So I was looking at Pong's fight record on BoxRec, and I was surprised at the mix of people he fights. Amongst the healthy opposition there are nobodies -- and a large number of them too. Before his last title defense he fought 3 guys with records of 0-2, 1-2 and 1-3. Between his fights with Natio and Miranda (who were both legit opponents) he fought 4 guys of whom 3 were making their debut, and one whose professional career consisted solely of a loss. Interestingly, the latter's first three fights were in Thailand, all against fighters with strong records (Singsurgat, Pong, and a guy called Patavikorngym who has 13-1). Singsurgat makes a living off fighting bums, but Pong is a world-class fighter ... so why does he fight such easy opponents?
Somebody seems to go on about this about once a week. The short answer is at flyweight, in Thailand, you've got a completely different ****ing universe and what's normal and acceptable there and at that weight would be bizarre by UK or American standards, and anything at higher weights like lightweight+or guys that have global exposure, are HBO and Showtime fighters, etc. Go back some years, legends like Locche were doing the same thing at 140 in Argentina while reigning as champion. It's not a deviation from anything in that circumstance. It surprises a lot of fight fans when they look it up.
Pong is god he can fight 11years old and still be god And if Boxrec says that a guy has no fights, especially an Asian fighter, it just means that none of that fighter's fights have been recorded on Boxrec.
he makes some money with those fights rather than paying off sparring partners and get it done behind closed doors
Fighters in Thailand will not recieve the same paycheck as those in the US. They stay active because, fighting every month or so is natural to them and they are trying to make as much money as possible when they still have the ability to. After they retire they really have little means.
Thai fighters don't have breaks between fights, they go straight back to the gym and want to fight as soon as possible, but a world title fight, even at flyweight is expensive for the Thai pocket. So he defends in average regularity and takes in-shape fights in between pretty much like everyone else used to back in the day. Pong is Old School on every level.
His most recent fight was against a tough, fast guy, and would've given lots of fighters in that div. problems. Pong handled him fairly easily because he's world class.
