Plymouth boxer given 'golden opportunity' 6,000 miles away

Plymouth bantamweight prospect Connor Adaway made an impressive return to the ring last weekend with a stoppage of an opponent on a bill – in Thailand. Adaway was back inside the ring after eight months, and fought on a show in Pattaya in Eastern Thailand, south of Bangkok.

Adaway has secured a deal with FCC promotions and made an impressive debut in the country by securing a stoppage against Nirun Baonok inside four rounds.

It was his eighth win from his nine paid bouts, with the one blip on his record being a defeat in the Southern Area featherweight title clash against Lewis Frimpong.

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But Adaway is unblemished at bantamweight, which is considered his more natural fighting weight, and yet his record has actually impinged on his ability to secure fights in the UK.

Adaway said fighting in Thailand has provided him with an opportunity he would not have had in the UK. “I’m buzzing,” he said. “To go over there and do that, I’m really happy.

“My big thing is that I want competitive fights and I want do to it often, and in England it’s not happening for me at the minute. I am too much of a risk for some people but I don’t bring enough money for others, so it’s hard. So I am making these opportunities for myself.”

Adaway was meant to have fought in Rome last month, but promoters pulled the plug and left him without a planned bout.

He explained: “They said that I was boxing for a big title and I cancelled other opportunities for it, but then they pulled the plug, so it’s the story of my life really.

“But I’ve got a good thing going on in Thailand and I think for now a lot of my boxing is going to be done over there. I’ve pretty much got myself a promoter who is based in Thailand – they will get me out there and get me on their shows. Every show that they do, they want me on their show.

“It’s a golden opportunity for me – it may be that it’s so far away from England, but the opportunity is there is massive so it’s worth me going out there and fighting as much as I can.

He added: “They have a show every couple of months, so I reckon I will be out there again in January and be on the bill again

“I want to get myself as highly ranked as possible – I am 11th in the UK now, so I am touching the top 10, and I just want to build on the momentum.

“Everything still counts towards my rankings in this country. It’s a much bigger opportunity than I’ve had in my boxing career, so it’s good.”

Against Baonok, Adaway quickly found his rhythm despite having last fought in March, and held off his opponent with a steely jab. As the rounds continued, he began to put together combinations, and caused his opponent to pause for a few seconds, albeit claiming it was due to a low blow.

But once they were back in action, Adaway quickly rocked his opponents’ head back several times in quick succession as he started to dominate.

The referee stepped in before the end of the fourth, just as the Plymouth man was beginning to cause some real damage. Adaway said: “I think I showed a glimpse of what I can do. It was my first fight back in eight months, and I felt a bit rusty.

“A lot of people were telling me that this guy could punch, and obviously I’ve dropped back down to bantamweight now, and I didn’t really know what to expect.

“I thought I would keep him at bay for the first couple of rounds, get a bit of ring-rust off and not really take anything. But after a couple of rounds I got comfortable and started to put things together.

“I felt like the referee stopped it a bit early as I felt like I could show what I could do from that point, and I felt like I could have gone at that pace all night.

“But I think the referee thought it was only going one way, and rather than letting him get hurt, he jumped in.”

He added: “It was only going one way – being a boxer I wanted a more of a conclusive finish, but I think the referee did do the right thing.

“The other guy didn’t complain at all.”