Thailand’s female pugilist Yani Kokietgym says she wants a rematch with Japan’s Etsuko Tada after she has lost to the WBA female minimumweight title holder August 23.
    
Yani, although shorter, was relentless in pressuring Tada at the bout held in Osaka on Sunday. She landed a right hook, causing a cut at the left eyebrow of the Japanese and seemed to be able to tire her out in the later rounds.

However, Tada emerged as the winner by unanimous decision of 96-94, 96-94, and 97-93 from three South Korean judges. The disappointed Yani told the Thai reporters that she felt like the winner of the bout but is willing to fight in a rematch whether it will be held in Japan or Thailand.

WBC Asia female atomweight champion Buarimbueng Kokietgym of Thailand is getting her first “professional” trainer and is preparing for the tile defense in November, says her promoter.

Promoter Kokiet Panichayarom said Buarimbueng is a naturally talented pugilist and has won all 13 professional bouts on her own without help from any “professional” trainer. However, he decided to follow a suggestion to recruit former national champion Mai Thonburifarm to train Buarimbueng.

Mai has been a trainer for a number of gyms, and is remembered for losing the WBC minimumweight match against Japan’s Hiroki Ioka in 1987.

Japanese challenger Takahisa Masuda will be a tough opponent for WBC “interim” flyweight champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam of Thailand due to Masuda’s left-handedness and height advantage, says the Thai boxer’s promoter.

The WBC match of Pongsaklek and Masuda will be held in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai on Friday August 28 and will be broadcasted by Thailand’s Channel Seven from 2.00 p.m. onward.

Thai promoter Piyarat Wachiraratanawong of Petchyindee said Masuda will have an advantage from his height of 169 centimeters, compared to 162 centimeters of Pongsaklek. In addition, the Japanese boxer is an agile southpaw that Pongsaklek often has trouble dealing with, so the Thai must not underestimate the fight, he said.

Thai female pugilist Yani Kokietgym has arrived in Japan for the WBA female minimumweight bout against title holder Etsuko Tada on August 23.

The match of Japanese star Tada, who will defend her title for the first time, and Thai Yani, currently the WBA seventh-place contender and PABA title holder, will be part of the “To the Future Vol. 4” event held in Osaka this Sunday.

Yani and her staff team have arrived in Osaka in the morning of August 19. They wasted no time as Yani started her jogging session right after checking in the hotel, before traveling to a local gym for some practice. Afterward, she was weighted and was found to be exactly 105 pounds.

Two WBC international title holders from Thailand, super lightweight Prawet Singwangcha and flyweight Saenmuangloei Sor Kingstar, are preparing to defend their titles against Indonesian challengers next week, while their promoter Kokiet Panichayarom is looking to impose fight hiatus on the boxers who fail to perform well in the matches.

WBC international super lightweight champion Prawet will fight Stevy Stevie Ongen Ferdinandus at an event in the northern Thai city of Loei on Tuesday September 25, while his promoter Kokiet Panichayarom said if Prawet does not perform well in the fight, he would have to take a long hiatus of about four months from professional boxing.

Kokiet admitted that some of his boxers are eying the price money rather than winning the world titles. He said he has been discouraged by their behavior and will now focus on supporting “those who have the heart”.

Japan’s Takahisa Masuda is preparing himself to challenge WBC “interim” flyweight champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam of Thailand at the end of this month, saying the Thai title holder has passed the peak in his career and is on a way down.

Masuda, who allowed the Japanese media to watch his last training session on August 17 before leaving for the match that will be held in Thailand, told the reporters that he has been preparing himself for two months for the fight and is now in a perfect condition.

He said he is not worried that the bout will be his first time to fight outside his home country, while saying that after watching records of Pongsaklek’s recent fights he came to believe that the Thai boxer has passed the peak in his career and is not performing as good as he was anymore.

Thailand’s former world champion Sirimongkol Singwancha has knocked out Uganda’s Mohammed Saleh in the second round in a match last week.

In the event held to honor Her Majesty the Queen’s birthday at the northeastern Thai city of Nakorn Ratchasima on August 12, Thai boxer Sirimongkol did not hesitate to beat his opponent Saleh down to the canvas for a count of eight by a right hook to the body in the middle of the first round.

Within the first 30 seconds of the second round, the Ugandan pugilist was again down to the canvas, this time by a left hook to the jaw. The referee ended the game and let Sirimongkol win with a technical knockout.

PABA bantamweight champion Tabtimdaeng Na Rachawat of Thailand is scheduled to fight Indonesia challenger Hari Suharyadi later this month.

According to a press conference in Bangkok on August 10, the PABA match of title holder Tabtimdaeng and the third-place contender Suharyadi will be held on Friday August 21 in the town of Pakkret in Nonthaburi province, Thailand, and will be broadcasted in the country by Channel Seven from 3.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m.

In addition to his PABA status, the Thai boxer, also known as Tabtimdaeng Sitluangporpoon, is at the fourth place in the WBA rank and has held the WBC Asia super bantamweight after beating Filipino Ariel Delgado earlier in April this year.

Thailand’s 40-year-old former world champion Veeraphol Sahaprom is fighting Indonesia’s Singo Kinaro while WBC Asia bantamweight champion Yodkhunpon Nakornluang Promotion is defending his title against Indonesian challenger Alex BS in an event today.

The two matches will be held the Northeastern Thai town of Khon Kaen and will be broadcasted in the country by the Channel Three network from 2.30 p.m. onward. All four boxers, two Thais and two Indonesians, have passed the weighting here yesterday.

Veeraphol, who won the WBC bantamweight champion title twice in 1995 and 1998, said he is looking to perform well today, which may help him to get a rematch with old-time rival Toshiaki Nishioka of Japan. The two have fought in four WBC bouts, resulting in two wins and two draws.