August 19, 2009
TOKYO, JAPAN
Misako Promotions announced that WBC#22 Japanese veteran Takahisa Masuda (20-8-3, 5 KOs), a tall boxer-puncher, would have a shot at the WBC interim flyweight belt against Pongsaklek Wongjongkam (72-3-1, 38 KOs), a 32-year-old southpaw Thailander, in Chiang Mai, Thailand, only ten days later on August 28. Masuda, 30, then rated #6 by the WBC, dropped an upset decision to up-and-coming Takayasu Kobayashi in his previous bout this June, but now shows his fighting spirit to wrest the throne abroad. Pongsaklek forfeited his WBC throne to current titlist Daisuke Naito, Japan, via upset verdict in July 2007 and failed to win it back in their grudge fight here eight months later. The slick-punching ex-champ, however, acquired the interim WBC diadem by a unanimous nod over highly-regarded Mexican Julio Cesar Miranda last April.
(8-19-09)