Former national team standout Charly Suarez scored a dramatic come-from-behind knockout of previously unbeaten Paul Fleming of Australia in the 12th and final round Wednesday night in New South Wales, Australia.

In a battle of Olympians, Suarez, who fought in the 2016 Rio Games, was trailing on all three scorecards—108-101, 107-102, and 106-103—when he dropped Fleming with a left.

Although he beat the count of Pat O’Connor, Fleming turned his back and was walking away from the attacking Suarez when the third man decided to intervene with a little over a minute remaining in the fight.

The victory raised Suarez’s record to 15-0 with nine knockouts while the defeat dropped the record of Fleming, who saw action in the 2008 Beijing Games, to 28-1 with 18 knockouts.

It was Suarez’s second straight overseas outing after his win in Vietnam last December.

Delfin Boholst, Suarez’s teammate during his national team days, is fast-tracking the boxer’s rise in the super-featherweight ranks given his age.

At 34, Suarez is a three-time Southeast Asian Games champion and silver medalist in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.
“I would know soon what’s next for Charly,” Boholst said.

Suarez also campaigned heavily in Europe before turning professional in 2019 and his former opponent during his days as an amateur was Vasyl Lomachenko.