Pongsaklek Wonjongkam vs. Takuya Kogawa

This is in twenty hours or so. :good

Pong's WBC flyweight title will be on the line.

This will be his 25th time vying for it. Of the previous 24 times, he is 22-1-1 with nine knockouts. 19 have been successful defenses against rated contenders (17 in his original reign and two in his current one). Some criticize his choice of tuneup opposition between his defenses, but honestly his record with the championship on the line is pretty tasty if you ignore all the junk food and crumbs floating around it. This concludes today's informative dissection of Pong's metaphorical large intestine, class. :hi:

Kogawa is no exception to Pong's credible succession of challengers for the coveted green belt of the men wee enough to fly. While he did dispatch a debutant just two fights ago (remember, Pong himself met three in a row just a couple of years ago!) he has strung together a couple of good wins on the domestic & regional scene including Pinoy fringe dwellers Danilo Pena and Rich Olisa, as well as the diminutive but dangerous Xiong Zhao "The Chinese Tyson" Zhong. Just a few months earlier, Zhong gave then-champion Daisuke Naito a hell of a struggle a couple of years back in what was probably belonged on the top 10 FOTY list for 2009.

Kogawa has an inch on Pong and has competed frequently at bantamweight. Most recently he captured the vacant Oriental super fly title against Pena, but is cutting even more weight for this huge payday and opportunity for glory. Kogawa has acquired a bit of a reputation for thrashing Thai boxers, although obviously none have been anywhere near the level of Wonjongkam. This should be yet another fun chapter in the rivalry between Thailand and Japan as hot spots (or is that hot pots? ) for Asian pugilistic talent.

It is my sincere hope to be able to watch this and report the action for those who can't (or desire not to wake up at 5am EST). atriot

 

:roll:

As explained above, if you ignore all the guys with losing records and less than 10 pro fights you'll find that both his schedule and quality of opposition as an active champ is pretty respectable (averaging two world title contests annually for an entire decade).

As for all the "bums" - that's just how those wacky Siamese roll. Different cultures have different perspectives on things, Mr. Sensitive McOpenMind. :nono It isn't like Pong is cherry picking no-hopers to pad his record. It's more about staying fresh and limber by climbing in the ring as often as possible (which in the West is often done with hard sparring against as high a caliber partner as can be found) and he's giving these guys who would otherwise never come CLOSE to such exposure or bragging rights the honor of stepping in the ring with him. He could be doing the same thing and calling them exhibitions, but this way as real sanctioned pro bouts the guys actually have a chance to get his name on their legitimate professional win column! (however slim the chance of them actually pulling it off)

 

Are you at all worried, BE? Things got a little hairy the last time Pong tangled with Nihonjin, and Kogawa is definitely the best fighter he'll have seen since the One Who Shall Remain Nameless.

 

Not before Yori Boy! :deal :bbb

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/forum/showthread.php?t=289848

 

Speaking of Zhong, he is someone it would be AWESOME to see challenge Pong at this point. With the latter aging and slowing down a bit, it actually might be pretty evenly matched and would for damn sure be exciting. Zhong himself could be building up a name as a menace to Thai fighters, giving Pong further incentive to punish him should the Chinese near-midget (3cm too tall to qualify) push himself up the rankings of the WBC, whose Asian 108lb title he already holds. He knocked out one visitor from Thailand back in December, and fought another on Monday (no update has yet been published anywhere as of yet, but my guess is he racked up win #16 and KO #11...)

 

Why don't you take on the 15 guys who beat him, you stupid ******? :deal