Nearly two-and-a-half years after Knockout CP Freshmart narrowly defeated Byron Rojas to win the WBA minimumweight title, the two squared off again with the same result.
CP Freshmart (real name Thammanoon Niyomtrong) beat Rojas once again by unanimous decision (117-111, 116-112, 115-113) to retain the belt on an event in Thailand.
For the first couple of rounds, it seemed as if Rojas, who appeared as the physically bigger boxer, was pressuring CP Freshmart and landing the better power punches. But as the fight quickly progressed, Rojas started to lose a bit of steam. The title bout was marred by many moments in which excessive clinching would continuously put a halt to the action right as both men started to let their hands go. The middle rounds saw a similar pattern go down and Rojas even suffered a cut near his right eye with the physical action.
The Thai champion started to land better punches without the need of constant clinching in the eighth round. CP Freshmart would go on to throw combinations in the later rounds to give himself a small lead on the scorecards. Rojas made the fight interesting in the last two rounds when he landed a clean right hand that hurt CP Freshmart, but not enough to knock him down. The champion also took the final round off, avoiding any unnecessary confrontation and looking to cruise towards a decision victory.
It was CP Freshmart's sixth consecutive title defense after first beating Rojas for the title in the summer of 2016. CP Freshmart improves to 19-0 as a pro boxer and currently sports one of boxing's longest consecutive title defense streaks with six, tied with undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk and unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. CP Freshmart is currently ranked No. 7 on the Fightful's official boxing rankings at 105 and 108 pounds combined.
