Muaythai fighters Kaimukdam Sit O and Palangpon Piriyanoppachai have agreed to fight under their new manager Chucharoen Rawee-aramwong.

The two fighters earlier petitioned the Office of the Boxing Sport at the Sports Authority of Thailand to intervene when their former manager “Sia O” signed a deal to transfer his rights to Chucharoen. The fighters reportedly did not want to move away from their families in Buri Ram to join Chucharoen’s gym in Bangkok.

The boxing officer, however, mediated a successful talk between the fighters and their manager on October 21. The parties now agree that the fighters will continue to practice at the facility in Buri Ram but they will fight under “Chuwattana” ring name with Chucharoen as their official manager.

The planned third event of the popular Lumpini-Ratchadamnern cross-stadium muaythai series is facing a serious trouble as Ratchadamnern’s most influential promoter Songchai Ratanasuban has refused to allow any of his fighters to participate in the event.

Following the first two highly successful events, the two stadiums have been working together to plan the next event at Lumpini in November, according to the earlier reports.

However, the much-anticipated grand mauythai event may have to be scrapped as Songchai refused to attend the organizers’ meetings, while declaring in his radio show that he would not let his fighters fight in the event.

“They didn’t let my fighters fight at Lumpini, but now they want my fighters for this cross-stadium event. I am not involved with the planning of this,” he said.

Thailand’s Buakaw Por Pramuk will be fighting in 2010 K-1 Max tournament, says his manager who is “disappointed” with the judges who let Buakaw lost to Dutch fighter Andy Souwer in the 2009 tournament’s semifinal.

Buakaw lost by decision after a special round the K-1 tournament’s semifinal held in Yokohama, Japan, on October 26. Souwer proceeded to the final on the same day but was defeated by Italy’s Giorgio Petrosyan.

Upon returning to Thailand, Buakaw’s manager Pramuk Rojanatan said he is disappointed with the K-1 judges because he believes Buakaw was actually winning the fight, especially in the first three rounds.

Thailand’s Noknoi Sitthiprasert and Usanakorn Kokietgym will be receiving awards from the World Boxing Council (WBC) at its 47th convention in South Korea next month.

Noknoi, currently holding the WBC youth light flyweight title, has been selected as the 2009 best youth boxer, while Usanakorn and Mexico’s Ana Maria Noknoi Sitthiprasert and Usanakorn Kokietgym Torres are picked for the best female match award of the year.

Usanakorn was defeated by super flyweight champion Torres earlier this year in Mexico, but she became the new WBC female bantamweight title holder after beating Bulgaria’s Galina Koleva Ivanova by unanimous decision in Thailand on October 5.

Thailand’s Buakaw Por Pramuk has lost to Dutch fighter Andy Souwer by decision after a special round in the K-1 tournament’s semifinal on October 26.

Buakaw and Souwer were two of the four semifinalists of the 2009 K-1 Max tournament. Their match started right after Italy’s Giorgio Petrosyan beat Japan's Yuya Yamamota by knockout in the other semifinal.
 
Buakaw had a good start in the first two rounds of the bout, but in the third round Souwer was able to land some good strikes. As the third round ended with a draw of 30-30, the two fighters were required to fight in a special fourth round.

In this round, Souwer was focusing on low kicks that seemed to effectively slow down the Thai fighter. At the end of the round, Souwer emerged as the winner by decision, crushing Buakaw’s dream to become the first three-time K-1 winner after wining the 2004 and 2006 tournaments.

WBC vice-president Police General Kowit Pakdeepoom is looking to launch inquiry on Sakai Jockeygym’s death, claiming that the referee could have stopped the match earlier.

Kowit, who is scheduled to attend the WBC summit in South Korea on November 1-7, said he would propose to the council to launch inquiry on the Japanese referee in the match of Sakai and Kazuyoshi Niki held in Fukuoka, Japan, on October 12. The referee ended the bout in the 10th round to let Niki win by technical knockout. Sakai reportedly lost consciousness after getting out of the ring and passed away three hours later at the hospital from brain hemorrhage.

He said the referee could have stopped the match in the earlier round rather than allowing Sakai to suffer more injury, which led to his eventual death.

Kowit said Sakai’s case should be used to raise the standards for WBC referees who, he said, should be more cautious and ready to save lives when required. He said such tragic incident would happen again unless there is action from the WBC.

Thailand’s Buakaw Por Pramuk is leaving Thailand for Japan where he will fight Dutch Andy Souwer in the K-1 tournament’s semifinal on October 26.

Buakaw, who became an international muaythai star after winning the K-1 tournament in 2004 and 2006, is currently one of the four semifinalists of the 2009 K-1 Max tournament who will be pitted against each other on the last tournament day on October 26 in Japan. Buakaw is scheduled to leave Thailand in the night of October 22 to fly to Japan.

If Buakaw is able to beat Dutch Andy Souwer in the semifinal, he would face the other eventual finalist, either Italy’s Giorgio Petrosyan or Japan's Yuya Yamamota, in just one hour after the semifinal bout. The winner will earn prize money of 20 million Yen, or about 6.7 million Baht.

  Somchart Charoenwatcharawit

Thailand’s Board of Boxing Sport has agreed to pay 50,000 Baht to the family of boxer Sakai Jockeygym who died from head injury from match in Japan, while the Professional Boxing Association of Thailand (PBAT) is pushing for a punishment on the “wrongdoers”.

PBAT president Somchart Charoenwatcharawit, who is also a member of the Board of Boxing Sport, said Sakai violated the law when he fought abroad without getting prior permission from PBAT. He also said the claim of Sakai’s promoter Chucharoen Rawee-aramwong that the fight was permitted by Ratchadamnern Stadium, instead of PBAT, was causing confusion to the public.

Somchart is looking to have the board assist the family of the boxer, while exacting punishment on the “wrongdoers”. Tourism and Sports Minister Chumpol Silpa-archa, who chaired the board, agreed with Somchart and said there must be punishment on the promoter and those who helped arranged Sakai to fight abroad.

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Eight muaythai fighters will compete each other in a one-day tournament event in the southern Thai town of Krabi on October 22, says promoter Piyarat Wachiraratanawong.

According to Piyarat, the eight fighters are Chadchainoi Sor Prasobchoke, Panomrunglek Kiatmuukao, Chatchai Sor Tanayong, Petchtrang Sor Yupinda, Lekkom Wor Wongsawat, Noppachai Kiatpattarapan, Kaotam Lukprabaht, and Tianchai Kor Sapaothong.

Piyarat promises that the bouts would be “fun” to watch, as he would not “take advantage” of the spectators. The event, held in Thara Park in Krabi, will be free for all. 

Muaythai promoter Chucharoen Rawee-aramwong is now looking to sell the rights over two fighters from the Sit O camp, Kaimukdam Sit O and Palangpon Piriyanoppachai.

Chucharoen earlier bought the rights over the two fighters from “Sia O” who owns the Sit O gym in Buri Ram. The deal was seen as source of conflict of Chucharoen and his rival promoter Songchai Ratanasuban who was key man behind the career successes of the Sit O fighters.

Songchai tried to ask the retiring gym manager to scrap the deal but his attempt failed, according to the earlier reports. Kaimukdam and Palangpon, however, are filing a protest to the Sports Authority of Thailand, asking the agency for help as they claim they did not agree to fighter under Chucharoen’s camp.