Boxing is a sport that I follow very closely and like most other sports you can generally see mismatches a mile away. A lot of fights in boxing sadly fall into the mismatch category where 1 fighter is supposed to win and the other is supposed to merely get in the ring, lose and cash his cheque. Sometimes however things don't go to plan as we found out earlier this year.Thai Pongsaklek Wonjongkam is a true legend of the boxing world. Since making his professional debut back in 1994 he has crafted one of the most outstanding records in recent memory accumulating an amazing 86 victories. Despite starting his career in total obscurity and losing 2 of his first 11 bouts he has grafted out a genuine hall of fame career.
Whilst many fans of the sport want to point out that Wonjongkam has beaten a lot of novices he has also beaten a lot of top tier fighters such as Malcolm Tunacao, Luis Alberto Lazarte, Daisuke Naito, Gilberto Keb Baas, Tomonobu Shimizu, Julio Cesar Miranda, Koki Kameda, Suriyan Sor Rungvisai and Edgar Sosa, a relative who's who of lower weight boxers. Wonjongkam's dominance in the ring saw him go unbeaten from 1996 to 2007 losing only to a man he had already beaten twice.
As well as the names he had beaten he had become one of the sports premier champions, a 2-time WBC Flyweight champion who had held the title for almost a decade in his 2 reigns.
In the opposite corner we had Filipino Sonny Boy Jaro, a fighter who was effectively a journeyman. Despite having recorded 33 wins himself he had also lost 10 bouts including 7 by stoppage, he had never won a fight outside of his homeland. Whilst he had fought for a world titles in the past he had been widely out pointed by Edgar Sosa and stopped by Giovani Segura in just 65 seconds. He was supposed to lose again to the Wonjongkam.
On paper their records going into this bout could not be much more different. Wonjongkam's was an excellent 83-3-2 (43) whilst Jaro was a much less impressive 33-10-5 (23), however records don't tell the whole tale of the story.
Straight from the opening bell Jaro set out to prove a point and used his bullish strength to force the fight against Wonjongkam. Within a round Wonjongkam had been dropped and the Thai fans in attendance were in shock, their fighter was being bullied by the much smaller challenger. Wonjongkam fought back in round 2 but was dropped again in round 3.
Jaro was on a roll and whilst Wongjonkam survived rounds 4 and 5 with out being dropped he was certainly not looking like the fighter that had been such a fantastic champion. In round 6 Jaro started to really turn the screw and although he was deducted for a low blow he would again drop and hurt Wonjongkam who was now starting to look more and more like a spent force. It didn't even take the full round for Jaro to finish the job and finish off Wonjongkam as he knocked out the Thai late in the 6th.
Whilst no major sports book in the UK had the bout and the actual odds offered anywhere are hard to find, I would be shocked if Wonjongkam was any larger than a 1/25 favourite. This was a major upset in the boxing world.
Since this bout Wonjongkam has bounced back with 2 more victories at a much, much lower level whilst Jaro lost his title by decision after a war with Japanese fighter Toshiyuki Igarashi.
Photo Courtesy of Scott Mallon
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