Japanese challenger Takahisa Masuda will be a tough opponent for WBC “interim” flyweight champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam of Thailand due to Masuda’s left-handedness and height advantage, says the Thai boxer’s promoter.

The WBC match of Pongsaklek and Masuda will be held in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai on Friday August 28 and will be broadcasted by Thailand’s Channel Seven from 2.00 p.m. onward.

Thai promoter Piyarat Wachiraratanawong of Petchyindee said Masuda will have an advantage from his height of 169 centimeters, compared to 162 centimeters of Pongsaklek. In addition, the Japanese boxer is an agile southpaw that Pongsaklek often has trouble dealing with, so the Thai must not underestimate the fight, he said.

Thailand’s Buakaw Por Pramuk is visiting China where he expects to fight in the near future, while revealing his other plan to enter the Thai movie industry.

Buakaw, who became an international muaythai star after winning the K-1 tournament in 2004 and 2006, has left the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok on August 20 for a flight to Henan, China, saying he was invited to appear in events there. He also said he may be offered to fight in a muaythai match in China in the near future.

Buakaw 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.

The much-dreaded fist of Pornsaneh Sitmonchai has knocked out so many top muaythai fighters, but yet it failed to put down a new comer, the teenage Manasak Sitniwat, who apparently has a great potential to become the next muaythai legend some day, says columnist “Jeng Tha Prachan”.

Pornsaneh is best known for his trademark punch that has knocked out numerous fighters, including some of the best fighters in the modern time like Wutthidet Lukprabaht, Detnarong Sitjaboon, and Rungruenglek Lukprabaht, so it was not a surprise when he put Manasak down to the canvas in the middle of the first round at the Ratchadamnern-Lumpini cross-stadium match in Bangkok on August 7, said the writer.

However, the match did not end as abruptly as in some of Pornsaneh’s earlier fights. His opponent got back on his feet by the count of eight. From then on, the table was turned and some spectators could not believe that they witnessed the dreaded Pornsaneh being slaughtered by a new comer who is by all means still a teenager.

Thai female pugilist Yani Kokietgym has arrived in Japan for the WBA female minimumweight bout against title holder Etsuko Tada on August 23.

The match of Japanese star Tada, who will defend her title for the first time, and Thai Yani, currently the WBA seventh-place contender and PABA title holder, will be part of the “To the Future Vol. 4” event held in Osaka this Sunday.

Yani and her staff team have arrived in Osaka in the morning of August 19. They wasted no time as Yani started her jogging session right after checking in the hotel, before traveling to a local gym for some practice. Afterward, she was weighted and was found to be exactly 105 pounds.

Two WBC international title holders from Thailand, super lightweight Prawet Singwangcha and flyweight Saenmuangloei Sor Kingstar, are preparing to defend their titles against Indonesian challengers next week, while their promoter Kokiet Panichayarom is looking to impose fight hiatus on the boxers who fail to perform well in the matches.

WBC international super lightweight champion Prawet will fight Stevy Stevie Ongen Ferdinandus at an event in the northern Thai city of Loei on Tuesday September 25, while his promoter Kokiet Panichayarom said if Prawet does not perform well in the fight, he would have to take a long hiatus of about four months from professional boxing.

Kokiet admitted that some of his boxers are eying the price money rather than winning the world titles. He said he has been discouraged by their behavior and will now focus on supporting “those who have the heart”.

Japan’s Takahisa Masuda is preparing himself to challenge WBC “interim” flyweight champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam of Thailand at the end of this month, saying the Thai title holder has passed the peak in his career and is on a way down.

Masuda, who allowed the Japanese media to watch his last training session on August 17 before leaving for the match that will be held in Thailand, told the reporters that he has been preparing himself for two months for the fight and is now in a perfect condition.

He said he is not worried that the bout will be his first time to fight outside his home country, while saying that after watching records of Pongsaklek’s recent fights he came to believe that the Thai boxer has passed the peak in his career and is not performing as good as he was anymore.

Thailand’s former world champion Sirimongkol Singwancha has knocked out Uganda’s Mohammed Saleh in the second round in a match last week.

In the event held to honor Her Majesty the Queen’s birthday at the northeastern Thai city of Nakorn Ratchasima on August 12, Thai boxer Sirimongkol did not hesitate to beat his opponent Saleh down to the canvas for a count of eight by a right hook to the body in the middle of the first round.

Within the first 30 seconds of the second round, the Ugandan pugilist was again down to the canvas, this time by a left hook to the jaw. The referee ended the game and let Sirimongkol win with a technical knockout.

The Thai female boxing athletes are too young and inexperienced to succeed at the first female boxing events at the London Games 2012, says Thailand’s amateur boxing chief General Taweep Jantararoj.

General Taweep said there is not much hope for the current athletes for the success at the female flyweight, lightweight, and welterweight events which will be added to the next Olympic Games for the first time in London. He blamed the boxing promoters who handpicked the better skilled female pugilists and turned them professional.

The 13-year-old boy who was the victim of stage structure collapse at the muaythai event in Sanam Luang, Bangkok, last week, is now recovering after a surgical operation.

Maha Sarakham native Sitthichai Hatthasu was treated at the Wachira Hospital for an injury at his food tendon caused by the collapse of part the makeshift stadium at the muaythai event in Sanam Luang on August 12. Five other individuals were also sent to the same facility, but they appeared to suffer only minor injuries.

Sitthichai, who received a surgical operation on his foot and is currently using a splint, said he came to event with his uncle and went to the backstage to watch the fighters preparing for their bouts. At one point, he noticed three westerners climbing the stage to get a good view of the fight, and the structure later crumbled.

Thailand’s muaythai athletes have swept gold medals in all the nine weight classes it competed at the first Asian Martial Arts held in Bangkok and Suphanburi last week.

All the nine finalists of the host country were able to beat their opponent and claimed the medal, starting at the female 48-kilogram event with Molthira Vatanapackdee who fought Jenny So from Hong Kong in the finalist.

Throughout the four rounds, So was pressuring Molthira with punches and able to land a hit early on, while the defensive Thai mostly employed kicks and knees. Molthira eventually won the bout with good kneeing, although she nearly lost the bout to the Hong Kong opponent’s punch.