This weeks first title fight takes place in Thailand as WBA "interim" Flyweight champion Kompayak Porpramook (50-4, 35) defends his title against little known Japanese fighter Koki Eto (13-2-1, 10).
The hardcore amongst us will know a bit about Porpramook who is best known for his 2011 war with Adrian Hernandez for the WBC Flyweight title. That bout may not have have screamed "big names" or even "give me attention" but it was a genuinely wonderful battle that Porpramook came out on top of stopping Hernandez in the 10th round.
Although Porpramook would lose in a rematch to Hernandez in Mexico in 2012 he had shown his heart and warrior spirit by climbing back to his feet twice before the referee waved an early conclusion to events.
In terms of style Porpramook is a bit of the "typical Thai" in that he's more of a fighter than a boxer. He's not a concussive puncher or a defensively intelligent fighter but he has an excellent engine that seems to never stop, he often applies constant offensive work and walks forward through whatever is thrown his way. Often this is enough to over-whelm his opponents but a clever boxer who has an equally impressive tank could defeat him or a powerful hitter who can dent his chin also seems likely to beat him (as Hernandez did).
Whilst the hardcore will Porpramook only the extremely hardcore will know too much about Koki Eto. One of 3 boxing brothers Eto is technically awful, he's almost without a defense or a clue of what to do in the actual ring though he does, rather thankfully for his career, have a dynamite punch, the heart of a lion and the refusal to just lose.
Aged 25 Eto is significantly younger in both "real years" and "ring years" though his youth hasn't been spent using reflexes to avoid shots, instead he often seems to take a few in the hope of landing his dynamite fists.
The power of Eto really cannot be over-stated. He may technically have just a 62.5% KO rate from all his fights but 3 of his 6 distance bouts were in his first 4 contests and his 2nd round stoppage of Denchailek Kratingdaenggym last November showed that power as he left the Thai reeling from wild and genuinely reckless blows.
With the power of Eto and the toughness of Porpramook I think we're actually in for a lower level version of the recent Omar Figueroa v Nihito Arakawa bout from this past Saturday. This time however the tough veteran probably manages to see off his hard hitting and much younger rival after a few shaky moments.
Prediction-Porpramook TKO7
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