Wow 117-111x3, none of the judges gave Wanheng more than one of the last four rounds, and one didn't give him any. Not with their distribution but 9-3 would be the max I could have given Panya (vs 115-113 max for Wanheng). Right guy won, but 117-111x3 is too much, one 117-111 card would have been reasonable, but surely at least one could find four/five rounds for Wanheng
Gutted for Wanheng after such a gutsy performance, but it is what is. Credit to Panya for the repeated and hopefully (probably unlikely) we get to the super Thai clash between him and Knockout CP Freshmart. That or maybe one of the Shigeoka bros.
The top 4 Filipinos at 105 are Saludar, Cuarto, Taduran, and Jerusalem. Saludar probably has the best shot against Pradabsri but I definitely wouldn’t pick him to win.
Not wide enough in my opinion, although I'm okay with it. He did well in several rounds, but not enough to give it him out of pity, just because he gave it the goold old college try, he simply didn't land enough to edge most of them.
Pradabsri is the clear #1 at 105 but he doesn’t look unbeatable. I’d favor him in unifications with Niyomtrong and Taniguchi but those aren’t guaranteed wins.
To be honest I don't think this was a great skill showcase from them. The 115ers are a lot faster despite being bigger
Only caught the second half. Going by that and everybody's cards, however - to quote the late great Emanuel Steward, "the fight went exactly how I thought it would go". Pradabsri just had always been a superior fighter to Five Star Grilled Chicken, in every respect, and now proven twice over h2h...and honestly if they fought eight more times he'd be 10-0. Sure they'd all be competitive but...even the first time it wasn't competitive in a way that left any doubt who the better man was, as I said in the preview & poll thread for the rematch.
I had peepee aka Petchmanee sweeping every round I caught (partial sixth until final bell) and of those 7 there were maybe 2 with any wiggle room for Wanheng if you were reaching for him.
I'm surprised at how close some have it to be honest, it was competitive for a while but Panya ran away with it in the end, outboxed the legend and made it look quite easy. Impressive performance from Panya, a new star is born. On another note it was refreshing to be able to see the scorecards during the fight, I was able to relax and enjoy the fight knowing that the judges were mostly getting it right.