Srisaket Sor Rungvisai

Courtesy of Nakornloung Boxing Promotion

If any Oriental fighter announced himself on the world stage in 2013 then it was Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (40-4-1, 37) [ศรีสะเกษ ศ.รุ่งวิสัย] who really came out of nowhere to become the WBC Super Flyweight champion and one of the most intimidating fighters in the lower weights, if not the entire of the boxing world.

Like many top fighters throughout the history of the sport Srisaket was born in to poverty. He took up Muay Thai as a teenager to try and earn a little bit of extra money though was sadly forced, at a young age, to move away from Sisaket Province, where he was born to hunt opportunities and chances in Bangkok. Unfortunately even in Bangkok, the biggest city in Thailand, Srisaket struggled to get things on the right track with the youngster needing to steal food from the garbage and do all he could to survive.

Thankfully now, some years later, things are going well for Srisaket who has proven that boxing can be a way out of poverty and a way to being a moderately wealthy national hero, even if he doesn't have the money of a Floyd Mayweather or the national adoration of Manny Pacquiao he is still one of boxing's modern day success stories. What he has is a nice shiny belt, a regular income and the ability to eat what he wants, when he wants, something that seemed an impossibility just a few short years ago.

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Although Srisaket had began fighting in Muay Thai as a teenager it wasn't until much later that he joined a boxing camp with the hope of making some extra money. At that point any extra money was a bonus and with his Muay Thai background he knew he could look after himself in a ring even if he didn't fully understand how to box.

Unfortunately for Srisaket his lack of boxing knowledge really did cost him early in his career, as did being matched ridiculously hard. In his first 5 contests he won just one bout, beating the debuting Prakaipetch Aunsawan. The one win had come against 3 losses, including a stoppage to Akira Yaegashi on Srisaket's debut and a decision loss to the far more experienced Kenji Oba, both of which came in Japan.

Although many fighters who begin 1-3-1 may retire, Srisaket didn't. Instead of hanging up his gloves Srisaet was bitten by the boxing bug and and determined to succeeded. His determination was impressive and caught the eye of the folk at the Nakornloung Boxing Promotion gym who decided to take a chance and accepted the young Srisaket in to their promotion, since then Srisaket has paid back their belief and then some.

Having started his career 1-3-1 Srisaket would begin an incredible run of results in April 2010 as he stopped Sorasak Lor Laitha Gym in 2 rounds. The victory over Sorasak was quickly followed by 3 others as Srisaket ended the 2010 with a record of 5-3-1 (5), giving him a winning record over all, something that had seemed so unlikely when he had lost his first 2 bouts by T/KO.

With Srisaket starting 2011 with a winning record it seemed that the key was to keep his momentum going and that's exactly what he did scoring 6 victories during the calendar year. Not only was Srisaket advancing his record at a very impressive pace but other things were starting together. He won his first title, the WBC Asian Boxing Council Super Flyweight title, in June by stopping Indonesia's Erick Diaz Siregar, and defended it a few months later, and he also began to appear on and more meaningful shows including shows headlined by world title fights.

Having established himself on the Thai scene by the start of 2012 and having moved his record to a solid looking 11-3-1 (11) it seemed that the year was going to be spent developing his skills, move up the rankings and following in the footsteps of close friend and stablemate Suriyan Sor Rungvisai, who began the year as the WBC Super Bantamweight world champion. Unfortunately for Srisaket 2012 didn't exactly go as he'd of wished. Firstly his KO streak came to an end as he scored a technical decision victory over Dondon Jimenea and soon afterwards he saw his friend Suriyan lose his world title to Yota Sato.

Despite Suriyan's loss to Sato, Srisaket saw his career rolling. By the end of the year he had advanced his record to 16-3-1 (15) with notable wins coming over Lionel Mark Duran and the previously unbeaten Alvin Bais. Srisaket may not have been wiping out world class foes but his skills and confidence were growing fight after fight. In the space of just a few years he had grown from a diamond in the rough to a world ranked fighter who had really began on the domestic scene. Sure he was untested but those who had seen him, knew they had been watching a wrecking ball in action.

The question about how good Srisaket really was answered in 2013 when he took on took on Yota Sato and avenged the loss of stable mate Suriyan. Against Sato we saw Srisaket go on the offensive from the first bell before breaking down and beating up Sato to rip away the WBC Super Flyweight title from the Japanese fighter. This was one of 7 victories that Srisaket scored in the year which also so him defending the world title once stopping Hirofumi Mukai the 9th round of an incredibly one sided contest.

To kick off 2014 Srisaket has already scored three knockouts taking less than a round to stop his first and third over-matched foe and just 2 rounds to stop his second. All three of the bouts, total mismatches, were stay busy bouts for Srisaket.

Sadly the Thai lost his first meaningful contest of 2014, and his title, as he was beaten by Mexico's Carlos Cuadras in a contest that failed to live up to expectation. Cuadras showed the issues with Srisaket's slow foot speed though seemed to appreciate that the Thai had scary power.

In his first bout following the loss to Cuadras we saw a disappointing victory for Srisaket who took a 7th round technical decision over journeyman Zoren Pama. Srisaket appeared to think he was going to walk through Pama quickly and when that didn't happen he started to look tired and was happy to be bailed out after a clash of heads opened a relative small cut around his eye. It was disappointing but hopefully we'll see the true Srisaket back in action soon.

Since the win over Pama we've seen Srisaket staying very busy with 12 wins, all by stoppage. On the whole they have come against a low level of opposition though the most recent win scored by the heavy handed Thai saw him stop Mexico's Jose Salgado, in a very impressive performance that has made Srisaket the #1 contender for a rematch with the WBC champion. Although the 1 contender the Thai has stayed busy whilst waiting for his shot and is expected to keep ticking over until he finally gets a world title fight.

Although Srisaket has been ignored by many Western fans the destructive Thai is one of the most fun to watch fighters in the sport. He is all about aggression, pressure and work rate. Although not a concussive puncher, Srisaket does hit hard and scores stoppages from really grinding foes down with heavy leather thrown none stop. Whilst he's not going to score highlight reel KO's like Gennady Golovkin he is going to be a very, very hard man to beat with his style, toughness, power and work rate all making life difficult for any future opponents.