It wasn’t so long ago that Hong Kong had two decent professional boxers in its ranks. Rex Tso Sing-yu was riding a winning streak never before seen in the city in any combat sport (22-0-0, 13 KOs) while an up-and-coming young light flyweight, Raymond Poon Kai-ching, was happy to ride on the coat-tails of his more illustrious compatriot, looking like the heir apparent to the “Wonder Kid”.
On Sunday night in front of a half empty Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Poon –Hong Kong’s only professional boxer – lost his second fight. The bout was for the vacant WBO (World Boxing Organisation) world youth title and a lot was riding on the fight with Poon seen by his camp as the next great hope for Hong Kong boxing.
Young, ambitious and hard working, the 23-year-old Poon had everything going for him – a professional team, two months of solid training in the Philippines and support all round. He also has talent and was the fresh-faced boxer the media were warming up to.
But the youngster, who hails from Tin Shui Wai, would have to think about his future after he was outboxed and outsmarted by 20-year-old mainlander, Li Xiang, who scored a unanimous decision.
The result meant that Poon had slipped to his second defeat inside 26 months. Poon is now 7-2-0, 4 KOs while Li, a southpaw who hails from Guiyang, improved to 7-2-1, 2 KOs.
Poon was shattered by his latest loss. His future becomes murkier than the contents of a spit bucket but he remains optimistic he can return to winning ways.
“I did my best tonight, but my opponent was stronger than I imagined. It was a very difficult to fight. It was very difficult,” said Poon, who cut a disconsolate figure after his surprising defeat.
“I am not dissatisfied with my performance. I managed to score a few good shots in the ninth round but I lost to a better opponent. I didn’t expected him to be so strong. He deserved victory,” said Poon, with his eyes swollen from the pounding he had taken from Li. “I don’t think there will be a rematch. There’s no point in having a rematch.”
Judges had Li winning it by 96-94, 99-91 and 97-93 and Poon was peeved that one judge had given him just one round out of 10.
“I’m not sure why the judge gave me only one round. It wasn’t easy going to the Philippines to train for two months but I made the sacrifices,” he said, turning to his parents who had come to support him. “I don’t know when I will fight again, but I’m not going to quit.”
It will be hard for Poon to return to the ring, especially in Hong Kong, where organisers had spent a lot of money staging the fight. Poon not only lost the WBO world youth title, he had his two belts taken away. Poon had held the Asian Boxing Federation and the World Boxing Council Asian Boxing Council continental light flyweight titles. But those are now gone.
It’s a pity that things have not panned out the way Poon had hoped for and that he couldn’t raise his game another notch against the tough Li.
With Tso deciding late last year that he would become an amateur again in the absurd hopes of winning a medal at the Tokyo Olympics, Poon was seen as his natural successor, but Poon is not going to get another title shot any time soon.
Tso, meanwhile, passed up a chance of a lifetime by refusing to fight for the WBO super flyweight title against the Philippines’ Aston “Mighty” Palicte last year. The 31-year-old’s decision to turn amateur again came as a shock to Hong Kong boxing.
Tso is happily out of the limelight after becoming one of the most recognisable faces in Hong Kong with his advertisement posters plastered all over the city. Gone are the days when any photo in his Facebook page would receive thousands of likes. He prefers privacy to fame.
Rex Tso splits with long-time manager Jay Lau, as Hong Kong’s ‘Wonder Kid’ plots boxing comeback
The southpaw’s fate lies in the hands of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) executive board, who will decide in Lausanne whether or not to allow boxing in Tokyo on May 22. It could mean three wasted years for Tso if boxing is out of the Tokyo roster.
With no good fighters on the horizon, Hong Kong is back at square one when the future looked so rosy at one time. And that’s a crying shame.
