Former world champion Xiong Zhao Zhong was unable to reclaim gold as he lost a twelve round unanimous decision to Thailand's Thammanoon Niyomtrong, who now retains the World Boxing Association (WBA) minimumweight championship on Friday night at the Qingdao Guosen Gymnasium in Qingdao. 

The 35-year-old Xiong, who beat Javier Martinez Resendiz of Mexico in 2012 to win the WBC minimumweight title and became the first professional boxing champion from China, tested the champion in the first round.

The Chinese veteran became more aggressive from the second, while the 27-year-old Niyomtrong defended carefully and tried to get points by throwing shots to the body.

Xiong sped up his attack from the seventh round, but his physical fitness started to decline quickly. After all 12 rounds, the three judges scored it 116--12, 118-110 and 118-110 for the champion.

Niyomtrong improved his record to 18 wins, 7 by knockout and no losses. The challenger fell to 27 wins, 8 defeats, 1 draw and 14 wins by knockout.

"I have tried my best," Xiong said at the post-fight press conference. "Although losing the fight, I don't regret taking on this challenge."

"Niyomtrong's strength, speed and tactics are perfect, and it was hard to keep up with him in the second half," Xiong added.

"Xiong is a very experienced boxer, and I hope we could have chance to fight again in future," said Niyomtrong.

Also on Friday night's card, Japan's Sho Kimura, the defending World Boxing Organization (WBO) flyweight champion, enjoyed overwhelming superiority in his match against Froilan Saludar of the Philippines and retained the title with a knockout in the sixth round.

Kimura's record went up to 17-1-2, 10 KOs, while Saludar dropped to 28-3-1, 19 KOs.

Kimura will now move forward with a fall showdown against two-division world champion Kosei Tanaka (11-0, 7 KOs).