Croatia-based Australian heavyweight Mark de Mori claimed the Indonesian heavyweight title by knocking out a disrespectful opponent.
Home fighter Satria Antasena spat in de Mori’s face at the weigh-in, leaving his bigger opponent biding his time for fight night. Once the first bell rang, it was clear de Mori had bad intentions.
In the second round, de Mori wiped out Antasena to claim a 40th professional win with a 36th stoppage. Antasena suffered the 20th loss of his career at the Holywings Club in Jakarta.
After the dust settled, WBA-ranked de Mori, 40, harbored no ill feelings toward the 35-year-old.
“Great trip and winning the Indonesian heavyweight title. I met many good people and enjoyed the epic big stage in Jakarta.
“Satria, the crazy showman, created some drama, but he is a good man. After the fight, we shook hands.”
MARK DE MORI RANKING
Due to his previous ranking with the World Boxing Association, de Mori regularly hit the headlines in 2021 as many in the sport believe his opponents leave a lot to be desired. That was certainly the case last weekend.
In fact, de Mori hasn’t faced a real test since David Haye in 2016. Haye took him out in 141 seconds.
Once again, questions about the WBA practices are raised, especially regarding their rating system.
But that’s not de Mori’s fault. He can only knock out what’s in front of him, which he likes to do.
De Mori has since gotten removed despite not losing a fight. Whether he can still make any dent against the fighters above him is another story.
Daniel Dubois will drop from the list below due to winning the secondary belt against Trevor Bryan. Meanwhile, Dacaree Scott suffered a shock loss to Jonathan Guidry on the same card in Miami.
De Mori could make the June honor roll.
WBA HEAVYWEIGHT RATINGS – MAY 2022
1 DANIEL DUBOIS
2 MICHAEL HUNTER
3 ROBERT HELENIUS
4 HUGHIE FURY
5 ANTHONY JOSHUA
6 MARTIN BAKOLE
7 ARSLANBEK MAKHMUDOV
8 ZHAN KOSSOBUTSKIY
9 DEONTAY WILDER
10 LENIER PERO
11 JOSEPH PARKER
12 ANDY RUIZ JR
13 KEVIN LERENA
14 DACARREE SCOTT
15 LUCAS BROWNE
The views expressed in this article are the opinions of Phil Jay.
WBN Editor Phil has over ten years of boxing news experience. Follow WBN on Twitter @WorldBoxingNews.
