By Dean Parr

On 26th of March, Norwegian prospect Andreas Evensen, now 12-1 (4 KOs), went some way to fulfilling his huge potential by defeating hardened veteran Peesaddaeng Kiatsakthanee, 20-9 (5 early), to raise the WBO Intercontinental title.  Evensen was on 'cloud nine' after his big win.

“On a scale from one to ten, I’m on a ten,” enthused Evensen.  “One thing is to be in a title fight; another thing is to win the title fight by KO!  I’m very satisfied with my performance.”

He continued, “I feel that the fight was almost perfect.  Things clicked all the way, and they have since we started to prepare for this fight.”

For those not there, Andreas painted a picture of how the fight played out.  “I was prepared to meet a southpaw, so I started a bit carefully and was just trying to move to my left all the time,” he revealed.  “When I felt confident enough I held my ground and started to put pressure on him.”

“But in the third or fourth round he shifted stance”, Evensen flowed, “and I got very confused for some minutes.  I wasn’t prepared for that to happen, but as the rounds went on, I kept on going and throwing punches as I moved to different sides.   I did not see he was staggered before I dropped him in the sixth round, and when I came to the corner, Helge [Waeroy, Andreas' trainer] told me to finish him in the next round, which I did.”

Even with a showing as positive as this, though, there is one area that Evensen strives to improve.  “My speed,” he asserted.  “In sparring sessions I’m a lot faster than in fights, but I believe that is because I have to loosen up a bit more.  You can say I feel the pressure sometimes, when I know there are many of my friends are sitting in Norway watching the fight.”

Andreas is keen to keep his momentum going, although he doesn't care who is put in front of him next.  “I leave the administrative side of things to my manager and to Pekka Maki in Finland,” he admitted.  “But it would be nice to have a bigger belt.  Just keep them coming; I’ll fight them all and defeat them!"

To wrap up, Evensen revealed that there are people in his life this big win wouldn't have been possible without.  “I have this belt because there has been lots of people working for me and helped along the way,” he enthused.  “Helge of course, as well as my sparring partner Sam Rukondo (a lightweight from Sweden) deserve a lot applause and recognition.”

“But also my family and my girlfriend who has been patience with me all this time,” he carried on.  “It’s not easy to live with me when the only things I do is train, eat and sleep.  Pekka Maki and P3 Promotions in Finland have believed in me and given me a chance and for that I am forever thankful!”