Angela Lee To Defend Atomweight Title Against Denice Zamboanga
In the midst of one of the most tumultuous periods the sporting world has ever seen, ONE Championship‘s Angela Lee can at least be thankful that she knows who she is going to fight next even if the date and location remain up in the air.
ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong has announced that the Philippines’ Denice “The Menace Fairtex” Zamboanga will be the next challenger for Lee’s atomweight crown.
Zamboanga trains out of Thailand’s famed Fairtex Gym, alongside ONE Atomweight Muay Thai World Champion Stamp Fairtex, and is a relative newcomer to ONE.
The 23-year-old has only fought twice inside the ONE circle, but those two bouts saw her clock up wins over Jihin Radzuan and Mei Yamaguchi; two fighters who had been talked about as future title challengers.
It was Zamboanga’s impressive unanimous decision victory over Yamaguchi at ONE: King of the Jungle that clinched her title shot.
Lee will be coming into this bout on a high after retaining her title following a fifth-round stoppage victory over China’s Xiong Jingnan last October at ONE: Century Part 1.
The Singaporean superstar experienced mixed success in 2019 when she attempted to earn champ-champ status by capturing Xiong’s ONE Women’s Strawweight World Championship. Lee’s foray into the strawweight division saw the 23-year-old earn back-to-back defeats following losses to Xiong and Brazil’s Michelle Nicolini.
A successful return to atomweight allowed Lee to balance the ledger with Xiong, and now Lee can look forward to testing herself against one of the promotions fastest rising stars.
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, ONE is set to hold its upcoming shows behind closed doors in Singapore. The company is aiming to be back in front of a live crowd on May 29, when ONE: Infinity Part 2 takes place, but that will depend on how the global situation develops over the next few months.
