Farkhan turns down walkover win

BOXER: Farkhan Haron has turned down a walkover win following the late withdrawal of his Indonesian opponent at the ESPN5 Boxing event in Manilla.

Farkhan was supposed to fight Alexander Bajawa yesterday, but the latter withdrew to attend his mother’s funeral in Indonesia.

Farkhan, who has an impressive 8-0-0 win-loss-draw ring record, hopes the fight will take place on a later date.

“I was focused on chasing my ninth consecutive win but unfortunately after the official weigh-in, my team and I received the awful news,” said Farkhan yesterday.

“My opponent had to quit from the fight to attend his mother’s funeral.

“The organiser then handed me the win by walkover in line with the tournament’s regulations.

“But for the sake of sportsmanship, I made a request to the organiser to give my opponent another date to fight me again.

“I have made my stand on not accepting the walkover win.”

Farkhan, a former Sea Games gold medallist, called time on his amateur career in 2015 to turn professional.