Boastful Manyuchi left speechless after defeat

He had boasted an easy title defence.

In the end, Zimbabwean professional boxer Charles Manyuchi paid the price for his hubris, when he lost his World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight Silver Title to Uzbekistan's Qudratillo Abduqaxorov at the Battle of Champions: Road to Glory event at the OCBC Arena on Saturday night.

Qudratillo delivered a stunning knockout to Manyuchi with four seconds left in the first round to capture the prestigious belt, that was held by British star Amir Khan two years ago.

Manyuchi, 27, had goaded his 23-year-old rival in the week before the title fight, claiming he was in "a different league" to the Asian.

During the fight, the African let his guard down, clowning around in the ring and pretending his legs were wobbly.

But Abduqaxorov connected with a left hook which floored Manyuchi, before following up with a barrage of shots that had the referee calling off the fight.

Post fight, Manyuchi was left speechless.

SILENCED

"Today, I have no words," he said, with his head bowed.

His coach, Chris Malunga, said: "The technical approach was a bit bad on our side. Charles was careless.

"That (the showboating) is his style of fighting, but I felt it was a bit early for him to do that.

"But good boxers have taken such knockout (defeats) and come back. So it's a learning process for us."

Abduqaxorov's manager, Vikram Sivapragasam, said the next fight for his rising star was a title defence against Russian Dmitry Mikhaylenko.

The venue and date for that bout has not been confirmed, he added.

"It could be in Russia or here in Singapore," said Sivapragasam. "It depends on a lot of factors: Sponsorship, turnout and so on.

"In Russia, for example, we know the venue would be sold out. So we'll have to wait and see."

Also on Saturday night, Indonesia's Daud Yordan enhanced his reputation with a 37th win in 40 fights, when he posted a technical knockout (TKO) win over Thailand's Campee Phayom.

Local boxer Hamzah Farouk was also victorious, making it two wins from two pro fights with a TKO win over Thailand's Tanaput Loetsingtaworn.