Adrian Pang lost a unanimous decision to Singaporean youngster Amir Khan on Friday night.
The event, One Championship: Immortal Pursuit, took place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Competing in his 35th professional bout, Pang was frustrated by his taller and younger opponent who used precise singular strikes to control the distance. Khan in particular utilised his jab and stomped the front leg of Pang to keep him on the outside and whenever Pang did press forward to close the distance, the two would end up clinched against the cage.
Pang secured a throw in the second round and followed that up with a takedown, however Khan worked back to his feet immediately, much to the joy of the parochial crowd. Pang looked increasingly frustrated and at times stopped in the centre of the cage as Khan stayed to his game-plan circling on the outside.
Twenty-three year-old Khan has one of the highest stoppage percentages inside One Championship however Pang, a 16-year veteran, has never been knocked out and showed the granite chin that he has, brushing off a head kick in the third-round and then dropping his guard and encouraging Khan to land as he continued to try and get his opponent to open up and brawl with him.
Pangderson Silva #ONEFightNight pic.twitter.com/OIUb1zmJe2
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) November 24, 2017
When the final bell rang, the decision came back unanimously to Amir Khan who moves his record to 9-2.
“I want to thank Adrian Pang. One hell of a fighter. He may be getting old in age, but he has the heart of a young lion,” Khan told the crowd in his post-fight speech.
It’s the first time in his long career that Pang has lost three on the trot as he drops to 22-11-2.
In the main-event, in his retirement fight, Ben Askren made easy work of Japanese fighter Shinya Aoki unloading with strikes from the top to get the stoppage only 57-seconds into the bout.
Results:
- Ben Askren (c) def. Shinya Aoki via TKO (Punches), Rd 1, 0:57 – One Championship welterweight title
- Amir Khan def. Adrian Pang via Decision (Unanimous)
- Leandro Issa def. Dae Hwan Kim via Decision (Unanimous)
- May Ooi def. Vy Srey Khouch via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 3:58
- Ahmed Mujtaba def. Kai Wen Li via Disqualification (Illegal Strikes), Rd 1
- Tiffany Teo def. Puja Tomar via Submission (Armbar), Rd 1, 4:07
- Mei Yamaguchi def. Gina Iniong via Decision (Unanimous)
- Arnaud Lepont def. Richard Corminal via Submission (Arm-Triangle Choke), Rd 1, 3:16
- Muhammad Aiman def. Yang Fe via Decision (Unanimous)
- Miao Li Tai def. Sim Bunsrun via TKO (Strikes), Rd 1, 1:49
