Bahari Batters Abapo, Retains PABA Title

June 15, 2006 – Swissotel The Stamford, Singapore

Black Tie Fight Night – The Drought is Over

Daudy Bahari, Indonesia, put in a workmanlike performance, using a snapping jab and relentless body assault to negate the attacks of Filipino Bart Abapo and retain his PABA super lightweight regional title in Singapore. Singaporean boxing fans paid SG$2000 ($1250 U.S.) per table at the Black Tie Fight Night; in return, they were treated to a sumptuous dinner and five bouts of boxing. With fight fans hobnobbing in tuxedos and evening gowns, it was not exactly your stereotypical boxing event, but as the first professional boxing card held in Singapore in seventeen years, it was indeed a historical event for the city-state.

Bahari came out in round one and quickly launched a body attack that lasted the duration of the bout and would eventually ground down the durable Filipino. In the next two rounds the Indonesian pumped his jab and pushed Abapo against the ropes, ripping body shots and controlling the tempo of the bout. Bahari began manhandling the Filipino in round four, roughing him up on the inside and landing short, sharp shots to keep Abapo off balance. Abapo fought back valiantly, but was turned back time after time by the determined Bahari.

When Abapo wanted to brawl, Bahari moved out of range and countered. When Abapo took breaks or showed momentary lapses in concentration, Bahari attacked.

From the sixth round on it was all Bahari. By the tenth the eyes of Abapo showed signs of swelling and although both fighters were tiring, Bahari was clearly the fresher of the two.

Bahari tried to finish off a worn-out Abapo in the final round but the gritty Abapo was able to hold on and close out the fight on his feet.

The decision came as no surprise, a unanimous victory across the board for Daudy Bahari.

Judges scores: 117-11 X 2, 119-109.
The Sweet Science had it 118-112 in favor of Bahari.

With the win, Bahari improves to 29-1-1 with 11 KOs. Abapo falls to 17-6-3 (12). All of Abapo’s losses have come on the road.

On the undercard:

Hendrik Borneo (Indonesia) took on Mohamad Nor Rizan (Singapore) to start the show and came out aggressively in rounds one and two. By the third Rizan had adjusted and began landing his own shots. Rizan caught the Indonesian with two stiff jabs before dropping a right hand that put him down for the ten-count. The end came at 2:13 of the round.

Next up, Tia Kosowara (Indo) and Kuichi Shinya (Japan). Kosowara started the bout throwing bombs and at the end of the first stanza rocked Shinya with a big right. Kosowara took the next round off though, wading in without throwing much of anything. Shinya’s confidence grew with every punch he landed but his punches were relatively ineffective and failed to halt the perpetually advancing Kosowara. Shinya was confident – too confident. His bad habit of standing straight up with his chin up in the air finally caught up with him in the third when Kosowara unleashed a flurry that drove him to the canvas. TKO at 2:04 of round three.

The next bout scheduled was a cruiserweight contest between Singaporean David Alexis and Yasser Khaddafi. Alexis was set to make his pro debut but the bout was cancelled when the weight disparity between the two fighters was found to be too excessive to meet the guidelines set forth by the PABA. Apparently, Khaddafi was UNDERWEIGHT.

Indonesian fighter Daud “Chino” Jordan made quick work of Thailand’s Narong Sor Chitralada, knocking him out at 1:44 of round two of a scheduled four-rounder.

Chatchai Sor Chitralada (Thai) was knocked down twice in round three by Moses Seran (Indo) before finally being put out of his misery in round four.

Following the event, an auction was held to benefit the Yellow Ribbon Fund in Singapore as well as the DebRA charity of the United Kingdom.

The three items listed below fetched SG$12,600 ($7910 U.S.).

Lennox Lewis signed gloves – SG$4500 ($2825 U.S.)
One signed Sugar Ray Leonard boxing glove – SG$4200 ($2635 U.S.)
Frank Bruno signed boxing gloves – SG$3900 ($2450 U.S.)

Meridian Promotions plans to promote more fights in Singapore in the future with the next show scheduled for November.

In the Sludge with Winky Wright

“This is what boxing doesn't need. People always say boxing needs this and boxing needs that. I beat the man in his hometown and I didn't get rewarded for it,” Wright said.

Winky – be happy with the draw – it was fair and proper and quite frankly it could have easily went either way. Your whining and crying about the decision is unsportsmanlike, unbecoming and unnecessary. What I or anyone else think doesn’t matter – all that matters is the judges scored the fight a draw and you didn’t win.

“If he wanted to win the title so bad, he should have fought the whole fight. This is boxing. You have to fight all 12 rounds. Winky's a great fighter but he should have fought all 12 rounds,” said Jermain Taylor.

Here here. Fight more during the fight, talk less after the fight.

Boxing needs more quality fights like these and – no matter how close the decision – it needs rivalries. No one ever said the winner of a fight needs to be a clear-cut winner and there’s no reason why this couldn’t turn into a best of three series if the second fight is anywhere near as good as the first one.

Make the rematch and next time Winky, fight all twelve rounds.

Promoter Lou DiBella said it best, “This wasn’t an unfair decision, this was just was a close fight!”

In the end, it’s all mathematics and this time fans came up with a push. Taylor’s proved his championship pedigree in his last three fights and at the very least he deserved a draw, if not the win.

So stop yer whining Winky. Go back to the drawing board, figure out a way to beat Taylor the next time around and give the fans what they need and want – a classic battle between two, at-their-peak, championship quality fighters.

Fight Results

June 14, 2006 – Rajadamnern Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand

Pongpetch Chuwatana KO1 Lukyod Patanasingh

June 15th, 2006 – The Swissotel The Stamford, Singapore

Mohamad Nor Rizan KO3 Hendrik Borneo
Tia Koswara KO3 Kuichi Shinya
Daud Yordan KO2 Naron Sor Chitralada
Moses Seran KO4 Chatchai Sor Chitralada
Daudy Bahari UD12 Bart Abapo

June 17th, 2006 – Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Daisuke Yamanaka TKO9 Rikiya Fukuhara
Trash Nakanuma UD10 Jojo Bardon