Semata mauls naive Husssein

KAMPALA.
Umar ‘The Pain’ Semata defeated Egyptian Abdullah Hussein in dramatic circumstances to win the intercontinental welterweight title in the wee hours of yesterday morning at Natete shopping centre The fight though will be best remembered for the Egyptian threatening to boycott the fight in the second round after Semata him with several elbows as is common with most Muay Thai fights.

“We are supposed to use K1 style,” insisted the fighter through an interpreter.

His pleas, however, fell on deaf ears with the fight supervisor Istvan Rozman later revealing that the fight had been lost after the Egyptian walked out of the ring. “I let the fight continue because of security concerns”, he revealed.

Fans had earlier threatened violence, stoning an official after a delay that saw the first undercard fight start shortly before midnight.
“We signed an agreement that clearly showed that the bout was going to be in Muay Tha Style not K1,” explained Rozman.

Semata started the more aggressive of the two fighters in contrast to Hussein’s earlier fight which saw him beat Ronald Mugula convincingly on New Year’s Day at the same venue.

His aggression seemed to have stunned the Egyptian who went straight to the judges’ table after a combination of elbows connected with his head towards the end of the first round.

With the Egyptian protesting fighting in Muay Thai, the bout took a 15 mintue delay as organisers persuaded him to return to the ring. By the time he recovered his composure in the third round, the damage had been done with the judges ruling the fight 49-46, 48 - 46 and 49 -47 in Semata’s favour.