Esther Phiri failed to win a sixth belt but settled for a draw from the much publicised Women International Boxing Association (WIBA) welterweight title fight against America's Terry Blair.

The result means none of the boxers went with the belt even though their purse monies were paid in full on Friday after the weigh-in ceremony.

Esther did not show the aggression that she is known for but neither did Blair. The American had strategy to bring down Esther in early rounds of the bout but it was the Zambian that had the reach due to her height advantage.

Borrowing legendary Muhammad Ali's strategy of clinging on to the ropes, Esther managed to duck a number of deadly hooks and uppercuts but she surely did not dance like a butterfly nor sting like a bee.

In fact Esther herself got stung on her right eyebrow sustaining a cut in the fifth round as she toiled round the ring avoiding the American Southpaw.

Her shaky knees almost failed her in round seven when she slipped and staggered for the ropes. His coach Anthony Mwamba along with Esther's fans feared for the worst until round eight when the five times champion gathered momentum.

In the subsequent rounds, Esther managed to level the scores when she reduced the American to an ordinary opponent which she actually became following an “equal” verdict after 10 rounds.

Earlier, heavyweight boxer Joseph “No Presure” Chingangu defended his Africa Boxing Union (ABU) championship after knocking out Nigeria's Adewale Abey in the first round.

The fight between Chingangu and Abey was scheduled to take place last week but the Zambian promoters failed to raise the required purse money and instead resolved to have Chingangu defend the ABU title under Esther's bill.

Both boxers looked well prepared to take the 12-round intended fight to its limit, but as soon as the bell went for round one, Abey did not enjoy his presence in the ring.

A few jabs was what Chingangu needed to asses whether the Nigerian was really his match for the continental title.
After 2 minutes 15 seconds, Chingangu delivered a left hook which threw Abey off the ground and almost out of the ring, had it not been for the ropes.

The Nigerian failed to beat the count and as hilariously easy as it looked, the fight was over. Chingangu retained the ABU championship defying all his critics and proving to the corporate world that he still is a boxer worth investing in.

Meanwhile, Exodus Stables bantamweight Kennedy Kanyanta was last night crowned the new ABU champion following a technical knock out over Tanzania's Ramadhan Mukund.

Kanyanta turned professional on December 1, 2007 and he has not loss any of his six fights, five of which he has won via knock out.

During yesterday's fight, Kanyanta tried to show some acrobatics as he went into the ring but he miss calculated and fail head first, but that was the only time that his body was to touch the canvas.

Little known Tanzanian Ramadhan Mukund should have assessed the situation and probably done it the Adewale style without wasting spectators time.

Instead, Mukund chose to show endurance and he was in for a good six rounds of beating just as predicted by boxing analysts.

His coach had to save him and threw in a towel to give Kanyanta yet another technical knock out victory.