ZHANG BLITZES GRAHAM, WINS WBO ORIENTAL HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 22 Jan 2017
SHIJIAZHUANG, CHINA ? Chinese heavyweight Zhilei Zhang delivered in style in front of his hometown fans and made it a short night for Peter Graham of Australia.
The southpaw Zhang knocked down Graham with a right hook to the head but the Aussie got up on the count of eight. Zhang continued his assault and a hard right hook to ribs dropped Graham on his knee. Referee Sawaeng Thaweekoon reached the ten count at the 2:58 mark.
Zhang was awarded the WBO Oriental belt by WBO VP for Asia-Pacific Leon Panoncillo. Zhang is now 14W-0L,10KO?s while Graham, a WBF heavyweight world titlist, drops to 11-4-1,5KO?s.
The battle for the vacant WBO Oriental light heavyweight title was also a short one.
Fanlong Meng of China used a left uppercut to the liver to knockout Gasan Gasanov of Russia. Time ? 1:52.
Gasanov drops to 12W-5L,10KO?s while Meng remains unbeaten at 10-0,7KO?s.
Another Chinese boxer, Zhimin Wang captured the WBO Oriental junior welterweight title by unanimous decision against Thai Aekkawee Kaewmanee by unanimous decision. Aekkawee was knocked down in the third round and lost every round in the fight but managed to hang on until the final bell.
Scores of 100-89 from judges Sawaeng Thaweekoon, Salven Lagumbay and Edward Ligas.
For the undercards- Lin Chunlei beat Yang Zeijiang by split verdict, Kevin Asmat of the U.S. knocked out Said Fahdafi of Indonesia with a right to the midsection at 2:28 of round one and for the lone female match of the night, Yu Jijing of China beat Dasha Shevchuk of Russia by split decision.
The fights were held Saturday at the Hebei Sports Gymnasium and officiated by the Professional Boxing Commission (PBC) of China.
Photo ? Heavyweight Zhang Zhilei awarded the WBO Oriental title belt.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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