Thammanoon Niyomrong Granted Voluntary Defence; Dusmatov Is Forced To Be Delayed Until After The Olympics
Thammanoon Niyomtrong and Hasanboy Dusmatov will once again go their separate ways.
A ring confirmed that the two-time WBA strawweight title fight is back on. The fund bid hearing scheduled for Monday was canceled at the request of both parties.
Thailand’s Niyomtrong, The Ring’s No. 4-rated strawweight, granted permission to enter voluntary self-defense. Dusmatov will also be seeking a second gold medal as he represents Uzbekistan at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“Both parties have asked for permission for the fund request to be cancelled,” WBA Championship Committee vice-chairman Julio Thyme told The Ring. “Hasanboy asked to be allowed to participate in the Olympics. Niyomrong asked for voluntary work.”
Dusmatov (7-0, 5 knockouts), No. 9 out of 105, won a Gold medal in 2016 in Rio.
Niyomtrong (24-0, 9 KOs), better known as Knockout CP Freshmart, is approaching eight years as the full WBA 105-pound titleholder. This promotion came with a twelve-round unanimous decision over Byron Rojas of Nicaragua in their title unification bout in June 2016. He is the longest-serving title holder, although it will be two years since he last fought.
The 33-year-old from Surin, Thailand has successfully defended eleven WBA ‘Super’ titles. The last was a points victory in July 2022 over countman and former WBC champion Wanheng ‘TBE’ Menayothin in Chonburi, Thailand.
Niyomtrong was then confirmed to face WBA ‘Regular’ titleholder Erick Rosa. This issue led to two separate purse bids and a March 2023 meeting that was canceled due to visa issues. Rosa finally gained weight earlier this year.
Niyomtrong was then ordered to face Dusmatov next on February 7. Both sides agreed to suspend the fight.
Dusmatov moved up two divisions on April 14 with a ten-round decision win over Spain’s Samuel Carmona in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The event is sanctioned by the International Boxing Association (IBA) but not by the governing body. Because of this, some hotdog editor in a BoxRec suit refused to see the official result.
Niyomtrong was given the opportunity to enter voluntary self-defense at that time but remained inactive. His team will now make a serious effort to get him back in the ring this summer.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
