision at Challenge Stadium in Perth, Australia, on Wednesday night.
All three judges declared Chris John the winner, posting scores of 116-111, 116-111 and 115-112.
For Chris, the victory was his 48th straight win, and ensured that he maintained his flawless boxing record.
Chris began the bout carefully, but in the second round, the 32-year-old knocked down Merdov, 35, but the Ukrainian continued to fight.
Chris continued to dominate in the third round, with Merdov appearing unstable on his feet.
However, Merdov dug deep to fight back, landing several hooks on Chris’ head in the next two rounds. It was evident just before the end of round six that Chris was bleeding from a cut on the side of his head.
The two boxers fought a close seventh round, with Merdov invariably targeting Chris’ cut.
Entering the ninth round, Merdov began to wilt under Chris’ relentless onslaught.
The final round ended as both boxers were engaged in a fierce hug.
In the earlier match, Indonesian Daud “Cino” Yordan snatched his first IBO Asia Pacific featherweight title by beating American Frankie Archuleta with a knockout in the fourth round.
The 24-year-old Daud from West Kalimantan piled the pressure on his American opponent from the first round.
Daud continued his aggressive onslaught in the second and third rounds, taking away Archuleta’s time and balance.
In the fourth round, Daud landed a hard right punch, and continued with a combination of right and left hooks as Archuleta went down, forcing the referee to stop the fight.
The referee declared Daud the new champion after Archuleta failed to rise after the tenth count.
Daud’s coach Damianus Yordan said that he had trained his fighter harder than ever for the fight against Archuleta.
“We’ve been preparing Daud for some time, because we know Archuleta was not an easy opponent due to his experience. God played a significant role in this victory,” Damianus, Daud’s big brother, told Antara news agency after the match.
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