Ubayd Haider clinched an unanimous points decision victory over Mohammed Ali in the main supporting bout of the Bluewater Promotions last night at the Vodafone Arena in Suva.
Haider managed to score 80 points from the judges while Ali received 72 points after 8 rounds of battle, despite expectations of a knockout.
“We came here to knock him out but it looks like I got a bit greedy, I didn’t stick to the game plan and didn’t bring him down as I was supposed to,” Haider (formerly known as Nathan Singh) told FijiLive.
“But it was a good fight, lessons learnt. Ali is a tough competitor.”
“My strategy was to know him out with the bodyshots but he came here to survive, I could hear his corner saying run run run!,” Haider said.
He also called out Mikaele Ravalaca and Rakuro Daunivavana for a challenge.
Mohammed Ali, on the other hand, said he wants a rematch, pointing out the significant weight drop from 68 to 59kg he underwent to fight Haider.
He challenged Haider to adjust his weight to 63kg for a rematch, stating, “He was not tough, I was tough even though this is not my actual weight.”
However, Haidar dismissed the idea of a rematch at a different weight class as ‘stupid’.
“If he wants a rematch, he should match my weight because gaining weight is challenging for me and right now I am training on my own, my father’s age has caught up to him and I’ve asked him to rest,” he said.
