A knockout, dinner and interim sham
Written by Writer on Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
A knockout, dinner and interim sham
JULIAN TURNER
Last week proved to be an eventful one on the Thai boxing scene and the highlight was lightweight Saddam Kiatyongyuth’s fantastic win in Nonthaburi.
Saddam
Saddam knocked out Jimrex Jaca in two rounds in the most eye-catching victory in Thailand this year.
It was an exciting performance and Saddam certainly has confidence in his undoubted power.
When he had Jaca in trouble at the start of the second round he simply waded in and threw huge shots trying to finish the job.
Jaca, perhaps unwisely, opted to stand and trade in a shootout and came off worse as Saddam piled on the pressure.
The Krabi-born fighter is unbeaten, has a high knockout ratio and fights with an air of invincibility, which is understandable.
However, there are still things to work on before he moves up to the next level.
His defence needs tightening up, especially when he goes for a stoppage, and it will be interesting to see how he handles someone who can stand up to his punches.
Jaca played into Saddam’s hands, but more technically skilled boxers will present him with very different problems.
For now though, it is great to be able to enjoy such a sensational victory.
It was also noticeable at ringside how many supporters Saddam had in the large crowd at Sukhothai Thammathirat University.
Quite a few were Westerners and many were dressed in hip-hop style clothing. They made plenty of noise too, which made for an electric atmosphere.
They were understandably delirious when Jaca was smashed to the canvas in the corner right in front of them and one young woman was so happy she nearly climbed over me to congratulate Saddam for his victory!
That was his third fight this year and he has won all of them by stoppage.
His three opponents have had a combined record of 77 wins, 13 losses and five draws so the 25-year-old is already mixing in decent class despite being only 16-0 himself.
Saddam’s victory over Jaca fired him up to 22nd in the world in Boxrec.com’s computerized rankings, just one below former IBF lightweight champion Jesus Chavez, and he needs to plan his next few outings carefully.The best bet would be to get someone to take him the 12 round distance so that he is fully-prepared if the offer of a big fight abroad comes in, which won’t be far away if he continues like this.
Also last week, WBC president Jose Sulaiman attended a function at a Bangkok hotel to honour Thailand’s boxing fraternity.
I often hear comments that boxers are thugs and violent etc but there must have been more than 20 in the same room that night without so much as a raised voice.
I didn’t even see any of them drinking the free beer as they opted for water or orange juice instead.
That is a big difference to several footballer evenings I’ve been to in England, which featured fist fights and drunken players being sick - sometimes even before the food had been served.
At last week’s event, Sulaiman thanked the boxers for their hard work and read out a roll call of Thailand’s past and previous WBC champions.
The WBC has given the boxers recognition, and bigger paydays, with their belts and the fighters have helped boost the WBC’s coffers with sanctioning fees so both parties were probably equally appreciative.
WBC strawweight champion Oledong Sithsamerchai, who is Thailand’s only current male world champion, was one of the men honoured by Sulaiman that evening.
It was later announced that Oledong could fight Pornsawan Por Pramuk in an all-Thai affair on November 27 in Phitsanulok.
That would be something to look forward to if it is finalised.
Yet Nicaragua’s Juan Palacios is fighting Japan’s Teruo Misawa for the “interim” WBC strawweight title at the WBC’s convention in China on November 7. Sulaiman needs to put a stop to this kind of farcical belt because it insults true champions like Oledong.
Julian Turner is the Bangkok Post’s Deputy Sports Editor.
Email: juliant@bangkokpost.co.th
Bangkok Post
Wednesday October 29, 2008
