Gold Belt Tournament Reportback

It was a packed house for Max last night as the 65kg Gold Belt Tournament took Place. Four Fighters battled it out for the 1,000,000 baht prize along with the coveted Gold Belt.

Lots were drawn on Saturday to determine the fight order and Frabrice Delannon from French Guinea rematched Luke Bar from Wales. Bar was a last minute replacement fighter for Kurtis Staiti who was unable to compete due to a hip injury. Bar had previously fought Delannon in a qualifying silver belt tournament but came up short in the fourth round. The rematch saw Delannon dominate the bout using his height and range to keep Bar at bay. Bar was obviously disappointed with his performance as he’d done much better in his first match with Delannon. Bar took an 8 count in the first after suffering a hard knee to the body and never got into the full swing of things. The French Guinea fighter took the points victory and moved on to the finals.

The second semi-qualifying bout saw Meun Sokhuch from Cambodia against Guillame Pascal from France. The Cambodians came out in droves to cheer their country man in his battle against the Frenchmen. Meun over extended himself continually throwing himself off balance. Pascal was able to land quick combinations with his hands and speared in the knees giving him the win and the chance to battle Delannon in the finals.

Thailand took on France at 70 kgs in the third bout of the evening with Chairit Rompogym taking on Abdoul Toure. The much taller Abdoul sank to the canvass after a surprise spinning back elbow from Chairit. Abdoul was able to recover and finished the second and third with some knees in the clinch. While scoring with the knees they weren’t enough to halt Chairit and the decision went to the Thai fighter. A 5,000 baht bonus was awarded to the French fighter.

Samuel Roberts from England took on Lhekkla Thanasuranakorn in the fourth match of the evening at 68kgs. Lhekkla had real trouble dealing with the height of Sam in the first but did well in the second until a high kick from Samuel temporarily stunned him. Lhekkla got his reveng though dropping Samuel with a hard right elbow for a first 8 count and then a knee to the stomach for a second 8 count. Samuel was unable to beat the count and the KO victory went to Thailand.

Two familiar faces squared off when Kobal Petchasira fought Valentin Thibaut from France. Kobal started very slow in the first, receiving two warnings from the referee in the first. He came out stronger in the second landing right hands but Valentin was able to secure a more dominate end to the second round. The third round saw a big finish from the winner, Valentin when was able to cut Kobal above the right eye. Both boxers received a 5,000 baht bonus for their performance.

Delannon took on Pascal in the gold belt championship. The French fighter started off well jumping in and landing hard hands until Delannon learned his range. The taller boxer big to take things over by the end of the first and the bout ended in the second after an unfortunate injury to Pascal’s knee. Delannon took home the TKO win and the 1,000,000 baht prize along with the gold belt.

Richard Kpadonou had a stunning KO victory over Darkie Sor.Weerawan in the concluding fight of the night. The taller boxer landed a jumping left knee to the underside of Darkie’s chin in the first round. The dazed Darkie was unable to recover and the first round KO victory went to the French Fighter.

Make sure to see the show ringside at the Max Muay Thai Stadium in Pattaya, broadcast live on channel 8, and streaming on Fite.TV Every at 7:20pm Thai Time.