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Thailand's Chalermpol Singwancha is relatively highly regarded as a prospect and possible title challenger though his career, so far, has been a difficult one to get a read on, despite plenty of footage of his fights being out there. The problem with Chalermpol is that in a number of his fights he has clearly struggled. The was first evident when he looked out of puff against Dan Nazareno Jr in April 2014 and was again evident just a fight later as Amor Tino gave him hell. What both of those fights had in common was that Chalermpol was facing men who knew how to take care of themselves in the ring and could take a solid shot and fire back. The Thai put those struggles behind him in his very next fight as he took on the lanky but inexperienced Valentine Tino. Tino towered over Chalermpol though allowed the Thai to fight at his own pace which was deliberately slow. Doing that just played into the Thai's hand and he had a real field day with Tino and slowly broke his down whilst smiling through out the bout. Although the bout was a mismatch it was probably the type of bout Chalermpol needed to restore some of his confidence. He does however still need to work on his numerous flaws or he will fall short of even claiming a PABA title. Against this tier of opponent however we do expect that Chalermpol will be fun to watch with his defensive flaws and aggressive mentality.
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Having won the OPBF Super Featherweight title in May 2012 with a 9th round TKO over Dong Hyuk Kim it's hard to believe that Jomthong Chuwatana has only defended it twice with the most recent of those defences coming in February 2013 against former champion Ronald Pontillas. Pontillas had, himself, won the title from the heavy handed Masao Nakamura though went on to lose it to Kim, who as mentioned lost it to Jomthong. The bout, which was a relatively straight forward win on paper for Jomthong, was the hardest bout of his career so far and saw him forced to take some solid shots from his Filipino foe. Despite the bout being relatively tough for Jomthong it was still a very good 12 round work out for the tough and talented Thai who is now set to return to the ring to take on Koseki Nakama. It's just a shame the OPBF title has been held up for way more than a year. When we think of the most promising and talented Thai's it's very hard not to be impressed by Jomthong Chuwatana, despite a long break from boxing to concentrate on other things, notably his Muay Thai. For those who had seen Jomthong in Muay Thai however his transition to boxing would have been little surprise considering how good he was with his hands. In 2010 Jomthong began his transition to that of a boxer and just over 2 years after his debut he stepped up in class to fight for the OPBF Super Featherweight title against tough South Korean Dong Hyuk Kim. Despite fighting on hostile territory against a reigning champion and a tough and talented fighter Jomthong just did what he does so well and won. The fight was a slow grinding job by Jomthong who seemed in control of the bout from early on with his heavy and sharp shots though credit goes to Kim who fought valiantly and showed off the Korean heart that used to make Korean fighters must watch fighters. Sadly it wasn't his heart that let him down here but instead his face which had become very badly swollen on the right side and the doctor had no option but to stop the fight. From what we understand Kim suffered a very serious injury that has kept him out of the ring for a prolonged time, though there is talk in South Korea that he may be making a comeback either later this year or early next year. For Jomthong however it was evidence of just how nasty his shots are. (We apologise for the lack of sound, the video we were sent featured all the sound played at around double speed meaning it ran it's course after 20 minutes, we made the decision to use a sound-less version instead of that) When we think of the greatest KO's of all time it's hard to ignore the excellent 1-punch KO by Filipino Ben Villaflor against Japanese nemesis Kuniaki Shibata from October 1973. The bout was the second meeting between the two men who had first met in March 1973 with Shibata successfully claiming the WBA Super Featherweight title with a narrow decision over Villaflor in Hawaii. The men met again just 7 months later and the result really couldn't be any different as Villaflor regained is title inside 2 minutes with a thunderbolt that left Shibata out cold. It was, in many ways, the perfect way to recapture the title for Villaflor who would fight on until 1976 eventually losing his title to Samuel Serrano in Puerto Rico. As As for Shibata he would claim the WBC Super Featherweight title 4 months after this fight, beating Ricardo Arredondo. As the WBC champion Shibata would defend the belt thrice before losing to Alfredo Ecalera and slowing winding down his career which came to an end in 1977. We know boxing fans have a short memory but we've got to admit it seems an eternity ago that Nobuhiro Ishida was a tall, lanky Middleweight. Amazingly it wasn't as long ago as we seem to think and his last bout at 160lbs came in August 2013 when he easily over-came Indonesian visitor Elly Pangaribuan. The bout didn't just turn out to be Ishida's last as a Middleweight but also a complete mismatch with Pangaribuan really not fit to step in the ring with the talented Ishida who had his way almost from the opening bell. Within a round the Indonesian was down and in round 2 Ishida could seemingly smell blood dropping his lesser skilled foe twice in round 2. Pangaribuan was counted out after the second knockdown though it seemed Ishida was was a little embarrassed by how easily he had put away his over-matched foe. Since this bout Ishida has made the move to Heavyweight and fought in a very competitive contest with Japanese Heavyweight champion Kyotaro Fujimoto. He now appears to have his eyes firmly set on getting a rematch with Fujimoto and becoming the Japanese Heavyweight champion. If he manages to do that then it'll be a great accomplishment for a Japanese fighter who is better known outside of his homeland than inside it, strangely. (Video courtesy of Mantagu) When a fighter struggles with stamina against one opponent you tend to feel that that becomes an area that the fighter should begin to focus on and attempt to improve. With that in mind we had expected to see an improved Chalermpol Singwancha following his narrow win over Dan Nazareno Jr. In that bout Chalermpol looked out on his feet late on, and had Nazareno had the desire to win we'd have seen the much touted Thai suffer a notable and embarrassing defeat. Sadly instead of working on his stamina Chalermpol seemed to think the struggles were a one off and went into his next bout, against Amor Tino, only to find out that the same issues were there late on. Despite starting brightly Chalermpol couldn't put much of a dent into Tino early on and in the second half of the fight the Filipino really came back strong. Again Chalermpol had blown his tank and was forced to struggle through the latter rounds with a significantly reduced work rate. It was clear that it wasn't a one off in the Nazareno fight but that the Thai really did have issues with his stamina. Thankfully for Chalermpol he was at home and managed to take the bout with a decision though the score cards of 116-112,118-110,118-110 really did flatter the Thai who should now be very aware that he has a lot of work to do on his fitness We are certainly seeing a rise in promising Thais over the last year or so. Of course many of those fighters participate in the lower weights where the vast majority of fans won't take notice of them and as a result the likes of Stamp Kiatniwat and Nop Kratingdaenggym will be ignored by many in the west. Higher up the weights however is Chalermpol Singwancha a man many in Thailand were excited about at the start of the year due to his power and Muay Thai experience. Chalermpol started his carer in great fashion winning his first 6 bouts by stoppage in a combined 17 rounds. In his 7th fight however he found out that he wasn't just going to blast through foes as tough Filipino Dan Nazareno Jr took him 12 rounds. The bout wasn't just the first time Chalermpol had failed to score a knockout but was the first time he had been made to look very pedestrian and the first time he had had his stamina tested. Although he got the win here Chalermpol was given a real wake up call here and it was clear there was a lot to work on, notably his stamina which was completely gone in the "championship rounds". It's fair to say that had Nazareno come with the desire to win he probably could have finished off the Thai who was very lucky that his opponent was happy to go through the motions. It really was a lucky escape for the much touted Thai. Sadly though many will feel the other emerging Thai's on this same level when in all honesty the power weight Thai's really are a lot more impressive than Chalermpol. Usually boxrec.com is good for the inclusion of title fights, especially televised title fights though, at the time of writing, it appears that at least one fight has slipped through the net. That's the "interim" PABA title winning effort from Nop Kratingdaenggym from October 11th 2013. The fight, teelvised by Channel 7, saw Nop winning a clear decision over Indonesia's Skak Max to claim his first professional title and extend his winning record, at the time this bout was the 6th win for Nop, as far as we are aware. As has become his trademark Nop used intelligent pressure behind his jab to effectively have his way with Max who was forced to cover up and fight back only when Nop allowed him to. Once again it wasn't just Nop's jab that impressed but also his head movement which really makes him stand out compared to so many other Thai's out there. Nop, as you will know if you've followed his career, is one of the Thai's who doesn't employ a "Thai style" and this bout, as good as any other, shows off what makes him so different. Usually when we talk about Thai's we expect a stereo type. A straight forward, strong, powerful basic fighter who tends to either grind opponents down or try to blast them away. One big exception to that rule is Nop Kratingdaenggym a Thai who is a boxer, though one who can apply very educated pressure behind his sharp jab. It's not just the jab that helps differentiate Nop from many other Thai's his head movement and sound boxing from the outside are both great tools that he uses to great effect and help make him one of Thailand's real "boxers". In his 4th bout Nop took on Filipino journeyman Jovill Marayan, who was announced incorrectly as Edison Berwela, and put on an excellent performance that showed why so many in Thailand are quietly excited about him. When Nop gets into the ring fans shouldn't be expecting much in terms of fireworks but they should expect to see a talented and developing boxer who we think will develop power as he matures. Rather than feel disappointed at the relative lack of power we actually like that Nop stands out from many of his compatriots and would love to see him achieving success from his boxing ability rather than becoming a stereotypical Thai. Less than 5 months after Knockout CP Freshmart struggled with Indian Amit Panghal he would take on another Indian southpaw, Sandeep. This time around Knockout was facing a less well schooled Indian and instead of struggling he lived up to his name and scored a 5th round Knockout courtesy of a sustained body attack. One thing that is clear from this fight is that Knockout had learned from his previous bouts with southpaws, including Panghal and Filipino Jonathan Refugio, both of which went the distance. That's not to say Sandeep is on the same level as the others but the improvement from the Thai was obvious. Whilst this was Knockout's 7th straight win it was also the 4th straight loss for Sandeep who had been stopped by future world title challenger Samartlek Kokietgym and former world champion Oleydong Sithsamerchai, who had also taken a decision over Sandeep in the Indian's only bout to reach the final bell. |
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