In a sudden and shocking turn around, John Riel Casimero turned the tables on undefeated, defending champ and former conqueror Amnat. Suddenly, it was if Casimero had taken enough abuse. While in close quarter during a heated exchange, Casimero exploded a short right to the jaw of the defending champ who crashed in a heap to his hands and knees, head down on the canvas. Ruenroeng barely rose and was on unsteady legs while Casimero was celebrating up on the second rope strands in a neutral corner. Referee Tony Weeks allowed the action to continue and Casimero was a tad reckless in trying to finish his stricken foe. For a moment or two, it looked as if Ruenroeng would escape thee round as his legs seemed to gain their spring and his jab and movement began to come into play. Casimero the exploded a vicious left hook the belly and Ruenroeng, in an ever so slightly delayed reaction grimaced and sank to thee canvas on his back almost under the ropes. Referee Weeks reached the count of ten for a clean KO at 2:10 of round four. Casimero rejoiced with revenge in securing his second IBF crown as he improves to 22-3, 14 KOs. Undefeated no longer, Ruenroeng dips to 17-1, 5 KOs and see his hoped for clash with WBC counterpart Roman ?Chocolatito? Gonzalez evaporate as well. The result was well received by the Chinese fans who know Ruenroeng well from his defeat of Chinese hero and two-time Olympian Zou Shiming last year. Though the bout was short one, Casimero was losing a near shutout, 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 at the time of the stoppage.
In the main support China?s first world champion Zhong Zhou Xiao was on the comeback trail in an IBF Minimumweight eliminator against Jose Jimenez of Colombia. It looked as though Xiao was going to close the show early and give his fans a treat, courtesy of a left hook to the jaw that left Jimenez on his back, head almost under the far ropes in the first round. Jimenez rose unsteadily, but Xiao couldn?t finish the job. Undaunted, the diminutive Xiao pressed the action, swinging for the fences with singular power shots, much to the delight of Mike Tyson who was sitting ringside and shouting instructions to his mini-Chinese self. Xiong continued to land the occasional singular shot, but by the middle rounds, it seemed as if Jimenez found his confidence and rhythm with the jab and movement, often turning the pint-sized Xiong into a reckless lunger. Still, it seemed as if Xiong might get the nod, with the knockdown and crowd induced momentum. But it was not to be. Judge Chris Wilson tabbed it 116-111 for Xiao, whiles Judges Paul Wallace and Takashi Nakamura saw it 114-113 for Jimenez who now becomes the mandatory challenger for IBF minimumweight champion Jose Argumedo. Jimenez moves to 17-5-1, 7 KOs, while Xiong dips to 26-7-1, 14 KOs.
In a female eliminator for the IBF Minimumweight title, China?s Zong Ju Cai outfoxed and outboxed former world champion Samson Tor Buamas of Thailand over ten one sided rounds. Despite having a massive edge in experience (five times as many fights and loads of world title bouts to her credit), Buamas had no answer for Cai?s movement and text book jab and combinations. In a near perfect performance, Cai scored a 100-90 and 99-91 x 2 unanimous decision to lock down the mandatory position in the IBF?s minimumweight ratings.
The Diamond Stadium in Beijing played host to a scorching rematch for the IBF flyweight title tonight. Situated on Beijing Olympic park district, the literally diamond shaped arena is outfitted to host indoor tennis matches, but was well suited to hold some 7,000 boxing fans on this night.
The opening bout of the show saw an all Chinese welterweight showdown between He Zhang and Jiagui Wei over four rounds. In a close affair, Zhang won a majority decision via scores of 39-37 twice and 38-38.
Chinese Olympian Fanlong Meng broke down Australian tough man Rob Powdrill over four rounds for the TKO stoppage at 1:23 of the fourth. Powdrill tried his best, but he took too many blows, hitting the deck twice and was on his way to a third trip south along the ropes when the referee intervened with the merciful rescue. Meng goes to 7-0, 5 KOs while Powdrill slips to 6-3, 1 KO.
The physically bigger Zi Jie Shang battled tough-as-nails Wulan Tuolehazi over six hard-fought rounds. In this case, size didn?t matter, nor did Tuolehazi?s winless record. Scores were 59-55 twice and 57-57 for Tuolehazi who evens out at 1-1, while Shang falls to 4-2, 2 KOs. Tuolehazi had previously fought as a super bantamweight while Shang fought as a lightweight, where this bout was matched.
