Lone Chaw (left) and Yan Gyi Aung (right) after their drawn bout on February 12.

MYANMAR freeweight kickboxing champion Lone Chaw will fight former champion Shan Lay Thway (Kyaw Swar) in an outdoors match at Kandawgyi Park in Yangon on Friday, February 22.

It is the third bout to be held at Kandawgyi Park after monsoon ended and the challenge will be accompanied by eight other fights starting from 6pm.

The fight will be the first between Lone Chaw and Shan Lay Thway, who returns after taking a five-year break from the ring.

Lone Chaw’s coach, U Win Zin Oo, said it will surely be a tough fight.
“I’m extremely interested in this match because Shan Lay Thway is a good fighter both tactically and physically. It should be a tough battle,” he said.

The winner will be awarded K1 million while the loser pockets K800,000; in the event of a draw, both fighters will receive K900,000 each.

It is the fourth fight for Lone Chaw in 27 days, with the first on January 27, the second on February 2 and the third on February 12 in Mandalay.

All ended in draws.

The third fight was a brutal, five-round grudge match with 23-year-old Yan Gyi Aung.

In the fourth round, Lone Chaw was floored by a powerful Yan Gyi Aung left hook but quickly regained his footing and fought on.

Nearing the end of the fight both men went for broke and tried to finish their opponent by knock-out using powerful kicks and punches. However, this only resulted in embarrassment as both men fell out of the ring five times in total.

And some spectators were also frustrated by the drawn result and said that there would have been a winner if one more round was fought.

After the fight Lone Chaw conceded that Yan Gyi Aung is his greatest threat at the moment.

“He’s got a promising future ahead of him and even though I tried as hard as I could, I just couldn’t knock him out during this fight,” Lone Chaw said.

Yan Gyi Aung’s coach, U Hla Soe Oo, said his young charge still needs more experience in the ring.

“I’ve seen some weak points in him that were working on to delete. I’m also training him to take greater advantage on his opponents’ weaknesses,” he said.

After the match U Win Zin Oo, admitted that the matches were too tight for Lone Chaw and he needed to prepare carefully for the coming fight with Shan Lay Thway.

“Actually it is not good for a fighter to have four fights in a month but because he is a champion and the champion, he must have the ability to face these kinds of challenges,” he said.