Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 11) – Defending ONE women’s atomweight champion Angela Lee thought that Filipino fighter Denice Zamboanga won against South Korean foe Seo Hee Ham in their controversial quarterfinals grand prix bout last Sept. 3.
“It was a close fight. In my eyes, I did see Denice edging out the victory. It’s always hard when it goes to the judges’ hands. There have been bad calls before,” Lee said during a recent media conference.
The Singaporean-Canadian fighter added she could have gone for a knockout or submission in the early parts of the fight to avoid a controversial decision from the judges.
“That’s why I make it a point to always try for the finish because if you leave it in the judges’ hands, you never know what will happen. Anyone on the bad end of a decision is going to call for it to be reviewed. Neither of them was close to finishing the fight. If there was a near finish, I think that would be the deciding factor,” said Lee.
Zamboanga suffered a controversial split decision loss against Ham in their quarterfinals fight, part of ONE Championship’s first all-female card ONE: Empower, despite the Filipina’s more superior grappling skills than the South Korean fighter’s passive striking game.
ONE Championship boss Chatri Sityodtong ordered for the review of the fight. The split decision favoring Ham was upheld by majority of the review committee members, according to a report by South China Morning Post.
Zamboanga was supposed to face Lee last year for the title, but the fight was scrapped due to the latter’s pregnancy.
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