NAITO KEEPS WBC 112LB BELT

March 8, 2008

TOKYO, JAPAN

Free-swinging but less accurate Daisuke Naito (32-2-3, 20 KOs), 112, Japan, very barely kept his WBC flyweight belt as he battled to a split draw with ex-champ Pongsaklek Wonjongkam (67-3-1, 35 KOs), 112, a southpaw Thailander, over twelve hairline rounds on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan.

The official tallies were as follows: Alejandro Rochin (Mexico) 115-113 for Naito, Jaebong Kim (Korea) 114-115 for Pongsaklek, and Hubert Minn (US) 114-114. The referee was Hector Afu (Panama).

It was never a so-called “hometown draw” which usually means that a foreigner deserves a victory. For Pongsaklek, a 30-year-old ex-champ, it looked like a draw at best or his defeat by a slight margin. The previously formidable Thailander was just a disappointment as he visibly ran out of gas and seldom tossed punches positively from the fifth round onward. Naito, 33, threw three times as many punches as Pongsaklek, and some 80% of his blows only hit the air, but the Japanese was an aggressor all the way.

What happened to Pongsaklek? He was just a shell of his top form at his prime. The Thailander made a rather good start and was in command in three out of the first four rounds, as he kept counterpunching a few with precision, while Naito kept recklessly throwing roundhouse blows without hitting the target. As the open scoring system showed the interim tallies after the fourth were 39-37 for him and 38-38 twice, Pongsaklek inexplicably became very negative only to be content to respond to Naito’s abundant but least accurate combinations with very few counters.

Naito seemed to have dominated three in four sessions from the fifth thanks to his continual aggression, if not so accurate. No matter how many punches he was missing, Naito kept punching to have the ex-champ on the defensive. After the eighth, the official scores were: 78-74 for Naito and 76-76 twice. Neither hit the mark in the first eight rounds, since Naito kept swinging to hit the air, while Pongsaklek threw few blows.

Aware of being behind on points, the Thailander, in the ninth, turned aggressive for the first time in the game and positively attacked the rough-and-tumble champ with busy combos. It was the first and last we could watch Pongsaklek’s aggressiveness. In the tenth he returned to his negative waiting game, and Naito won a point. The fading ex-champ managed to take the eleventh, and Naito, still fresh but still inaccurate, seemed to take command of the twelfth and final stanza.

Your reporter saw it 114-114 to support Naito’s defense of his WBC belt not because of his excellence but because of Pongsaklek’s unexpectedly poor performance. The Thailander failed to show his physical and mental power enough to win back his belt. He probably left his fighting spirit in Thailand.

The fight itself was a disappointment from the technical point of view. Probably it was the worst in their four encounters, as Naito showed no improvement but his abundant stamina and Pongsaklek proved that he obviously passed his peak and was not what he used to be.

It might be a difficult bout for the officials to score. Should the champ keep punching without any blows hitting the target and the challenger only keep blocking them without any significant retaliation, to which will you give a point? Eventually it resulted in a split draw on a low technical level.

This reporter promptly called some Thai knowledgeable people to ask about their opinions on the verdict, as it was also telecast live in Thailand. All of them agreed, saying, “Pongsaklek lost because he didn’t throw punches enough to win. We wonder why Naito wasn’t the winner.”

Naito now became free from the option agreement of Thailand’s Diamond Promotion that had amazingly dominated the WBC flyweight championship for some ten years. For the champ, a draw means a victory, while for the challenger, it means a defeat. Naito jubilantly said, “I know it was a close fight, but as I took the last round, I believed that I could defend my belt.” The crestfallen ex-champ Pongsaklek (who had previously defended the WBC belt 17 times) said, “Please give my advice to Naito. It is more difficult to keep defending the world title than to win it. He may have a tough time as I, as the champ, had experienced.”

People are dry enough. Though they couldn’t appreciate a good fight, they seem satisfied that Naito retained his belt and now start a discussion. “Which is stronger between Naito and Koki Kameda?” Their encounter will be inevitable.

(3-8-08)

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