Vietnamese boxer recognised as Asian Boxer of Year

Vietnamese boxer Tran Van Thao will be honoured by the World Boxing Council (WBC) Asia at an award ceremony in Bangkok, Thailand, on April 30^th.

Thao, nicknamed The Trigger, will be awarded Boxer of the Year for 2017 after his outstanding performance helped him win the WBC Asia Super Flyweight title last November.

“I am proud to receive the award. It gives me immense happiness that my hard work has brought glory to Vietnam,” Thao said. “I will try harder to make it to the world level and put Vietnamese boxing on the global map,” he added.

The world No. 91 is hoping to win to further improve his ranking.

In his match against Artid Bamrungauea of the host Thailand on the night of April 27^th, Thao knocked out his rival in the fourth round.

This was Thao’s 10^th professional match and he has won all ten.

Thao has made history by becoming the first Vietnamese to win a WBC Asia title.

The Vietnamese needed only 36 seconds to knock out George "Coken" Lumoly of Indonesia to take the belt in the super flyweight category.

Despite being the same age, Thao is a less-experienced boxer in comparison with his rival since it was his first time participating in a 12-round match. His previous bouts have usually been 4-6 rounds. His longest encounter was eight rounds.

Born in 1992 in Ho Chi Minh City, Thao grabbed a gold medal in the National Boxing Championships’ 52kg class last year and was the champion at the Steel Competition Boxing Tournament, an annual event for professional boxers, in the same year.

WBC is one of four major organisations that are sanctioned to organise world championship boxing bouts, alongside the International Boxing Federation, World Boxing Association and World Boxing Organisation. WBC Asia is one of the most prestigious boxing bodies of the continent/.

VNF