“Hou Kong Converge – Greater Bay Area Professional Boxing Classic and Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan Youth Boxing Exchange Competition” held on Saturday night at local gym Macao Boxing House (MBH) in Fat Lei Industrial Building in Areia Preta was played out to a huge crowd of mostly locals much to the delight of the gym’s owners and trainers Cheong Wai and Janno Cheong.
Local boxer Cheong Lap Cheong, no relation to the Cheong brothers, won his fight against Yang Chengcheng from the mainland 60-54, 59-55, 59-55 to take his boxing record to 10-0-0.
The fight was fast and furious with Cheong only having a little wobble in the sixth and final round with the crowd cheering him on and chanting his name throughout the whole fight.
Nervous at first
The Macau Post Daily spoke to Cheong after the fight when he admitted that he was feeling nervous during the walk to the ring. “When I came out of the dressing room I was very nervous as I hadn’t had a fight for so long, but seeing and hearing all the supporters cheering for me I knew I couldn’t turn back and had to keep going forward.”
Cheong admitted that he was worried about the state of his health as he had been sick for a few months, firstly COVID-19 and then a cough, but in the last two weeks “I began to feel better”, he said.
When asked about his opponent, Cheong said that he had checked his record, [5-2-0] and had watched some of his fight and training videos and “I knew his ability was similar to mine,” he said.
When asked about his wobble in the sixth round, Cheong said, “It was not serious, I felt a little wobble but the crowd was yelling their support for me, and I felt very proud.”
“I have a great team behind me and a new trainer Joel Taduran, who only arrived from the Philippines last month, Cheong said. Adding “I want to thank them all.”
Excited & proud
The Macau Post Daily asked Janno Cheong after the fight how he felt, “After three years of no boxing, I felt excited to put on a boxing event where everybody can come and support our gym, because it makes us stronger,” he said.
“In the future we want to put on more boxing events in Macau to give an opportunity to all local boxers [to have a fight].”
Tired & happy
Cheong Wai told The Macau Post Daily after the event, “I am very, very happy, I was scared about Lap Cheong’s health status as he was sick before, but today he had a good fight.”
“I am also very tired as the organisation and the phone calls at all hours of the day and night had to be dealt with, now I am going to sleep all day tomorrow [Sunday],” he said.
“The number of people that came to watch was far more than I expected and I am very happy that more and more people now know us [Macao Boxing House],” he said.
Adding, “Today was the beginning of our expectations and hope for the future [of boxing in Macau].”
Finally Lap Cheong said, “I would like to thank everybody in Macau who supports me, from me.”
Cheong Lap Cheong (right) on his way to winning his 10th professional fight against mainlander Yang Chengcheng at local gym Macao Boxing House (MBH) at Fat Lei Industrial Building in Areia Preta on Saturday – Photo: Lesley Wells
