What do you do when a monster right hand puts you on the canvas in the opening minute? If you are Suablack, you get up and go looking for a finish of your own.
Suablack Tor Pran49 stopped Stephen Irvine via a second-round knockout in their flyweight Muay Thai co-main event at ONE Fight Night 45 on Friday, July 17, inside Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. The finish also earned him a US$50,000 performance bonus.
The Thai star arrived at this high-stakes contest off consecutive losses, which made the jaw-dropping victory carry enormous personal weight.
“I’m happy with this win, and this time, for this fight, I wanted to show the fans the best performance for them,” he said.
“After I got knocked down, I tried to stay calm and then tried to stay up to finish the round because I already said to the fans, to my family, that I want this victory.”
Suablack Tor Pran49 breaks down the finish
Suablack Tor Pran49 broke down the finishing sequence with clinical precision afterward. The moment he sensed Irvine fading after the eight-count, every grueling training session funneled into one decisive action.
“When he got counted, I saw that he got hurt and so I just went up to him to finish him with an elbow. And most of my fights in ONE, I have won with an elbow. So I was confident that I could finish him.”
Suablack’s record now stands at an impressive 63-23. And the drama of that early knockdown was never going to shake his belief in the outcome. Bouts between elite strikers, he knows, rarely end by a single mistake.
“I didn’t feel any surprise about his performance, because I think me and Stephen, we all have lots of experience in fighting. So when it comes to the ring, it depends on the result, either I win or he wins, but I think this time is my lucky time to win. Maybe next time is his time.”
