Tiger Muay Thai & MMA training camp in Phuket, Thailand has been home to several champions in the past, and now the camp is adding one more to the list. Bronx, New York native Matt Semper won the Bangla Boxing Stadium title in Patong on Wednesday night in a decision that was made easy by his performance.
“It’s a good feeling to have a belt around your waist,” an elated Semper said after the fight. “Once we started the fight, I knew it was going to end up going the distance.”
Joyo, of Sweden, came out with a barrage of low kicks to start the fight. The Swede attempted to outbox Semper for much of the second round as well, throwing in some elbows after the kicks became noticeably slower.
It wasn’t until the third round where things got really intense and Semper took complete control of the bout landing a strong right cross that almost knocked Joyo off his feet.
“He was really big but you have to have technique and that will overcome power anyday of the week,” Semper said after the fight.
Semper blocked several of Joyo’s powerful elbow shots and stayed calm under intense pressure at times. Picking his moments, Semper landed several punch.kck cobinations of his own. That all changed in the fourth round when Semper dished out numerous knees to the midsection and the clinch became a go-to move.
“Those knees kept landing and landing and after I threw the first one I knew it was over,” Semper said.
Though his back was on the ropes for much of the exchange, Semper’s right knee strikes were one of many reasons the judges gave the win to the young American.
The final round of the fight saw much of the same as the fourth, with both men exchanging heavy knee strikes though Joyo was apt to throw several punches as well – most of them were blocked.
