Local pugilist Cheong Lap Cheong’s fight in Shangluo City, Shaanxi Province, on Saturday night for two titles, the World Boxing Council’s (WBC) Far East Super Fly belt, which he won in May against the South Korea’s Han Sol Lee, and the WBC Asian Super Fly belt of his opponent Cao Jiangtao ended in controversy when the Chinese, Australian and Philippine judges gave the scores 95:95, 95:97, 95:95 respectively.
Cheong’s camp say that they want a rematch in Macau.
In a message to the Post on a social media messaging platform early Sunday morning after the fight, Janno Cheong, no relation, one of Lap Cheong’s trainers, said, “The result was a draw, but the fight was obviously won by Lap Cheong. Even the local audience thought Lap Cheong had won. It’s an obviously unfair result.”
Lap Cheong (11-0-0), 28, was fighting southpaw Cao (10-4-1), 25, for both belts and kept his World Boxing Council’s (WBC) Far East Super Fly belt, which he had gone into the fight to defend.
Janno said in the message to the Post, “Lap Cheong was crying after he left the ring as Lap Cheong actually had the whole advantage during the whole fight.”
In a post on the social media platform, translated from Chinese into English and edited for publication, Janno wrote, “Even though the result of the final was “a draw”! Support from local offline viewers, both from Macau and the mainland, and viewers watching the fight online! We already have the answer!
“In the small city of Macau, there is a person who goes from the street to the international tournament, and then can fight for the WBC World Boxing Council title and world rankings in the international competition, with sacrifices a lot of times, perseverance and efforts to get to this point, it is not easy.
“Let the international [community] see that Macau athletes can also stand on the world stage and shine; he is “Long Lap Cheong!
“Sometimes, because of some factors, hard work may not get the desired result! But we always believe that persistence can still be seen! Because we still keep the “first heart”!
“Thank you to all the team members who came to support us this time! Thank you to all the viewers in Macau and elsewhere who supported Lap Cheong online!”
Janno said in the message to the Post, “Actually we want a rematch; hopefully we could gain some sponsorship from the government and private companies to support organising a pro-boxing event in Macau. So that we can invite Lap Cheong’s opponent to come to Macau and do the rematch.”
Cheong Lap Cheong (left) faces the media after his fight in Shangluo, Shaanxi Province, on Saturday night. – Photo courtesy of Janno Cheong
