The top 5 wins of - Pongsaklek Wonjongkam

11/23/2019

The second in our "Top 5 Wins" features looks at another modern icon, as we look at Thai great Pongsaklek Wonjongkam (9-15-2, 47). The Thai is a criminally over-looked fighter who is often remembered unfairly as a fighter who only fought in Asia against weak opposition, but the reality is that he fought a lot of fighters who were a lot better than fans realise. In fact of the men he beat numerous ones went on to win world titles in the years that followed, and the way he essentially monopolised the WBC Flyweight world title in the 00's and early 10's is incredible.

So lets have a look at the 5 top wins of Pongsaklek Wonjongkam.

5-Suriyan Sor Rungvisai (October 28th 2010)
In Pongsaklek's first defense of his second reign he took on the then 14-3-1 (4) Suriyan Sor Rungvisai. At the age of 33 Pongsaklek was seen as being on the way out, and although Suriyan hadn't made his mark on the sport by this point, something he would do impressively in the coming years, though the then 21 year old left a great impression here. Pongsaklek was pushed all the way by a talented, tough, determined foe who came of age. Suriyan would put up an amazing effort, using his youth, energy and toughness. The challenger even threw up at one point yet still continued to press and push Wonjongkam in a bit of a forgotten classic. This was a great fight, a hotly contested battle and in many ways the start of the end for Wonjongkam, who would only defend the WBC title 3 more times. It was also a bout that put Suriyan on the map, before he won the WBC Super Flyweight title

4-Edgar Sosa (October 21st 2011)
A year after beating Suriyan we saw Pongsaklek take on excellent Mexican fighter Edgar Sosa. Sosa was 43-6, 2 years younger than Wonjongkam, a former long reigning Light Flyweight champion and a very, very good fighter. He had lost just once in his previous 32 bouts, and that was a very controversial loss to Rodel Mayol, on paper this looked a huge ask for the the ageing Pongsaklek, and Sosa was in great form. What we ended up seeing here was Pongsaklek out boxing, out thinking, out moving and out fighting the Mexican in what turned out to be one final great performance by Pongsaklek. Amazingly this would be his last win at world level. Sosa on the other hand remained a contender until quite recently, losing to Roman Gonzalez in 2015 and Donnie Nietes in 2016.

3-Malcolm Tunacao (March 2nd 2001)
Of course the win that puts a fighter on the map always belongs on any top 5 list, and that's exactly what we got when Pongsaklek took on WBC Flyweight champion Malcolm Tunacao in 2001. The unbeaten Tunacao was 11-0-1, 7, and had taken the title the previous year with a TKO win over Medgoen Singsurat and had made a defense in Japan against Celes Kobayashi. For Pongsaklek this was supposed to be the first real test, the first time he was facing someone of known quality and the first time the then 23 year old Thai was supposed to be in there with a top quality opponent. Pongsaklek made this look incredibly easy, surprisingly so in fact, as he dropped the Filipino champion just over a minute into the fight and set an incredible all out tempo. Tunacao got to his feet but was dropped a second time not afterwards and then dropped again. He was done within a round. This win kicked off a great reign for Pongasaklek and was one of only 2 career stoppages for Tunacao, the other coming more than 12 years later, in 12 rounds to Shinsuke Yamanaka. This was a huge win, and an incredibly impressive one when we look back over out.

2-Koki Kameda (March 27th 2010)
After losing the WBC Flyweight title to Daisuke Naito in 2007, in their third bout, it seemed like Pongsaklek was on his way out. He was "only" 29 at the time but had had 65 bouts and seemed to be on the slide. Over 2 years later however Pongsaklek would become a 2-time world champion, upsetting the then 22-0 Koki Kameda in a notable upset win. Kameda had been one of the stars of Japan, he was a controversial figure, but a huge star and at only 23 years old he was seen as one of the top rising stars, and was already a 2-weight world champion. Kameda had taken the title from Naito, and yet was unable to over-come the then 32 year old Pongaklek. The Thai legend pressed, pushed, forced the tempo and our worked Kameda, who had the edge in speed, but didn't do enough. This was a great win for Pongsaklek and was a huge win at the time, against one of the biggest names in Asian boxing.

1-Daisuke Naito (Apri 19th 2002) I
When a fighter sets a record that stands more than 17 years later, and does so against a future world champion it's worth making a note of. Especially when the fighters go on to have a very storied rivalry. That is part of what elevates Pongsaklek's first win against Daisuke Naito to the #1 place here. Entertaing the bout Naito was 19-0-2 (14), aged 27 he was seen as being in his physical prime and was a a legitimate title challenger. Despite Naito being a really good challenger, Wonjongkam managed to take him out with 1 powerful straight left hand after just 34 seconds. This blow out win is still the quickest win in a world title bout, one of the all time quickest in world title bouts, and was the only stoppage loss for Naito, who would later go 1-1-1 in a trio of rematches with Wonjongkam. For the historical context of this win, it takes the #1 place in our list of Wonjongkam's top 5 wins.

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The Asian Fighters to watch in 2016 (Bonus part 2!)

1/26/2016

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Over the last few weeks we've looked at 30 fighters who we tipped as “ones to watch in 2016”, unsurprisingly however we had to miss out on a lot of fighters. Here we are doing a bonus part trying to include an extra 20 fighters who missed out on our original 6 parts! With these 20 extra fighters it brings the total covered up to an amazing 50 fighters!

For those who missed them the previous parts are available below-
Part 1 is here
Part 2 is here
Part 3 is here
Part 4 is here
Part 5 is here
Part 6 is here

And the first bonus part is here.

A well known Filipino to follow this year is Johnriel Casimero (21-3, 13) who will continue seeking another world title reign. The exciting Pinoy, a former IBF and WBO “interim” champion at 108lbs, had a 2015 to forget with his only bout being a loss to Amnat Ruenroeng, in a foulfest. Despite the disappointing 2015 he is still a world class talent and finds himself in a talent rich weight class, where bouts against the likes of Kazuto Ioka or Juan Francisco Estrada are certainly good looking match ups. Despite being in the talent rich Flyweight division he has been linked to the Super Flyweight division, something we're hoping he he has second thoughts about.

Another Filipino that we would advise making a mental note of for the next 12 months is recent WBO Minimumweight title challenger Vic Saludar (11-2, 9). Saludar ended 2015 losing to Kosei Tanaka however prior to suffering a 6th round TKO loss he had looked the boss of the bout and it seems almost certain that he's going to be a real threat through the 12 months. Bouts involving Saludar and any top 105lb fighter would be great and we're really hoping that that Tanaka won't his last notable one as he has the style and aggression to be a real fan favourite.

Saludar is far from the only Filipino puncher that we're excited to see more of in 2016. Another is Rey Loreto (21-13, 13). The “Hitman” had a really frustrating 2015 but in the last few years he has scored wins against Pornsawan Porpramook and Nkosinathi Joyi, twice, and is now viewed as a genuine contender in the 108lb weight class. Loreto may struggle to get many fights in 2016 but we would suggest trying to watch them all as he is a real danger man and has genuine power in every shot. Loreto has already fought this year, blowing away an opponent in Thailand earlier this month, but will be hunting bigger and better bouts through the coming months.

One final Filipino here is WBA “interim” Light Flyweight champion Randy Petalcorin (23-1-1, 18). The “Razor” is a wonderful fighter to watch with blurring hand speed, unerring accuracy and spiteful power. Sadly though his 2015 was essentially a a write off, with around 90 second action, the time it took him to destroy Ma Yi Ming in Beijing. Hopefully 2016 will see him in with the likes of Ryoichi Taguchi or Donnie Nietes or Akira Yaegashi. Possibly the most talented of the Filipino's mentioned in this bonus part, but also the most frustrating given his current position as the top WBA contender at 108lbs.

It's not often that we see Japanese fighters make a name for themselves in the West but Tomoki Kameda (31-2, 19) [亀田　和毅] has managed to do just that, originally making a name for himself in Mexico before expanding his profile in his homeland of Japan and the US. Sadly 2015 was an awful year for the Kameda brothers but Tomoki has got the chance to rebuild this coming year and the 24 year old appears to be eyeing up a charge at 122lbs. Win or lose it will be fun to see how he fares this coming year as he looks to become a world champion for a second time. Sadly for him however he does have serious questions to answer in 2016 and how answers them will tell us a lot about his characters.

Over the coming year there are a number of bouts that we are “expecting” to see. One of which is a WBA Super Flyweight bout with champion Kohei Kono defending his belt against Hong Kong's Rex Tso (18-0, 11) [曹星如]. Tso is one of those many fighters who makes for action bouts, with a wild, offensive, exciting style that has it's limitations but will always be fun to watch, and if he gets the Kono bout that has potential FOTY implications. If he doesn't get a Kono bout the odds are that Tso will still be in some thrillers, as he has been against Michael Enriquez and Mako Matsuyama in recent years. One to watch if you like excitement.

The Light Flyweight division may be the gem in 2016 and with that in mind it's a division where all the champions should be in competitive fights. One such fighter is WBA champion Ryoichi Taguchi (23-2-1, 10) [田口　良一]. The Watanabe gym fighter won his title at the end of 2014 and has beaten two weak opponents in his defenses so far, so hopefully 2016 will see him doing more and actually facing some of his top contemporariness, of which there are plenty of. If he does then he really could be in some great fights later this year.

Talking about Japanese Light Flyweights it's hard to ignore resurgent Ryo Miyazaki (24-1-3, 15) [宮崎　亮], who is on a 4 fight KO run since he was upset by Fahlan Sakkreerin Jr. The former WBA Minimumweight champion is now looking for big bouts at 108lbs and given the team behind him it it seems likely he will get a big bout, with contests against the likes of Akira Yaegashi being real possibilities. Given Miyazaki is always fun to watch, he should always be one to watch, even if he is relatively limited, and with the depth of the division this really could be the year to follow the Ioka gym warrior.

When we talk about exciting it's impossible to ignore destructive Thai Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (38-4-1, 35) [ศรีสะเกษ นครหลวงโปรโมชั่น]. The former WBC Super Flyweight champion is really the Super Flyweight version of Gennady Golovkin and he's a danger to anyone in the division with his combination punching, intense pressure, imposing physical strength and spiteful power. It's that power which has seen him destroy both Yota Sato and Jose Salgado and he is expecting to get another world title fight later this year, in a rematch with Carlos Cuadras.

Staying with Thailand we also need to make another former world champion, Suriyan Sor Rungvisai (46-6-1, 23) [สุริยัน ศ.รุ่งวิสัย]. The experienced 26 year old Thai has been around the block but proven himself as being a tough and talented fighter capable of giving anyone a hard time. Having been a professional since he was 17 it's fair to call Suriyan a veteran. He had a short lived reign as the WBC Super Flyweight champion in 2011-2012 and has since proven himself a very credible Bantamweight who is looking to get a second shot at a 118lb title later this year, if he can over-come Anselmo Moreno in April.

We hope you'll follow these men, as well as the 40 featured in the previous "To watch" articles.

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The top 5 wins of - Pongsaklek Wonjongkam

The Asian Fighters to watch in 2016 (Bonus part 2!)

Thinking Out East

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