Nico Thomas
Courtesy of Boxrec.com
Through out the history of Indonesian boxing we've had 4 world champions. The first, as we've covered in the past, was Ellyas Pical, a former 3-time IBF Super Flyweight champion, who is considered a boxing icon in his homeland.
The second world champion from Indonesia was the former Minimumweight champion Nicholas “Nico” Thomas, a man who has been widely forgotten by boxing fans around the globe despite his important historical position in Indonesian boxing history and his long career which began in 1986 and finished in 2006.
Born in the summer of 1966 on the small Indonesian island of Ambon, Nico was part of a large family, being the 12th of 16 children and surprisingly he wasn't the first to go in to boxing.
In fact Nico followed in the footsteps of older brother Charles Thomas who began training young Nico when he was just 5 years old. Although Charles himself doesn't appear to have had a professional career he was a stand out amateur who was not only a national champion but was a 3-time competitor in the “Presidents Cup”, a competition he won in 1979 and came runner up in both 1976 and 1980.
With Charles teaching a young Nico the boxing trade it wasn't long until Nico himself broke out as a talented fighter and as an amateur he went on to claim the Silver medal at the 1985 South East Asian (SEA) Games and apparently the 1986 President's Cup Gold medal.
The second world champion from Indonesia was the former Minimumweight champion Nicholas “Nico” Thomas, a man who has been widely forgotten by boxing fans around the globe despite his important historical position in Indonesian boxing history and his long career which began in 1986 and finished in 2006.
Born in the summer of 1966 on the small Indonesian island of Ambon, Nico was part of a large family, being the 12th of 16 children and surprisingly he wasn't the first to go in to boxing.
In fact Nico followed in the footsteps of older brother Charles Thomas who began training young Nico when he was just 5 years old. Although Charles himself doesn't appear to have had a professional career he was a stand out amateur who was not only a national champion but was a 3-time competitor in the “Presidents Cup”, a competition he won in 1979 and came runner up in both 1976 and 1980.
With Charles teaching a young Nico the boxing trade it wasn't long until Nico himself broke out as a talented fighter and as an amateur he went on to claim the Silver medal at the 1985 South East Asian (SEA) Games and apparently the 1986 President's Cup Gold medal.
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In late 1986 Nico turned professional and would win his first contest defeating Kid Manguni via a decision on November 3rd. Following his debut it's believed that Thomas would lose his following two bouts to end the year 1-2, fitting in 3 fights in the space of about 8 weeks.
Nico's career from then on is much what we know as what we don't know. We know he lost and draw to a fellow Indonesian Minimumweight in 1987, though we're unsure of the complete name of his opponent, who is listed on boxrec as “? Budi” and we also know that he scored 3 victories later in the same year, though we're unsure if they were all of his fights from the year. Unfortunately the Indonesian records from the 1980's and 1990's weren't particularly well kept which makes it difficult to fully know not only who Nico fought but also when and where. Thankfully we know that in early 1988 Nico fought for his first title facing Thailand's Napa Kiatwanchai for the WBC International Minimumweight title. Although Nico would lose to Kiatwanchai, a future WBC Minimumweight world champion, he did put up a solid effort in losing a split decision. Unfortunately the loss to Kiatwanchai was followed by successive losses to John Arief and to former IBF Minimumweight champion Kyung-Yung Lee. Although Nico was stopped by Lee the bout it's self is best remembered for the fact the referee was drunk and gave a count to Nico after he dropped Lee in the opening round. Nico would win his first title less than 6 months after the loss to Lee as he defeated Nana Suhana by 8th round TKO for the Indonesian Minimumweight title. Some 5 months after claiming the Indonesian title Nico would fight for his first world title, the IBF Minimumweight belt. Facing off against Thailand's Samuth Sithnaruepol. Nico was held to a draw by the Thai but would get a second chance at the belt less than 3 months later and this time around he managed to defeat Sithnaruepol for the title to become Indonesia's second world champion. Sadly for Nico his title reign was short lived as he was dethroned in just his first defense by Filipino Eric Chavez, just 3 months after winning the title. Chavez would knock out Nico in the 5th round and unfortunately Nico would feel the effects in his next 2 contests suffering stoppage losses to Pretty Boy Lucas and Ala Villamor who were, like Chavez, both Filipino's. Unfortunately Nico's record becomes really sketchy after the trio of losses to the Filipino's mentioned above. It's known that he won at least 3 bouts though it could well have been more than 10 due to the aforementioned issues with keeping records in Indonesia. What we do know for certain is that his next fight of note after the loss to Villamor came in 1993 against Thai great Ratanapol Sor Vorapin for the IBF Minimumweight title. Vorapin proved his class by stopping Nico in the 7th round in what would be Nico's last world title bout. Nico continued fighting despite the loss to Sor Vorapin though, again, who and when he fought is hard to be sure about. It's known that he made several defences of his Indonesian Minimumweight title and even claimed the OPBF Minimumweight title thanks to a victory over Surachai Saengmorakot, though other than those title bouts it's difficult to say just what bouts Thomas had. Despite having been a world champion it was Nico's reign as the OPBF champion that was arguably his most impressive title reign. Not only did he beat Saengmorakot for the belt but he'd defend it against him as well, and then against Sang-Chul Lee, before losing it in Japan to Wolf Tokimitsu via a majority decision. Following the OPBF title loss to Tokimitsu we again see Nico's record becoming relatively difficult to follow for a while. We know he fought several times in 1998 as he stacked up fights though the actual number is next to impossible to be sure about. Thankfully in 1999 things got a bit easier to follow with Nico defeating Yosuke Kobayashi in Japan and then losing to Juanito Rubillar in Guam. It was the victory over Kobayashi in August 1999 that was probably the last noteworthy victory he scored as he career really fell apart in the following years. Unfortunately it was a combination of things that lead to Nico suffering a string of stoppage losses. Firstly the match making was tough. Nico would fight fellow Indonesian Muhammad Rachman, the fourth Indonesian world champion; Eagle Den Junlaphan; Pornsawan Porpramook and Nethra Sasiprapa. Secondly he was getting on. By the time of his final fight in 2006 he was just months from turning. Maybe more notably however was his long career. Boxrec have 56 bouts listed for Nico with his record reading 29-23-6 (18). The actual number is probably closer to 100 with a figure of 85 often mentioned. Nico was once quoted as saying he wanted 100 contests though it appears age caught up with him before he could reach triple figures. Having hung up his gloves in 2006 Nico has since remained in boxing passing on his knowledge and experiences to the upcoming Indonesian fighters thanks to work in a gym Jakarta. Whilst he himself be forgotten by many in the boxing world he'll be hoping those he helps will manage to help his legacy live on. The training that Nico has been giving fighters can be seen in the video below thanks to WiemSapuletteBoxing. In the video Nico is working with young amateur Ongen Saknosiwi, a fighter who fought at the 2012 Indonesian amateur championships, although he was beaten in his first contest. Unfortunately fight footage of Nico is difficult to find so for now it appears this is as close as many will come to actually seeing Nico in action. |
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