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Thai fighters change their names relatively often over the course of a successful career, one man who is only ever really know buy one name is Pongsaklek Wonjongkam. Despite fighting under a number of other names fans world wide will remember Wongjonkam as Wonjongkam, not as Pongsaklek CP Freshmart, as he fought under at one point in his career, or Pongsaklek Sitkanongsak which he used at one point. One fighter who fans may remember for two names however is Suriyan who fought much of his early career as Suriyan Por Chokchai before later becoming Suriyan Sor Rungvisai. One of the most notable bouts Suriyan fought as "Por Chokchai" was his WBC Flyweight title fight with Wonjongkam. For many it was the first notable fight that Suriyan took part in and it was also a bout that made it clear that Suriyan had real potential to be a world champion, something he managed to do just 10 months after this fight when he moved to Super Flyweight and claimed the WBC title there. For those interested in numbers this bout it was Wonjongkam's 81st whilst Suriyan was fighting for just the 19th time. It was Suryan's first world title fight whilst Wonjongkam was making the first defense of his second reign following a long and memorable first reign as champion. If you've not seen this we suggest you give it a go and realise that Suriyan's talent was obvious from a relatively young age, he was just 21 at the time of this fight!
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When we talk about modern day Thai legends few, if any, rival former WBC Flyweight kingpin Pongsaklek Wonjongkam. We know the Thai gets some hate from specific corners of the western boxing world but his record speaks for it's self. He's had 90 wins, more than 20 world title defences and more notable wins than many modern day fighter who get significantly more praise than he does. In fact Wonjongkam's string of victories over the likes of Malcolm Tunacao, Luis Alberto Lazarte, Daisuke Naito, Gilberto Keb Baas, Tomonobu Shimizu, Julio Cesar Mirando, Koki Kameda, Suriyan Sor Rungvisai and Edgar Sosa should be enough to secure him a place in the Hall of Fame. Sadly for Wonjongkam his last successful defence was one of the most disappointing as he secured a 47 second technical draw with Japanese novice Hirofumi Mukai. Prior to the early ending we appeared to be on the way to having a high paced boxing contest but a head clash ruined the hope of the very quickly and left Mukai bleeding profusely forcing the bout to be immediately halted. With less than a minute gone there wasn't even a reason to go to the score cards leasing to a very disappointing ending to what was promising to be a good bout. After this bout Wonjongkam would lose his title in a massive upset to Sonny Boy Jaro. Mukai, who is still only a youngster, later managed to secure a fight with the then reigning WBC Super Flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai though suffered a painful loss in that bout and it seems likely that his world title dreams will end if he suffers any more setbacks. |
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April 2024
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