Pongsaklek Kratingdaeng Gym made light work of Japanese boxer Tomonobu Shimizu with a technical knockout victory to defend his World Boxing Council (WBC) flyweight title for the 17th time in a row at the makeshift arena in Saraburi's tambon Tab Kwang yesterday.

The victory was never in doubt for the 29-year-old Pongsaklek, who exhibited his superb skill from the outset in one of his easiest fights so far against the No-14 contender, a replacement for injured Junichi Ebisuoka of Japan.

The Nakhon Ratchasima native used all kinds of weapons to batter Shimizu. Given the extent of the severe punishment Shimizu sustained, the Japanese camp decided not to let their boxer start the eighth round of the scheduled 12.

Pongsaklek's impressive victory was marred by an unexpected incident when hundreds of balloons surrounding the ring exploded, which forced the fight to be suspended for ten minutes in the opening round.

The incident happened just one minute and six seconds on the clock, apparently when a fan in the audience threw a cigarette at a big cluster of balloons. The bursting balloons startled the crowd, causing them to run in many directions to cover themselves.

When the fight resumed, it seemed that both fighters were still in shock, as they rarely threw punches at each other after what appeared to be a lively start before the incident.

Things returned to normal in the second round, when Pongsaklek went on the offensive, but the best he could do was catch up with Shimizu, who refused to be an easy target by making the most of the ring area.

Pongsaklek tried hard to have the Japanese in his striking distance in the next two rounds and landed body shots in hopes of making the opponent's movement slower. After the first four rounds, the Thai was leading on all scorecards at 40-33, 40-36 and 39-37.

The fifth round turned out to be Pongsaklek's best one after he had Shimizu staggering in the initial stages with a variety of punches. After what was a seemingly indifferent round in the sixth, Pongsaklek changed his tactic by using his right as his main weapon. A right uppercut caught the Japanese's face, leaving blood gushing from the nose.

The knockout the crowd expected was now on the cards given the severity of the punishment on Shimizu's face, but rather than stepping up his challenge to finish it off Pongsaklek opted to let Shimizu survive until the bell. The Japanese struggled to make his way to the corner and never came out again.

The Thai champion improves his record to 64-2 with 33 knockouts.

On the under-card, Oleydong Sithsanerchai clinched the WBC interim straw-weight title with a spilt decision win over Puerto Rico's Omar Soto.

Kitinan Sanguansak

The Nation