ZHANG RETAINS WBO ORIENTAL HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE

CHANGSHA, CHINA- Zhang Zhilei did not disappoint his hometown fans and came up with a devastating performance against Don Haynesworth, stopping the American in three rounds at the Changsha Social Work College Gymnasium.

The southpaw Zhang had too much in terms of power and size and dropped Haynesworth with a booming left-right combo in the second. He got up but the Chinese Olympic silver medalist decked him again in the third and proceeded to trap Haynesworth in his own corner and fired a series of unanswered hard punches prompting Referee Sawaeng Thaweekoon of Thailand to call a halt at the 1:48 mark. Hayensworth also had a swelling underneath his right eyelid but remained conscious after the brief but brutal beating.

Zhang retains his WBO Oriental belt. The judges were Edward Ligas (Philippines), Mekin Sumon and Surat Soikrachang of Thailand. Supervising for the WBO was Samson Iu of Macao. Also in attendance was WBO VP for Asia Pacific Leon Panoncillo.

The Friday night fight was the main event of a five regional bout card that saw Wulan Tuolehazi of China hand Jay-R Raquinel of the Philippines his first career loss and capture the WBC Silver flyweight title (see separate story) . Rivan Cesaire of Australia beat China?s Yang Xingxin by split decision for the WBA Asia welterweight title, Wang Zhimin beat Indonesian Hero Tito by unanimous decision for the WBC ABCO lightweight titleand Wang Jiangzheng (China) stopped Panya Chompoophuang (Thailand) for the WBA asia cruiserweight title in one round.

This fight card was promoted by Liu Gang?s Max Power Promotions and Glory Promotions Shi Niu Wu.

Photo ? Zhang Zhilei celebrates his win.