By Matt Lieberman: Former WBC super flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (50-5-1, 43 KOs) wore down and stopped an over-matched former WBA minimumweight champion Kwanthai Sithmorseng (50-8, 27 KOs) by a third-round stoppage on Friday night at the Workpoint Studio, in Bang Phun, Thailand.
The referee halted the fight after the third round had ended due to the 38-year-old Sithmorseng having suffered an eye injury that quired the fight to be halted.
During the third round, Sithmorseng took a knee after getting hit with three consecutive powerful uppercuts from Rungvisai. The shots were brutal to watch, and it wasn’t all that surprising to see Sithmorseng take a knee.
Rungvisai was throwing so many punches in reach that it made things nearly impossible for the 38-year-old Sithmorseng to try and fend him off.
What made things tough for Sithmorseng was his decision to fight with his back against the ropes rather than staying in the center of the ring, making it a little more difficult for Rungvisai.
The reason for that, I believe, was the power that Rungvisai was generating when he was stepping into his shots whenever Sithmorseng was in the center of the ring.
He felt that power from Rungvisai, who was punching like a welterweight, and he didn’t want to deal with that. Additionally, Sithmorseng didn’t have the legs to stay on the move the way that he would have needed to for him to survive against the knockout artist Rungvisai.
Rungvisai came out throwing shots that looked slow and with only moderate power on them in round one. It appeared that Rungvisai was taking it easy, starting slow so that he wouldn’t knockout Sithmorseng too quickly.
This is a fighter that had been stopped in four out of his last seven fights coming into tonight’s clash with Rungvisai, and three of those stoppages had occurred within four rounds.
That made it necessary for Rungvisai to take it at the start because he likely could have knocked out Sithmorseng in the first round if he’d gone all out the way he could have.
All in all, it was a good performance by Rungvisai, who showed massive power that will give anyone in the division problems. Rungvisai’s power alone makes him dangerous, but his incredible work rate magnifies his power.
Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez and Juan Francisco Estrada don’t have that kind of power, which is why the winner of that fight will have massive problems against Rungvisai.
“I didn’t rush it during the early rounds because I wanted to be ready to fight the winner of tomorrow night’s fight,” said Rungvisai after the fight. “It’ll be a great fight tomorrow between Chocolatito and Estrada.
“Whoever wins will be better prepared. I want Estrada to win so I can get revenge. The best of luck for Estrada and Chocolatito tomorrow. May the best man win,” said Rungvisai.
If Chocolatito wins tomorrow night, he needs to think seriously about vacating his WBC title rather than facing Rungvisai. He’s already been between twice by Rungvisai, and he would probably lose again.
Estrada beat Rungvisai by a close 12 round unanimous decision in 2019 in Los Angeles, California. The way Rungvisai looked tonight, Estrada may not be able to hold him to beat him a second time.
In the first fight between the two in 2018, Rungvisai chased Estrada around the ring, hitting him with powerful body shots and getting the better of him. Estrada hurt Rungvisai in the 12th, but he couldn’t finish him.
In the rematch in 2019, Estrada used many in and out attacks to limit the number of heavy shots Rungvisai was able to land.
In the second part of the fight, Rungvisai figured Estrada out and went on the attack and controlled the second half of the fight.
Estrada looked beat up and worn out from the heavy shots and relentless pressure from Rungvisai by the end of the fight. If Rungvisai had changed things up earlier, he would have likely won the fight. He was clearly the much stronger puncher and the guy with the higher work rate.