Boxing: Sonny Morini signs three-year BX-9 deal to chase world title

Matamata boxer Sonny Morini, 20, won the New Zealand national PBCNZ Welterweight title in November. Photo / Alina Peach, Peach Boxing

New Zealand (PBCNZ) welterweight champion Sonny Morini has signed a three-year contract with BX-9 as he starts his road to the world title.

The news comes after fellow Waikato fighter Emile Richardson signed a contract with the promoter last month.

Oz Jabur of BX-9 also just announced that he will host an eight-man elimination welterweight tournament, spread across three shows this year.

The quarter-finals will take place in May, the semi-finals in August and the finals in October.

The winner of the tournament will get $14,000 and a shot at a regional or national title.

Jabur said he aimed to have Morini headline the tournament.

Morini’s manager and trainer, Isaac Peach, said he was enthusiastic about the new deal.

Peach said it would bring Morini closer to being ranked in the top 15 of one of the major sanctioning bodies in the world by the end of this year.

Overall, Peach said he aims to get Morini a world title shot in either 2028 or 2029.

Morini’s last fight in New Zealand was in November last year, where he won the New Zealand national welterweight title against Dane Edge by fourth-round stoppage.

Morini now has an undefeated record of 11 wins, with 9 wins by knockout.

His most recent win was a month ago in Thailand against Thai fighter Anon Rachvicha.

The fight was a keep-busy fight for Morini, who won the fight by first-round knockout.

Morini’s next fight is set to take place this weekend against another Thai boxer, Padyod Kiadcharoensiri.

Matamata boxer Sonny Morini. Photo / Alina Peach, Peach Boxing

Kiadcharoensiri has a record of 8 wins and 7 losses, with 3 wins coming by way of knockout.

However, he is better than what his record suggests.

Kiadcharoensiri made a fight challenging for the top 50-ranked undefeated Armenian boxer, Yuri Sakunts.

It even looked like Kiadcharoensiri would beat him, until Kiadcharoensiri dislocated his shoulder in the fight.

Morini will take on Kiadcharoensiri at ABA Stadium on March 7, at an event not related to BX-9.

Tickets are available online via the Peach Boxing website.

The next BX-9 event in Auckland will be brought forward and now takes place on March 26, with the venue to be announced soon.

Hamilton boxer Sheilla Yama was meant to fight at the event, against Nailini Helu.

That fight has been called off.

Despite all parties signing off on the fight last month, Helu’s trainer, Lolo Heimuli, said he was not informed by Helu or her manager about the weight division she was scheduled to compete in.

Jabur will continue finding a replacement for Yama.

Benjamin Watt is a retired boxing judge and New Zealand boxing writer with a decade of experience. Watt has also been BoxRec’s New Zealand record-keeper since 2014.