Tuñacao yields title to Thai via 1st round TKO

A former Thai kickboxing standout stripped the Philippines of its last world boxing crown as Pongsaklek Wonjongkam stopped Filipino World Boxing Council champion Malcolm Tuñacao in the first round of their WBC flyweight clash yesterday in Phichit, Thailand.

Wonjongkam’s win was so fast and decisive as he struck Tuñacao, installed as the 2-1 favorite, with a barrage of punches that sent the Filipino fighter crashing down thrice right in that fateful round. Under the WBC rules, a fight has to be stopped if a boxer is knocked down thrice in a single round.

The fight lasted two minutes, 44 seconds.

It was Wonjongkam’s 38th win against two losses while dealing Tuñacao, who barely defended the crown he won over Medgoen 3K Battery in May 2000 with a 12-round split draw against Celes Kobayashi in Tokyo last August, his first setback in 13 fights.

The 23-year-old Thai’s rapid-fire style brought to mind Manny Pacquiao’s fifth round knockout win over North Korean Tetsutora Senrima last week in Antipolo. And it caught Tuñacao, who had to wrestle with excess poundage to make the 112-lb limit, flatfooted with the Cebuano puncher thrown into the defensive all round trying to parry and escape his challenger’s wrath.

But he failed, dismally, as Wonjongkam, after sizing up his taller rival in the early going, pinned Tuñacao on the ropes, bombarding him with head blows — right cross, left hookl, uppercut — and unleashing body punches in between shots.

A vicious right by Wonjongkam felled Tuñacao 1:30 into the fight, but the Filipino stood and, for a while, had appeared to have recovered as he stepped up his own attack, planting some shots into the head. But he failed to shake off the Thai, who took all of Tuñacao’s blows in stride before coming up with another series of punches, the 12th knocking down the Filipino for the second time at the two-minute mark.
Tuñacao managed to get up but it was clear that the Filipino champion, his legs visibly wobbly, had been vanquished. Wonjongkam landed a left-right to finish off Tuñacao, who was in tears as he made his way out of the ring.