Chaoqun Dong vs. Niwat Kongkan RBR

Zou Shiming in attendance, dressed sharply in black, cheering on Dong and cupping both hands over his mouth to shout technical advice from ringside.

 

Round 6

Kongkan is getting further dismantled even after his ill-advised switch to southpaw. Kongkan is launching a windmilling left hand from behind the back into the air and missing by miles, still getting popped relentlessly with 1-2s as Dong just keeps working at a steady pace. Dong now carrying his arms low, unworried about any of Kongkan's offense, saving his energy to allot to his legs in pursuit of his prey, opening up every salvo with a jab or well-aimed lead right between the eyes, working combos from head to body and back. Kongkan is jogging away until his back hits the ropes, then careening forth with a series of light overhead swats with both hands, easily sidestepped by Dong. Kongkan spits out his gum shield, perhaps from the force of his back hitting the ropes so hard. Replaced, time in. Kongkan begins to run and misjudges his direction, finding himself directly in the line of fire as Dong unleashes a HELLISH right hand at the bell. Kongkan shaken to his core but the clock saves his bacon.

10-9 Dong, again could easily be 10-8.

60-54 Dong

 

Really stingy ref, not sure what Dong has to do to get a stoppage here.

I mean, I guess an official knockdown would help tbf..

Shanghai is like the Bizarro UK, it seems.

 

Round 7

Kongkan's engine is starting to fail him, legs very sluggish as he slime-trails his way along the ropes. Dong runs up to him and muscles him into the ropes, his toes firmly anchored opposite Kongkan's, legs fairly well mirrored so that Kongkan has no room to escape without going through Dong. Humongous, furious combination by Dong, nearly all straights, landing at a very high clip with jabs & crosses, then quickly turning over a hook off the jab when Kongkan begins to melt out the side door going right, fixing him in place, then shoving his right glove into Kongkan's neck to even more securely pin him down, landing a HEAVY jab, another right, left, right, and the ref waves it off as Kongkan begins to sag with his neck awkwardly wedged under the top rope!

TKO7!!

 

"Hey, Chaoqun, I never went down, man"

 

Zou Shiming stoked for his buddy, giving him daps in the ring as he celebrates with a big smile. He still looks fairly well in shape. I guess he never did officially retire, although it has been several months since he last chirped about a comeback...

I wonder if he's managing Dong or something, and focusing more on outside the ring stuff now. He is rather old for his weight range, to the point where people thought he had too much tread on his tires to turn pro after his lengthy amateur career...

 

Yeah, based on some of his past wins and given how much weight Dong has cut to reinvent himself at light middle, I was surprised this ended up being such a one-sided affair. He showed flashes of ability but was just outmatched all the way. Then again, Kongkan has been through quite a gauntlet in the pros and could well be a spent force at 33 despite having so few bouts, and the younger/fresher Dong absolutely towered over him... and seems to be a fairly decent fighter in his own right (though I'd stop well short of jumping the gun and saying that dropping to 154lbs has turned over a new leaf to make him anywhere near world class)

 

Thanks. Good to be reminded once in a while there are in fact people reading.

 

Yilixiati vs. Dong II, from July of 2016 up at super middleweight:
http://video-dev.zhibo.tv/video/details/a41c84cd-84da-11e6-91b7-6c92bf115f2d.html

Dong has improved technically since then, and seems to both give and take a better punch having shed the 14 excess pounds (even though, based on height alone, you might be tempted into classing him a natural SMW).

 

Inoue is IMO very underrated and underappreciated.

Usually when his name crops up people get momentarily confused either a) thinking he's part of the Inoue clan with coach Shingo as its patriarch - including the Monster himself, Naoya plus cousin Hiroki and little brother Takuma (he in fact isn't related to any of them, for the record) or b) mixing him up with "The Lion" Takeshi Inoue, an MMA featherweight a decade his senior, who is ostensibly retired having last fought in 2015...and then when the misunderstanding is cleared up, people always shrug and say "oh, right, he's that mediocre 154lber".

Which is BS. He may no ATG or anything but his resume for just 14 bouts on primarily the domestic scene is pretty nice, and he's fun enough to watch. I'm not sure why he doesn't have more of a following tbh. Earlier this summer there were talks of him facing Julian Williams and while I'd probably lean toward J-Rock myself, I'd hardly say Inoue dodged a bullet or even that it was a foregone conclusion he'd lose.