Sport News 19 : Muay Thai Battle of Jamaica

            The battle of the World Championship of Thai boxing took place in  Jamaica on June 20^th  at Trelouny Stadium, near Montego Bay, in  front of crowds of ten thousand fans.

            The main bout was  between Yodsanklai Fairtex, the possessor of the Thai superwelterweight {154 pounds}championship who is also champion of  Asia, and  Malaiphet Diamondteam or Malaiphet Sidphraphrom, the Thai boxer who works in the U.S.A.

            In the fight Yodsanklai who is taller and heavier than  his opponent attacked from the 1^st round and drove Malaiphet all round the ring.  Finally, with Malaiphet bleeding from Yodsanklai’s punches, the referee stopped the fight and raised Yodsanklai’s hand as the winner in Round 3.

            On the same program, Lumsongkram Choowatana,  WBC, Thai boxing middleweight {160 pounds} champion, fought Farik Valum, the best French boxer.     Valum started better at the beginning of the rounds, but in the 3^rd Lumsongkram was  too fast for him and he began to fade.  Lumsongkram attacked his opponent’s  legs until the end of the round and was delighted to win on points.

 The IKK cruiserweight {190 pounds} Muay Thai championship fight between Kaoklai Kannorasing, the K1 World Grand Prix champion, and Clifton Brown, who won the North America light-heavyweight title in 1999, was clearly won by Kaoklai.  Brown, whose height is 185 cm,   tried to use his advantage over the Thai boxer,  who is  only 175 cm, at the start of the 1st  round.  But the Thai boxer landed with his left leg into the body of the black boxer from Canada.  Nevertheless, Brown still moved forward and tried to open Kaoklai’s guard with combination punches while Kaoklai moved around his opponent, punching beautifully.  Brown used reverse strikes from his left leg to stop Kaokali reaching his body, but eventually Kaoklai was the winner on points.

            Meanwhile, the Thai  middleweight champion, Diesellek Lekrungrueongyon, won  on points against Marco Peeke of  the Netherlands to become IKF middleweight champion.