On an early morning (4:15 EST) start, former WBC junior bantamweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai rallied from a slow first half of the scheduled ten rounds to win a unanimous decision over former IBF flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng in Thailand.Ruenroeng boxed well early against a less than smooth Rungvisai and when the two smashed noggins in the third round to open a cut on an eyelid that forced the ringside physician to take a long look, it looked very possible that the fight could be stopped and with a possible lead on the scorecards, an upset looked conceivable.
At the end of five, I had Ruenroeng up 48-47 (3-2 in rounds) with one round that I scored for Rungvisai was very close and could have easily been placed in Ruenroeng's corner.
However, that was as good as the fight would get for the 40-year-old Ruenroeng as he began to slow his pace and he couldn't sustain his success against the relentless pressure that Rungvisai placed upon him.
I thought before the fight that Ruenroeng was going to have to prove that he could outbox Rungvisai for ten rounds because Rungvisai was the naturally bigger man and stronger puncher and that's how the fight would play out with Rungvisai sweeping the final five rounds of the fight to win 97-93 on my card.
Neither fighter was knocked down or even hurt, but it was easily Rungvisai that was doing the majority of the work to earn the decision.
Rungvisai will likely face either WBC champion Juan Francisco Estrada or WBA beltholder Roman Gonzalez next as part of arguably the most evenly matched three fighter triangle in boxing.
Rungvisai is 2-0 vs Gonzalez and 1-1 vs Estrada, while Gonzalez holds a close decision win over Estrada to complete the triangle to date.
I'm not sure if Rungvisai will fight one of the other two first or the winner of a unification fight between the two champions, but he would be wise to stay busy after a fifteen month layoff between his loss to Estrada and his win over Ruenroeng as he wasn't at his best in this win and may not have pulled this win out against a top fighter of similar size on this night.
As for the aging Ruenroeng, he proved that he still has something left in the tank, especially if he could make 112 pounds again, despite losing his third fight in his six recent bouts.
Ramon Malpica and myself each gained one point for the Rungvisai win to move the boxing challenge to 74-68.
I'll be back later with the results of the Showtime tripleheader as the premium cable leader begins the second half of their schedule for 2020.
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