Pro woman boxer Nurshahidah misses out on international title

SINGAPORE – She tried her best as she gunned for her second intercontinental boxing title.

But in the end, professional boxer Nurshahidah Roslie just could not get the better of New Zealander Gentiane ‘AAA’ Lupi for the WBA Oceania Female Super Featherweight title at Singapore Fighting Championship’s Changing the Game’ boxing fest on Saturday at the Singapore Foochow Association.

Nicknamed “The Sniper”, the previously undefeated Nurshahidah went toe-to-toe with Lupi, who is renowned for her powerful punches, before bowing out in the fifth round of the 10-round contest via a technical knock-out.

“I am extremely honoured to have had the opportunity to fight someone like Gentiane. She definitely did not make it easy for me in the ring,” commented Nurshahidah, who won her first intercontinental crown, the Universal Boxing Organisation (UBO) Intercontinental super-featherweight title in June.

“I put in all the energy I had as well as lessons taught by my head coach and I take this loss as a learning opportunity.  Thank you everyone for the encouragement and I hope to bring more pride to Singapore in the fights to come.”

The win was Luip’s fifth career victory. She had entered the bout with four wins and two losses.

 “Shahidah continues to grow more and more with each fight and I can’t wait to see where she will go next,” said SFC president Arvind Lalwani who is also the Head Coach at Juggernaut Fight Club, where Nurshahidah trains.

“This was a test for her and now we know that it is not easy to be a world champion. Even though she may not have the WBA title to her name, she is clearly amongst the top professional boxing talents today. This is just the beginning for her.”

Singapore’s Muhamad Ridhwan had a better night in front of the 700-strong crowd on Saturday as he defeated Indonesian boxer Ramli Rasaribu by TKO.

Ridhwan extend his winning streak once again as he methodically took down his opponent with powerful and precise blows to his face and the mid-section. The match ended in the last two seconds of the first round as the Singaporean fighter’s strength proved too much for the Indonesian

The action-packed night also saw another international title belt win for Malaysian boxer Mirage ‘Miracle’ Khan who left the ring as the UBO Asia Pacific Light Heavyweight Champion against veteran boxer Elly Pangaribuan from Indonesia. The Malaysian boxer was relentless in his fight, unleashing a flurry of blows onto his opponent that resulted in a TKO in the first round.

In other bouts, amateur light flyweight boxers Tan Xunyuan and Ashley Tang went at each other with hammers and tongs before Tang eventually narrowly won by unanimous decision.

Last Saturday’s event also featured mixed-martial arts bouts with Xuan Yi and Muhammad Ashiq facing off for three grueling rounds of WAKO amateur kickboxing.

That fight too went to the wire with both fighters exchanging flurries of blows. Xuan Yi finally won by who a decision mainly thanks to his precise and punishing kicks to Ashiq’s mid-section.

Another match-up of note was the return of Singapore-based Indian fighter Rahul ‘The Kerala Krusher’ Raju who came back to the ring after nursing an injury earlier this year.  Despite recovering from injury just recently, Raju was still able to quickly finish his opponent, Vincent Rudinas of the Philippines.

The most spectacular fight of the evening was arguably the penultimate fight, matching up Joseph Mercado from the Philippines against Emilio ‘Honey Badger’ Urrutia from the USA in a professional MMA SFC championship fight that went the full five five-minute rounds.

The momentum swung from one end to the other with Urrutia gaining the upper hand in the first rounds alternating a solid stand-up game with an even stronger game on the floor.

But Mercado weathered the storm and started taking back control in the later rounds. The action came fast and furious with the two fighters giving it their all from start to finish.

In the end, even though Urrutia was crowned the winner and new champion by unanimous decision but fighters left the ring to a standing ovation.