Rattanapol Kokietgym has lost his PABA title to Richard Garcia of the Philippines by decision.

Their match was held on October 3 at a makeshift stadium at Ban Rai School in Dan Khun Ton District of Nakorn Ratchasima, as part of the charity event to celebrate the 85th birthday anniversary of revered monk Luang Por Koon.

After eleven rounds with each boxer down several times, Richard Garcia was able to unify his “interim” PABA flyweight title with the non-interim title of Rattanapol Kokietgym, who is known internationally as Ratanapol Sor Vorapin.

Rattanapol started an aggressive game in his fifth defending bout of the title, but Garcia was keen to avoid any close engagement. In the second round, Rattanapol kept pressing forward and launched an unsuccessful left punch that was countered by the Filipino’s right strike.

In the third round the Thai boxer was hit with a right punch and down to canvas but quickly got back on his feet before the referee started the count. The Thai boxer was able to hit a left on Garcia’s face at the end of the round.

In the fourth round, Rattanapol was still the aggressor but Garcia was effective in countering his moves. Counter attacks of the Filipino boxer sent Rattanapol down to the canvas twice near the end of the round. Both time he got up when the referee counted to eight.

The hits seemed to have some effects on Rattanapol but the Thai boxer became frenzied and his flurries to Garcia’s body resulted in the Filipino down for a count of seven in the sixth round. The tide began to turn and Rattanapol gained a momentum especially in the eighth round and the Filipino was down twice after some grappling sessions. For both times, he only got up when the referee counted to eight.

Garcia started to keep a distance in the ninth round and was able to hit Rattanapol in the face several times. There was not much action from the exhausted boxers in the tenth round. Garcia gathered his strength in the last round but his aggressive attempt to knock out the Thai boxer was futile.

Garcia was declared the winner of the match by a unanimous decision with scores of 103-103, 104-101.5, and 104-101.5.

Rattanapol’s promoter Kokiet Panichayarom, who said the two boxers were equally matched, is planning for a rematch in January next year.

In the same event, Muay Kokietgym defeated Jujia Negawa of the Philippines and won the “vacant” PABA female light flyweight title, while PABA super flyweight Daungpet Kokietgym knocked out Indonesian challenger Hansori Anwar in the second round.