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Wednesday, July 12, 2017

WBC BoxingFest : Dawn of A New Era for Malaysia's Boxing


After 42 years of absence, finally pro Boxing returned to Kuala Lumpur. WBC BoxingFest by BoxRanx ( read about the pre-event write up here ) was held over last weekend 8-9 July 2017. 1st day was 10 bouts of semi-pro boxing and day 2 was another 10 bouts; pro boxing.


9 JUL 2017 full results




The hi-light of the night (day2),  albeit a very very short one went to bout no.6, featuring 19 year old Malaysian upstart Theena Thayalan, in his pro debut, KOed his Indonesian opponent Rudy Hartanto in a swift 25 seconds in round 1. Theena started boxing at 17 and he has amassed an impressive record of 95 amateur bouts. This win was definitely a good start for his pro career.

Theena enroute to his swift victory ( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven )




The UBO Asia Pacific Welterweight Champion,  Hui Keng Fai, whom is also amateur MMA (Malaysian Invasion) Lightweight Champion 2016; In this 3rd pro boxing outing met fellow MMA stylist Sam Chan, who’s making his pro boxing debut.

Chan has been away from competitive combat sports and was a huge underdog for this fight as Keng Fai's first two pro outing was with impressive KO victories. But Chan managed to beat the odds by putting up a fight, he kept coming back after each massive blows that knocks him down.

Despite the resilience of Chan, he failed to answer to the referee’s count after he was dropped with Keng Fai’s signature liver shot at 2 seconds shy of the end of Round 3.

Keng Fai is a real fighting machine. A day before this boxing bout, he still got into the MMA cage for MIMMA 5 league, winning the fight with rear naked choke.

Sam Chan eating punches from Keng Fai  ( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven )

 The smiling assasin ( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven )



SEA Games boxing veteran, Eddey Kalai made his pro debut against American Jonathan Clemons . Clemons, unofficially has at least 3 professional bouts previously so he’s being recorded as being a pro debut as well by WBC.

Kalai was taunting his opponent with smiles and flashy dodges which didn’t deter Clemons for a knock down and Kalai responded with a knockdown of his own. The back and forth last throughout the whole 4 rounds but in the end Clemons hands was raised, although there was a short-lived smile by Eddey as ring announcer made a blunder of announcing him as the victor in the initially.
Clemons won the bout via Split Decision.

Jonathan rockin' the ring with his Apollo Creed boxing shorts  ( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven )
Jonathan receiving his trophy from Datuk Nazifuddin accompany by BoxRanx Vice President AK Salvador



In the WBC Cruiserweight category between Bukit Aman Boxing Association's Mohd Hanafi and Sarawakian Stephen Onn Jenggieng. Hanafi being the headhunter has been charging Stephen’s head while stalky Stephen was not intimidated as he charged towards Hanafi. Soon, at after 2:40 in Round 3, the ref stop the fight and Stephen was declared the winner via TKO.

Representing Vladimir Boxing, Stephen now also trains at Rebel Fitness in Kuching.

Nothing stops the Headhunter from Sarawak ( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven )



Stephen's compatriot from Sarawak, Daeloniel McDelon Bong faced Jackson Lee Jackson whom usually fought amatuer MMA was on his pro boxing debut. He darted in and out and circle around with karate like stance, but Daeloniel with orthodox stance kept it calm and compose and was able to land shots. Daeloniel secured his 3rd pro fight via unanimous decision win.

Delon, as he is fondly called mentioned that he will always wear his Baju Burung (a vest with Dayak motifs). He explained that the vest is wear by Dayak warriors in the pass and he wants to showcase this and wants to live the spirit of his warrior ancestor in his heart whenever he steps into the ring. Delon will not rest much after this win as in end of July he will take on another match in Indonesia.

Delon: "where you runnin' to?" ( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven ) 
Delon (L) wit his coach Fred Madangi & Stephen (R) - Picture credit Ghaz Ghazali




Asia busiest fighter, Will Chope fought in bout 5. His initial opponent of Rudy Petrus was replaced by Alfred Leko. The last minute replacement did nothing to throw off Will's game. His lanky frame and great reach managed to give Alfred lots of trouble. Alfred being the more muscular frame could not close the distance to connect much shots.

Will took the win via TKO in round 2.

Alfred trying his best to connect  ( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven )
( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven )



Sabahan Lesley Dulamit pro debut started well in the early round 1, connecting with a hard straight left and he rushed in with another shots that backed Gerald to the ropes, but Gerald countered and drops Lesley, in the scuffle, a downward strike hit the back of Lesley's head and the ref breaks the two apart.

After the restart, Lesley rushes in again, Gerald countered and got Lesley on one knee but he swiftly got back up and continue to exchange but the ref came and break, as Lesley walk to the red corner, the ref oddly gave him a standing count. 

Moments later, it was Gerald's turn on the offensive delivering flurry of shots and dropped Lesley, ref gave count but Lesley didn't recover.

Lesley got caught rushing in ( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven )



The main event saw the WBC OPBF Featherweight Silver Championship Bout between Pinoy boxer Carlo Magali (21 Wins, 9 Losses, 10 Wins via KO) and Indian national Sandeep Balhara (4 Wins, 0 Losses, 3 KO) battled their way with a lot of back and forth for the vacant Championship Title. Magali managed to put a stop to Balhara’s perfect record in the 10th Round with a TKO victory.

Magali victorious, hands raised by OPBF & ISUZU officials ( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven ) 



President of OPBF, Juan Ramon R. Guanzon said
“It is a great honour to welcome and support the Malaysian WBC association to the big league” 
during his speech right before the main event.

Boxing fans at home were treated with live streaming in Facebook. In a last minute impromptu arrangement by Jack Low of BoxRanx, he managed to get Jon Nutt, the well known emcee / announcer for MIMMA & founder of Full Metal Dojo, to be the commentator.

According to Jack, they are planning for more shows in Malaysia, with probably a few smaller events to help grow the talent pool and get the interest growing and build it up towards a bigger show.

He also mentioned that crowd response was better than expected. He thanked all the boxing and fight fans that supported the show. And the support of sponsors from big brands such as ISUZU, EVERLAST, JOHNSON FITNESS and MONSTER that truly made it a historic night for Malaysian Boxing.

BoxRanx partnership with the Health, Fitness & Beauty Expo requires them to work in a very tight timeline which leave them much time to market the event. But from the learning this time, he promise that BoxRanx will progress forward and improve on upcoming shows.

Raymond Lew the president and founder of Boxranx, also the  President of WBC Malaysia is the person instrumental in making this historic event a reality in Malaysia.
" I wish with the existence of WBC Malaysia, it would revive the interest of the public towards the sport of boxing, at the same time serve as a legitimate & sanctioned platform for the local boxers to step up their game and eventually bring their skills to the international level" : Raymond Lew
Raymond Lew - President of WBC Malaysia




Warriors of Borneo hope this WBC event will be the dawn of a new era for Malaysian boxing, not only in terms of having better boxing events but also to be able to develop local boxers to excel as a pro.

" Majulah Sukan Untuk Negara "





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