PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Ria Ramnarine failed in her bid on Saturday to become the latest female World boxing champion from Trinidad & Tobago.
The pint-sized Ramnarine suffered a setback, when she surprisingly lost her World Boxing Association minimum-weight title fight, as Etsuko Tada of Japan scored a majority draw before a packed Jean Pierre Complex.
After the 10-round contest, judges David Singh of Panama and Harold Laurans of Curacao scored the fight 95-95, while Raul Nieves of Puerto Rico saw it in favour of Ramnarine 97-93.
Ramnarine fought the fight of her life, and showed great improvement from her previous fights, and was unfortunate not to have earned the judges’ nod.
The first two rounds saw both fighters being aggressive, as they looked to gain the early momentum.
Ramnarine with the crowd behind her was finding her own, landing a couple of good combinations, while being able to evade a number of Tada’s punches.
The T&T boxer’s confidence grew as the fight progressed, and she came out strongly in the fourth and fifth round.
In round six, Ramnarine sought to take full advantage of a cut above Tada’s right eye from an accidental head butt.
She landed some good combinations, but the Japanese became more aggressive, and attacked Ramnarine from the start of the seventh round.