Five thousand excited fans packed the Bishkek capital city arena for the showdown between the local hero, Central Asian champion Alan Ofeyo, and Lamsongkram, the Thailand and Bangkok Rajadamnern Stadium champion with a record of 46 knockouts from more than 200 contests.

Ofeyo, also 22, had beaten all challengers from the Central Asian countries that include Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan which lie in the high mountain country on the China border.

The interim world title win puts Lamsongkran into a mandatory challenge with British champion Steve Wakeling, who won the middleweight title with a split points win over Australian John Wayne Parr in London. The middleweight unification contest will be open to purse bids and most likely be held in London.

Danai falls

Thai No 2 Danai Udomchoke's title defence crumbled yesterday at the Geumjeong Tennis Stadium in South Korea when he lost to home hero Lee Hyung-taik in the final of the US$50,000 (Bt1.9 million) Busan Open. The defending champion could not resist the power of the second-seeded Lee, who was cheered on by the partisan crowd, and lost 6-3 6-2 in only 75 minutes.

It was the fourth time Danai lost to the South Korean veteran after they first met in 1999. Danai will next play in a challenger event in Yuba City in the US where he will be the top seed. After that he will fly to England to play two grass court events before Wimbledon.

Meanwhile, the clay court season is not over for Paradorn Srichaphan, who accepted a wild card to enter the $125,000 Czech Open which starts in Prostejov today.