Female boxer Nurshahidah Roslie becomes Singapore’s first professional champion

SINGAPORE, Jun 10: The Republic’s first professional female boxer Nurshahidah Roslie on Friday (June 10) became her country’s inaugural professional champion after defeating Thailand’s “Wondergirl” Sithsaitong to clinch the Universal Boxing Organisation (UBO) intercontinental super featherweight title belt. In the main event of the Singapore Fighting Championship’s third edition, Nurshahidah scored a second-

round technical knockout (TKO) win after landing a devastating blow to Sithsaithong’s midsection, causing the 12-fight veteran to crumple to the ground. A 700-strong sold-out crowd at Futsing Association erupted in cheers as the referee halted the fight to give Nurshahidah her third straight professional win. Compatriot and four-time Southeast Asian Games bronze medalist Muhamad Ridhwan also picked up his third consecutive professional boxing victory with a third round TKO of Indonesian Egi Rozten. Earlier, fellow Singaporean pro-boxer Rafi Majid beat Malaysia’s Alex Lim – again by TKO – in a dominant, one-round performance. Other locals also registered wins in various combat sport disciplines on show on Friday evening. Tiffany Teo submitted Lumindas Merasol of the Philippines with a rear-naked choke in the first round of their professional mixed martial arts (MMA) bout; while kickboxer Terrence Teo seized a national middleweight title via TKO after chopping down compatriot Andre Misran using vicious leg kicks. Singapore’s Laxmi Devaindran, however, was unfortunate to lose a judge’s decision to Thailand’s Sirisopa Sirisak in another national kickboxing title bout – which could have swung in either fighter’s direction after three rounds of back-and-forth action.