His family, many other circles and Indonesian people in general felt happy with what was achieved by Chris John as one of Indonesia`s professional boxers in the world arena.
Dubbed the Dragon, Chris John (31 years old), retained his title at the boxing event that took place at the Challenge Stadium, MT Claremont, Western Australia, on November 30, 2011.
Three referees, namely Francisco Martinez (New Zealand), Takeo Harada (Japan) and Prommase Chakshuksha (Thailand) gave Chris John 116-111, 116-111 and 115-112.
For his great success, John did not forget to express his gratitude to the Almighty.
"I thank God that I could retain my title, but I must admit, it was not easy to beat Merdov," John said after the match.
Boxing in Australia was not something new for Chris John as he once fought Tommy Brouwn there. Besides, whenever he faces a duel to defend his title, Chris always trains at Herry`s Gym in Perth, Australia.
John in his 45 fights won with 22 KOs without any loss, five of his 15 successes had been mandatory fights and nine of the winning fights were from optional fights.
John retained the world title since he gained the title from Oscar Leon (Panama) through an ad-interim fight in Bali in 2003.
Meanwhile, on Sunday night (April 17/2011) in Jakarta, Chris John appeared to be too strong for his younger contender Daud Yordan and managed to defend his WBA light weight title on points.
John had to defend his title all the way in 12 rounds scoring 116 - 112, 116 - 112, and 117 - 111.
The fight between the two Indonesian boxers proceeded rather sluggishly as the two had been very careful in waiting for the right moment to strike.
From the second to the eight rounds the fight went quite hard with both boxers exchanging their blows.
Chris John relying on his jabs and right hook appeared to be successful.
The older fighter appeared to be more successful in applying his techniques against Daud Yordan, the younger contender (24).
On another occasion, Daud Yordan also successfully won the Asia Pacific IBO featherweight title after defeating the United States` boxer Frankie Archuleta with KO at the fourth of the ten rounds.
In the fight which took place at Claremont MT Challenge Stadium, Perth, Western Australia on Wednesday (Nov 30), the West Kalimantan provincial boxer did not give opportunity to Frankie to develop his game.
In the first round, however, Daud Yordan`s pressure made the United States` boxer fell but it was not counted by the referee who led the fight.
In the second round, Frankie faltered after receiving a blow from Daud Jordan.
In January this year, another boxer Tommy Seran also retained his title of the WBO Asia-Pacific junior flight class by knocking out his rival, the Philippine`s Mating Kilaki that took place in Surabaya on Saturday night (Jan.29).
Tommy Seran`s upper-cut that hit the left rib of Mating Kilaki at the third round, made his rival fell down and failed to continue the match until the referee completed 10 count.
It was the third fight for Tommy Seran to defend his WBO Aspac since he grabbed the title from Liempetch Sor Veerapol (Thailand) in Denpasar, Bali on January 27, 2010.
At the moment, Tommy Seran (26 years old) hailing from Belu, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) province also won with RSC over Veerapol at the 9th round.
Apart from that, another Indonesian boxer Mohammad Rahman also emerged as the world champion at the flyweight mini title after he defeated Thai boxer, Kwanthai Sithmorseng in Thailand on Tuesday (April 19).
In addition, two Indonesian boxers, respectively Alex Tatontos and Julio Bria grabbed two gold medals at the 26th South East Asian (SEA) Games in Palmbang on Monday (Nov.21).
In matches watched by hundreds of spectators, four Indonesian boxers competed.
In the middleweight category (up to 75 kg), Alex Tatontos defeated Muhamad Farkhan of Malaysia 25-16.
Meanwhile, Julio Bria in the bantamweight (52kg) defeated Chatchai Butde of Thailand 19-16.
Score of the boxers especially Chris John had raised their reputations which led to better promotions of the country internationally.
(T.B003/HAJM/A014)
Reporter: by Bustanuddin
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
