Thailand’s newcomer pugilists Kaeo Pongprayoon and Chatchai Butdee have defeated their respective opponents at the AIBA World Championships in Milan, Italy, on Saturday, cruising to the round of 16 along with two other Thai veterans.

In the light flyweight event, Kaeo faced India’s Nanao Singh Thokchom whom he has defeated in the Asian championships in China earlier this year. Kaeo started the game aggressively and used his quick combo to score 4-1 at the end of the first round and 14-3 at the second round. In the third round, Thokchom tried to press forward but only ended up getting countered by Kaeo.

The game ended with Kaeo winning by 16-4, earning himself a spot in the round of 16 against Spain’s Jose Kelvin de la Nieve Linares on September 7.

Thai Olympic gold medalist boxer Somluck Kamsing has confirmed the rumor that he will fight martial artist star Jean-Claude Van Damme in a muaythai match in March next year.

Somluck, the first Thai gold medalist who won the featherweight boxing event at the Atlanta Games in 1996, has confirmed the earlier report that he has signed a contract on September 4 to fight in a match against the Belgium-born Van Damme, who is best known for his roles in Hollywood action movies.

Somluck said the match, consisting of five two-minute rounds, will be held in Las Vegas, in March 2010 using muaythai rules, although elbow will be barred. He said he would be paid US$150,000 plus US$25,000 as training fee as well as a 2% share from broadcast revenue.

Thailand’s four out of six boxing athletes have defeated their first round opponents to cruise to the second round at the AIBA World Championships in Milan, Italy, while the Thai amateur boxing chief says the Thai boxing squad will not return home “empty-handed”.

At the recent event, Thai Olympian Sailom Adi was able to use his superior experience to score points against US boxer Duran Caferro, winning the lightweight preliminary match quite comfortably by 12-9.

Three other Thai athletes, light flyweight Kaeo Pongprayoon, flyweight Amnat Ruenroeng, and bantamweight Chatchai Butdee have also defeated their respective opponents and passed to the next round.

WBA “interim” bantamweight title holder Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym will fight the ordinary title holder Bernard Dunne in Dublin, Ireland, on September 26.

Poonsawat, the latest Thai boxer bidding for a world title, is currently in a training program at the Galaxy gym in Nakorn Pathom in central Thailand in preparation for the WBA title match at the end of this month. So far, he seems to be confident and does not consider the Irish title holder as a strong opponent, and said he and Dunne would have about equal chance of winning.

“I have studied the video records of Dunne’s earlier bouts. I think he is a fast striker, but is not as strong as Ukraine’s Wladimir Sidorenko, the only boxer who was able to beat me,” he said.

Thailand’s five out of six boxing athletes are still competing at the AIBA World Championships in Milan, Italy, with light flyweight Kaeo Pongprayoon viewed as the top dog of his weight class.

In addition to Kaeo, the other Thais competing at AIBA World Championships 2009 are flyweight Amnat Ruenroeng, bantamweight Chatchai Butdee, featherweight Wuttichai Masuk, lightweight Sailom Adi, and lightwelterweight Apichet Seansit.

So far, Chatchai has defeated Ghana’s Emmanuel Quartey by 19-2, while Apichet has lost to Hungary’s Gyula Kate by 13-4 in the first preliminary round.

WBC “interim” youth bantamweight champion Fahpetchnoi Sor Chitpattana of Thailand was killed in a road accident on Monday.

The 21-year-old Piyapong Sao-sawaeng who was known to his boxing fans as Fahpetchnoi left a military site at the Thai-Cambodian border where he worked to return home in Roi Et in the night of August 31, but never showed up and was found dead the next morning.

According to the report, his motorcycle slipped out of the road and clashed into a tree not far from his home. Upon examination, the forensic authorities believe he died instantly.

 Chucharoen Rawee-aramwong        Songchai Ratanasuban 

Muaythai promoters Chucharoen Rawee-aramwong and Songchai Ratanasuban are reportedly still having a dispute over the revenue sharing from the Lumpini-Ratchadamnern cross-stadium event in Bangkok on August 6.

Chucharoen reportedly demanded that the Ratchadamnern’s chief promoter Songchai pay him 140,000 Baht for the August 6 match of his fighter Chomthong Chuwattana, who lost to Nong O Sit O. However, he received from Songchai a check of 100,000 Baht, which the promoter rejected and had it returned to the sender.

On the next day, Chucharoen reportedly received a “thank you” note from Songchai. In retaliation, the upset Chucharoen traveled to the Sit O gym in Buriram in an attempt to recruit three top fighters, Kaimukdam Sit O, Kaimukkao Sit O, and Palangpon Piriyanoppachai to his camp.

The professional boxing career of former WBC champion Sirimongkol Singwangcha has likely come to an abrupt end as the pugilist has been arrested for drug dealing in the Thai city of Pattaya.

A team of Chonburi province anti-drug police arrested Sirimongkol, whose real name is O Eiamtuam, at 8.00 p.m. on August 29 as the boxer was driving a car, reportedly to deliver illegal drug to a buyer. About 28.4 grams of the drug, known as “ice” in Thailand, was also found with him.

Sirimongkol confessed that he was hired by a man known as “Lek” to deliver the drug to a buyer for 10,000 Baht. He said he had been using and dealing drug since he lost his world title in 2002, as he could not earn enough from boxing.

Thailand’s WBC “interim” flyweight title holder Pongsaklek Wonjongkam has defeated Japan’s Takahisa Masuda by technical knockout in the sixth round on Friday, while the Thai pugilist’s next match against Japan’s Naito Daisuke will be delayed to the beginning of the next year.

Pongsaklek, although considerably shorter, was able to land a right punch to the chin of the Japanese challenger, sending him down to the canvas for a count of eight in the second round of the WBC international title match held in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai on August 28.

Thailand’s Olympic medalist Worapoj Petchkhoom is reportedly upset after learning that he has been banned from the national amateur boxing squad for three months and excluded from the upcoming SEA Games for modeling for a gay magazine, while the Thai boxing chief General Taweep Jantararoj says Worapoj would not be qualified for the SEA Games anyway due to his poor performance and discipline.

Worapoj, who won a silver medal from bantamweight boxing at the Athens Games, was reportedly upset when learning of the ban, saying he was not treated as favorably as some other national squad members.