Tugstsogt Nyambar Fights to a Draw with Sakaria Lukas
In his latest tour of duty, with his back to the bricks, Mongolian super featherweight boxer Tugstsogt “King Tug” Nyambayar (12-2-1, 9 KO’s) was unable to slide back into the win column. This was due to battling Namibian fighter Sakaria “Desert Storm” Lukas (25-1-1, 17 KO’s) to a frustrating split decision draw. The draw is another deflating blow following his last bout with rising super featherweight star Chris Colbert.
Roughly six months ago, when in with Colbert, King Tug was thoroughly outclassed, beaten and battered for twelve straight rounds. It was the second loss of his professional career. The first transpired on February 8, 2020 and came at the hands of WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr, who actually headlined this card. Sandwiched between the two spankings, King Tug scraped past Cobia Breedy with a narrow split decision win.
Had he lost to late replacement Sakaria Lukas, Nyambayar would have needed the couple from the Conjuring to come resurrect his career. Yet, the draw is not a whole lot better! Now the Mongolian is still looking to get a win and begin stringing together a series of victories. Unquestionably, Nyambayar has an arduous trek to title contention ahead of him, as he is on the outside of the top fifteen of all the major sanctioning bodies. Therefore it will be interesting to see what the prideful boxer can make of his situation. As for Lukas, this was a performance will almost certainly be viewed as a beneficial outing. Let’s hope he makes the best of his unexpected outcome.
TOE-TO-TOE
For the better part of it, the first round was a furious duel of mutual but very stiff jabs. Yet as the round wore on, Nyambayar was clearly scoring the more quality shots. In fact, he landed a big overhand about a minute in and badly staggered Lukas with a crisp left hook in the final minute. In the final thirty seconds of a rather low tempo second round, Lukas ended the period landing a number of efficient head shots. They did not hurt King Tug but it showed that Lukas was finding a groove.
The third round started in odd fashion as referee Eddie Claudio delayed the initiation of action by repeatedly asking if Lukas wanted to continue. After insisting he was good, the period began. Shortly after however, the action was paused again when Lukas suffered a low blow. Having taken his brief reprieve, when the action continued the two men traded vicious shots center ring. Over the course of the fourth and fifth round, Nyambayar bullied, abused and out-powered Lukas. Mid-way through the fifth round, King Tug nearly dropped him but his Namibian foe kept this feet.
SOUR ENDING
With the coming of the seventh, Lukas had a good stabilizing round by waging war behind his jab and attacking the body with ferocity. This momentum carried into the eighth where he continued to be aggressive and score well. In fact, Lukas was swindled out of a knockdown. Having landed a hard overhand right, Nyambayar was off balance when he ate a stiff left jab and went down to one knee. Referee Eddie Claudio negated the effort by ruling it a slip.
Sensing the seriousness of the moment, Nyambayar staged a dominant tenth and final round. He got off first throughout the period, connected with the better punches and appeared to be the fresher fighter. About thirty seconds into the period, the Mongolian landed a teeth-clicking right uppercut that forced him to clinch. To his credit, Lukas was still competing with intensity. Nyambayar simply provided the cleaner and more consistent work.
When all was said and done, and the scorecards were read, the bout was ruled a split decision draw. Given the razor thin scoring, the missed knockdown in the eighth ultimately cost Lukas the win. Had he been awarded the extra point, the Namibian would have captured the biggest win of his professional career. The night was just as bad for King Tug who just narrowly scraped past yet another opponent, and an opponent coming in on short notice no less. It will be interesting to see what each fighter will do next. In all honesty, a rematch would not be a bad idea.
Reading Time: 4 minutes
By: Bakari Simpson
