Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, of Thailand, celebrates after knocking out Roman Gonzalez of Nicaragua, during the fourth round of their WBC super flyweight championship boxing match Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017, in Carson, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Srisaket Sor Rungvisai Stuns Roman Gonzalez With Ko
By Bad Left Hook
Los Angeles, CA (September 10th, 2017)– The first time around, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai won a controversial decision over Roman Gonzalez, but no one debated that he gave “Chocolatito” a hell of a fight.
This time, Srisaket left no doubt, dropping Gonzalez twice in the fourth round and knocking him out, retaining his WBC super flyweight title and firmly establishing himself as a true top fighter at 115 pounds.
The end came at 1:18 of round four, and it was a fight where Gonzalez (46-2, 38 KO) just never looked like himself. You could see the gears turning for Gonzalez, and he openly and aggressively complained about Srisaket (44-4-1, 40 KO) leading with his head.
It just never seemed like the Gonzalez of old — it seemed like an old Gonzalez. Srisaket didn’t take a backwards step, even when Gonzalez was landing good shots, and just kept throwing hard shots in return. In the end, the size and power were simply too much, and Gonzalez was brutally knocked out to end this fight, and, perhaps, his time as a top fighter.
Both BLH scorecards had Srisaket winning all of the first three rounds before the KO.
“I trained really hard for four months. I want every Thai person to know what I came here for,” Srisaket told Max Kellerman through an interpreter. “For the first fight, I only trained two months. Now, in this fight, I knew I was gonna knock him out.”
Asked about his future options against Juan Francisco Estrada or Naoya Inoue, he said, “I can fight whoever. I’m not scared of anyone. I’ll fight whoever.”
There was a lot of hype behind Naoya Inoue, and the 24-year-old WBO super flyweight titleholder lived up to it, drastically overmatching Antonio Nieves in his U.S. debut tonight on HBO.
Inoue (14-0, 12 KO) stopped Nieves (17-2-2, 9 KO) after six rounds of one-sided action, including a hard knockdown in the fifth round on a left hook to the body. The fight was stopped after the sixth round, when Nieves’ corner told referee Dr. Lou Moret to stop the fight.
Inoue landed 118 of 407 (29%) of his total punches, compared to 45 of 209 (22%) for Nieves. The numbers are lopsided, but even those don’t really tell the story. The power of Inoue was on display constantly, including a vicious body attack that broke Nieves’ spirit.
Body shot from Inoue brings Nieves to his knees. #SuperFly
Inoue, nicknamed “The Monster,” was expected to handle this fight about as he did, but the fact that there was no letdown in his performance is a big thing. Sometimes, fighters travel abroad from their home base and just never look the same, even good fighters.
But Inoue was a clear couple of levels better than Nieves. Again, that was widely expected, but at least he delivered on the expectations.
What did you think of Inoue’s U.S. debut?
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