Whilst Asia is often viewed as being under-the-radar by boxing fans a number of Asian fights do seem to be able to become success courtesy of things like Youtube and various video sharers. One such fight was that of Koki Eto (14-2-1, 10) and Kompayak Porpramook from earlier this year. That contest, for the WBA interim Flyweight title was one of this years best fights and deserves to be considered on any FOTY list come the end of December.
Eto returns to Thailand, where that bout took place, as he takes on another Thai opponent Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep (32-2, 19) a man some fans may know better as Yodmongol CP Freshmart.
So far in Eto's career he has been the only one of three brothers to compete on the world stage. It was fair to say prior to his bout with Kompayak I didn't think he had what it took to defeat the Thai war machine but yet he out fought Kompayak in a thriller. What he proved there however was that he was a monster with solid fundamentals, when he needed them, a warriors mentality and engine like very others. He took it to Kompayak from the opening round and slowly ground down and beat the spirit out of Kompayak who was dropped in the final round, and would have been stopped had he not been at home or had his reputation for being a warrior.
With his victory over Kompayak, Eto created history due to the fact he was the first ever Japanese man to win a world title fight on Thailand. Unlike many fighters from Japan who had gone over to Thailand he seemed very happy in the conditions which are very unique. The thing about Thailand is that fights are held out door, in the middle of the day and often with searing heat. These conditions clearly favour the Thai's who are used to them but really don't do favours for foreigners going to fights over there.
When it comes to Yodmongkol he's a fighter than many who follow the Thai scene will have seen but nothing really stands out about him in terms of what he does in the ring. That's not a bad thing but he just seems like a very standard fighter, despite looking slightly more technically proficient than a number of other Thai's. He has nice enough hand speed but nothing amazing.
What Yodmongkol however does have is real confidence. He is on a 28 fight winning streak and although his level of competition has been average at best he is a fighter who will be used to the Thai conditions and a man fighting for the honour of Thailand, and his stablemate Kompayak (another of the CP Freshmart fighters).
Although I imagine Yodmongkol will show a lot of desire to win I can't help but think that Eto will manage to break him down. The only reason Kompayak wasn't stopped is that he's a tough, tough man and I don't think Yodmongkol has that same toughness either physically or mentally to withstand the Eto assault for 12 rounds.
Prediction-Eto TKO 9
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