Pongsaklek Wonjongkam v Daisuke Naito I
Courtesy of Boxrec.com (picture taken from fight III)
For the better part of a decade Thai legend Pongsaklek Wonjongkam dominated the Flyweight division. Although his record is often criticised it's not as weak as some, especially those from the west, would have you believe, in fact in terms of top quality names it holds it's own with most other top fighters.
One of the truly historic victories on Pongsaklek's record came in April 2002 when he faced Japanese rival Daisuke Naito (19-0-2, 14). At this point in time Pongsaklek had amassed an eye opening 45 bouts (going 43-2 with 24 KO's), he had been a champion for little over a year and was already making his 4th defense.
Going in to the bout not many would have argued against Pongsaklek being one of the best fighters, pound-for-pound, on the planet. He had proven to be one of the standout guys at Flyweight (Ring Magazine had him at #2 going in to this bout) though no one would have expected what they saw in this bout.
One of the truly historic victories on Pongsaklek's record came in April 2002 when he faced Japanese rival Daisuke Naito (19-0-2, 14). At this point in time Pongsaklek had amassed an eye opening 45 bouts (going 43-2 with 24 KO's), he had been a champion for little over a year and was already making his 4th defense.
Going in to the bout not many would have argued against Pongsaklek being one of the best fighters, pound-for-pound, on the planet. He had proven to be one of the standout guys at Flyweight (Ring Magazine had him at #2 going in to this bout) though no one would have expected what they saw in this bout.
Hosted in the Thai city of Khon Kaen, Pongsaklek's fans had come out in mass to cheer on their champion. Naito, with his unbeaten record looked calm, confident and almost as if he felt the bout was going to be easy. He must have known that Pongsaklek was a good fighter but just believe in his own abilities, he was after all unbeaten.
The confidence from Naito was apparent before the fight began as he was smiling in his corner and as soon as the bell went to start the bout he set off the attack. Within seconds of the bout starting Naito had already tried to take Pongsaklek's head off. He had missed with a straight right after about 2 seconds and a left hook soon afterwards. Despite the misses his intentions were clear, this wasn't going to the judges. Naito didn't take his immediate misses to heart and continued to look for big shots. Whilst he started to use his jab slightly it was still evident that he was looking for fireworks with his right hand. Unfortunately however Naito's shots tended be missing Pongsaklek by quite a distance as the Thai showed his experience and looked for counter punching opportunities rather than traded with the offensive Japanese challenger. With Pongsaklek still calm despite the intense offensiveness of Naito the opportunity for a clean counter was always going to come sooner or later. It's fair to say however that no one expected that opportunity to arise as quickly as it did. Naito, still looking a little like a bull in a china shop attempted to land an uppercut whilst out of range and with Pongsaklek seeing the opportunity he landed a perfect counter left that put Naito down flat on his back. The challenger appeared to be out cold though stirred at the count of 8 and almost sat up before the referee counted to 10, despite this it was clear that he had no idea where he was or what he was doing as he was counted out. Despite the intense action of the bout it lasted just 34 seconds, including the count, as Pongsaklek recorded the quickest ever victory in a Flyweight title bout (breaking a record that has stood since 1929). Unfortunately for Naito this loss saw him receiving a lot of negative press and comments from fans, despite this he eventually earned the respect of the Japanese boxing public and media alike. |
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Fact Box-
Venue- Khon Kaen, Thailand Date- April 19th 2002 Pongsaklek Wonjongkam (43-2, 24) 4th Defence of WBC Flyweight title v Daisuke Naito (19-0-2, 14) Referee- Unknown Judges- Unknown Unknown Unknown Outcome- Pongsaklek KO1 Awards- Records- Quickest KO in a Flyweight World title bout The video below, thanks to JunglesOfThailand shows the fight in it's entirety as well as well as the introductions and celebrations. |
Despite suffering the early blast out on his record Naito would rebuild and become a highly regarded fighter in his own right.
Just 2 and a half years after this loss to Pongsaklek, Naito would claim the Japanese Flyweight title. In 2005 Naito would face Pongsaklek a second time, this time he would lose a technical decision in the 7th round. In 2007 however Naito got revenge over the Thai and claimed a tough decision over him to become the WBC Flyweight champion. Having won the title Naito would defend it 5 times, including a draw with Pongsaklek and a decisions over Daiki Kameda and Xiong Zhao Zhong. Unfortunately in 2009, aged 35, Naito would lose the title to Koki Kameda. He would fight just once more before retiring with a record of 36-3-3 (26). Following the victory for Pongsaklek he would defend the title 13 more times before dropping it to Naito in their 3rd meeting. Following the loss and subsequent draw with Naito in their 4th meeting many had began to write off the Thai as a fighter who was done. He however re-established himself and claimed his old belt back with a victory over Koki Kameda (who of course had beaten Naito for the belt). In his second reign as champion Pongsaklek would defend the belt 4 times before being stopped by Sonny Boy Jaro in March 2012. He would lose again 8 months later and many thought he'd retire though instead he continues to fight having last fought just a few weeks ago as he moved his record to an incredible 89-5-2 (47). |