“Another successful night in the office after a few muck arounds with opponents, we got a real one,” he said in a post.
“So respect to the Tongan [Spartan] for coming over and putting me to the test.
“Stay tuned for the next episode as I carry on grinding to the top.”
Waitai will next step into the ring in December, when BX-9 will take place in Hamilton.
BX-9 promoter Oz Jabur said he was still looking for an opponent for Waitai.
Meanwhile, on the recent BX-9 event, there were plenty of stoppages.
The main undercard fight was Papua New Guinea’s John Ume taking on Hamilton’s Hamza Perwaisy in the BX-9 Welterweight Championship interim final.
Perwaisy showed a lot of heart and battled to the end, but Ume won by seventh-round stoppage.
Ume is now waiting to take on Riley Allen, who is recovering from a broken hand.
In one of the BX-9 Cruiserweight Championship Tournament quarter-finals, Keanu Naden took on New Zealand-born Australian Mike Letoi.
Naden was knocked down in the first round but came back in the second, where he knocked down Letoi. Letoi told the referee he didn’t want to continue, and the referee gave Naden the win by stoppage.
After the fight, Waitai said he had huge respect for Piutau Cook. Photo / CSN.Watch
In another Cruiserweight Championship Tournament quarter-final, Duken Tutakitoa-Williams took on Papua New Guinea kickboxing legend Kondup Samson Wailo.
Tutakitoa-Williams knocked Wailo out cold within the first round.
The third quarter-final was fought out between Ghana-born Australian Bilal Seidu and Chinese boxer Muhanhaili Nuertai.
Nuertai weighed 8kg over the legal weight limit, meaning he lost half of his purse and was deducted two points from the judges’ scorecard before the fight officially started.
In the end, Seidu won the fight by unanimous decision. If there hadn’t been a point deduction, Seidu still would have won, but by majority decision.
The last quarter-final was between Joshua Francis and Niko Pritchard, with the latter taking on the fight on five days’ notice.
Francis won the fight by second-round stoppage.
This means the Cruiserweight Championship Tournament semi-finals will be fought out between Tutakitoa-Williams and Naden, and Francis and Seidu.
The fights will also take place on BX-9’s Hamilton show.
Full results
78kg catchweight
6x3min rounds
Francis Waitai (New Zealand) defeated Apai Piutau Cook (Australia) by majority decision
Hyper Fight
5 x 2min rounds
Anthony Lauagiagi (New Plymouth) v Feargus Gordon (Wellington) ended in a draw
BX-9 Welterweight Championship Tournament – interim final
John Ume (Papua New Guinea) defeated Hamza Perwaisy (New Zealand) by seventh-round stoppage
BX-9 Cruiserweight Championship Tournament quarter-finals
8 x 3min rounds
Keanu Naden (Niue/New Zealand) defeated Mike Letoi (New Zealand/ Australia) by second-round stoppageBilal Seidu (Australia) defeated Muhanhaili Nuertai (China) by unanimous decisionDuken Tutakitoa-Williams (Niue/New Zealand) defeated Kondup Samson Wailo (Papua New Guinea) by first-round KOJoshua Francis (Auckland) defeated Niko Pritchard (Otakiri) by second-round stoppage
Heavyweight
4 x 3min rounds
Niwa Barlow (Whanganui) defeated Phoenix Mamaia (Auckland) by first-round stoppage
Semi Pro Super Welterweight
3 x 3min rounds
Sebastian Cilliers (Auckland) defeated Jeffrey Karaka (Auckland) by second-round stoppage
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.