Jackson’s fury floors Thai
THAILAND’S Surachet Thongmala was left an unfortunate punching bag to the full fury of Luke Jackson’s anger after the WBO Oriental Featherweight champion took less than two rounds to improve his record to 16-0 last night.
Clearly frustrated at the 11th-hour change of opponent after the original bout against Argentinian Javier Herrera was canned because of visa issues, Jackson let his fists do the talking on a hapless Thongmala at Wrest Point.
Jackson floored Thongmala — who accepted the fight on short notice after still being in Australia after losing to Joel Brunker last month — just 68 seconds into the second round.
The Tasmanian star put his opponent on the canvas once in the first round before the referee let the fight continue, but it didn’t take long for it to end when a vicious right saw Thongmala knocked out cold.
“Mixed emotions, it is what it is, a lot goes on behind the scenes that people have no clue about,” said Jackson, who feared the entire show would be cancelled when Herrera withdrew.
“The opponent was no good but what do you do? I think everyone had a great time still, they can see what we are trying to do and there are only positives out of the whole event. Did you see I was a bit more aggressive? I have had a lot of negativity lately and I’m over it. I try my best to bring the fights to Tassie … I’m not getting appreciated.
“I think it is my time, we have waited, we have waited and waited. Joel Brunker didn’t get him out of there like I got him out there.”
Jackson will continue his relentless pursuit of a world title fight against WBO world interim featherweight titleholder Carl Frampton, with his promoter Adam Wilcox remaining adamant it is a genuine possibility.