One Championship: Hong Kong’s Panther, Alain Ngalani, falls prey to Morocco’s Tarik Khbabez in Macau clash
The three-round defeat means a blow to his chances of a repeat fight against middleweight champ Aung La Nsang
In the week leading up to the bout, the Hong Kong fighter had reiterated, in front of organisation CEO Victor Cui, his hope to set up a second bout with the Burmese fighter, but the 42-year-old’s return to his roots in the stand-up discipline didn’t go according to plan as he went down after struggling to the third round.
Nglani looked the more confident of the two from the first bell and was utilising his superior experience by allowing his younger opponent to force the action. But it proved to be a risky strategy as the Moroccan grew in confidence, and in the end was a worthy winner.
A fevered Macau crowd welcomed the naturalised Hongkonger Ngalani into the ring for the final bout of the undercard, and after thundering in some trademark heavy kicks in the opening exchanges, the veteran settled into a composed rhythm as he enjoyed the better start.
However that was to be as good as it got for “The Panther” as the Moroccan bossed the final minute of the opening stanza, and started the second in much the same vain sending the bout into a deciding chapter.