KUCHING: Shimon Yoshinara is through to the ONE Flyweight Muaythai World Grand Prix semi-finals after outpointing Abdallah Ondash by unanimous decision at Lumpinee Stadium on Friday (Nov 13).
The Japanese fighter leveraged his advantage well from the opening round, repeatedly catching Ondash with kicks and keeping the Lebanese fighter outside the range where he wanted to work.
Ondash tried to force his way inside with body shots and low kicks, but Shimon stayed ice cool, moving off the line and answering with clean counters whenever the distance closed.
There were brief moments when Ondash managed to catch Shimon’s leg and drive him backwards, but he could not turn those openings into sustained pressure.
Shimon continued to control the range across all three rounds, picking his shots and making Ondash work for every exchange.
That control was enough to earn him the verdict from all three judges.
Next up is Nong-O Hama.
The 40-year-old Thai veteran punched his own ticket to the semi-finals with a unanimous-decision win over Rodtang Jitmuangnon earlier on the same card, dropping his compatriot in the second round before seeing out the fight.
Shimon now gets one of the biggest tests of his run so far against an eight-time former ONE Bantamweight Muaythai World Champion who is chasing another title at flyweight.
One of them will move on to the Grand Prix final.
