The last 12 months have been awful for Thailand's boxing fans. They've not only seen notable names retire, including Pongsaklek Wonjongkam but also seen numerous Thai fighters losing notable match ups, such as Tepparith Kokietgym being stoped by Kohei Kono. Despite the horror of 2012 they still have 1 man holding a world title and that is the little known WBO Bantamweight champion Pungluang Sor Singyu (43-1, 28) who will make the first defense of his title this coming Saturday.
Sor Singyu, who defeated Filipino AJ Banal for the title will travel to Namibia to face unbeaten Namibian Paulus Ambunda (19-0, 10) in what promises to be an excellent clash, not only for the locals but for any lucky fans who get to see this clash.
The champion is one of the sports most under-rated fighters on the planet, a real issue with being from the east. In his two fights outside of his homeland Sor Singyu was impressive, losing a very controversial decision in Belgium to current European champion Stephan Jamoye and defeating Banal in the Philippines. Aside from those two fights however his competition has been limited.
Despite the limited nature of Sor Singyu, 24, he is a class fighter who is a very solid pressure fighter and likes to force the action with cleaver footwork, tough defensive and hurtful, though not concussive shots. Those hard, hurtful shots aren't going to take a top fighter out early though they will help to discourage opponents and break them down gradually, whilst his defense will also discourage and tire out opponents, as he showed against Banal.
Whilst the champion is a defensively solid and offensively smart fighter his challenger looks a little bit more crude and limited. Although Ambunda, the WBO #1 does look like a fun action fighter many of his shoots are wide and somewhat wild, especially his right hand which has looked easily avoidable in the past.
Ambunda is getting this fight due to his long reign as WBO African Bantamweight champion as well as his recent reign as the WBO International Bantamweight champion. Those titles have helped to raise his rankings dramatically. Sadly despite his reigns with various titles, Ambunda hasn't yet faced a recognisable fighter, in fact his best win to date is quite possibly over Brazilian William Prado, not a name that you'd have highly ranked in the Bantamweight division.
With the challenger having both an unbeaten record as well as home advantage he may well feel he's the favourite, from my point of view however Sor Singyu is the type of fighter who's just as good, if not better, on the road. If the Thai comes to fight there is no one in the Bantamweight division who will have an easy day with him and with that in mind I'll be tipping him to win. The thing about the challenger is that he's never faced a fighter who will do what Sor Singyu will do and with that in mind I think Sor Singyu will force a stoppage in the second half of the fight.
Prediction- Sor Singyu TKO8
Showing posts with label Pungluang Sor Singyu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pungluang Sor Singyu. Show all posts
Thursday, 28 February 2013
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
AJ Banal v Pungluang Sor Singyu
The weekends most obscure world title fight takes place in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines as Filipino youngster AJ Banal (28-1-1, 20) attempts to claim the vacant WBO Bantamweight title as he faces Thai Pungluang Sor Singyu (42-1, 27).
Despite the fact neither fighter is very well known this still promises to be a very good fight as not only do we have two skilled fighters, but we have two young fighters looking to make a name for themselves and we also have nationalistic pride as boxers from two Asian countries battle out.
The highly ranked AJ Banal (WBO #1) has been one of the Philippines' best kept boxing secrets since he debuted way back in 2005 as just a 16 year old. Since his debut he has developed very well and become a very talented young fighter who many with a knowledge of Filipino boxing have tipped as one of their brightest young stars.
Banal's professional career didn't start brilliantly as he suffered a technical draw on his debut, however it didn't take long for him to get things back on track as he rattled off a series of 17 straight wins. Amongst those 17 wins were victories over Juan Alberto Rosas (who would later go on to claim the IBF Super Flyweight title) and the then 25-0 Caril Herrera in an IBF Super Flyweight world title eliminator.
Sadly however for Banal his winning run came to an end in 2008 as he was stopped by the hard punching Rafael Concepcion. Following the loss to Concepcion, Banal moved from Super Flyweight to Bantamweight, accommodating his growing body. Since moving to 118lbs Banal has been unbeaten and scored 11 wins (some of which have been above the Bantamweight limit) including a notable victory over former 2-weight world champion Luis Alberto Perez.
Despite having notable victories against both Rosas and Perez (as mentioned above) Banal is still pretty unknown by all but either hardcore fans or Filipino fans. This is a shame as he's actually fought in the US 3 times (with the most recent of those bouts coming in 2009) and has an eye pleasing style that should really have helped made him a US TV mainstay. Banal has fast, heavy hands and when he has his man hurt he really likes to unleash, as he did against Raul Hidalgo. Despite his aggressive mindset however, he has got decent boxing fundamentals and in his only loss to date, he was actually ahead on the score cards prior to be stopped.
Like Banal, the co-challenger Pungluang Sor Singyu is also highly ranked (WBO #2) and despite having had over 40 fights is also surprisingly young at just 24 years old. In fact the comparisons between the two men are numerous. Not only are both surprisingly young and very experienced for their age, but both men made their professional debuts at just 16 with Sor Singyu debuting back in 2004.
Sor Singyu started his career in excellent fashion and won his first 23 fights as well as the WBC Youth World Bantamweight title. Impressively he remained unbeaten until 2009 when he was controversially beaten by the talented Belgian Stephane Jamoye, in Jamoye's home city of Liege.
Since being beaten by Jamoye, Sor Singyu has run up 19 more successful victories, however they have all been at home and often against nondescript opponents with the best of them being against the likes of Marvin Tampus and Danilo Pena (both of whom are Filipino journeyman).
Sadly for fans wanting to see something of Sor Singyu it's hard to find footage of him in a decent fight, however the footage I have seen has shown him to be an "in your face" type of fighter with a solid guard and powerful looking right hands. His style looks like he'll be hard to force back and that if you remain in front of him, he will happily guide you to the ropes to bounce straight right hands off your hands. The fact he's only been in with poor opponents (Jamoye aside) however doesn't fill me with much confidence as to just how good he really is.
Whilst I do, genuinely like what I've seen of Sor Singyu I can't help but question his opponents and this leads me to feel that Banal will come out victorious, especially with this fight being held in the Philippines. I have to go with Banal by decision in what could genuinely turn out to be the fight of the weekend. I have a feeling that their styles will just play off on each other other as each man takes his turn to land their hardest shots on the other.
Prediction-Banal UD.
Despite the fact neither fighter is very well known this still promises to be a very good fight as not only do we have two skilled fighters, but we have two young fighters looking to make a name for themselves and we also have nationalistic pride as boxers from two Asian countries battle out.
The highly ranked AJ Banal (WBO #1) has been one of the Philippines' best kept boxing secrets since he debuted way back in 2005 as just a 16 year old. Since his debut he has developed very well and become a very talented young fighter who many with a knowledge of Filipino boxing have tipped as one of their brightest young stars.
Banal's professional career didn't start brilliantly as he suffered a technical draw on his debut, however it didn't take long for him to get things back on track as he rattled off a series of 17 straight wins. Amongst those 17 wins were victories over Juan Alberto Rosas (who would later go on to claim the IBF Super Flyweight title) and the then 25-0 Caril Herrera in an IBF Super Flyweight world title eliminator.
Sadly however for Banal his winning run came to an end in 2008 as he was stopped by the hard punching Rafael Concepcion. Following the loss to Concepcion, Banal moved from Super Flyweight to Bantamweight, accommodating his growing body. Since moving to 118lbs Banal has been unbeaten and scored 11 wins (some of which have been above the Bantamweight limit) including a notable victory over former 2-weight world champion Luis Alberto Perez.
Despite having notable victories against both Rosas and Perez (as mentioned above) Banal is still pretty unknown by all but either hardcore fans or Filipino fans. This is a shame as he's actually fought in the US 3 times (with the most recent of those bouts coming in 2009) and has an eye pleasing style that should really have helped made him a US TV mainstay. Banal has fast, heavy hands and when he has his man hurt he really likes to unleash, as he did against Raul Hidalgo. Despite his aggressive mindset however, he has got decent boxing fundamentals and in his only loss to date, he was actually ahead on the score cards prior to be stopped.
Like Banal, the co-challenger Pungluang Sor Singyu is also highly ranked (WBO #2) and despite having had over 40 fights is also surprisingly young at just 24 years old. In fact the comparisons between the two men are numerous. Not only are both surprisingly young and very experienced for their age, but both men made their professional debuts at just 16 with Sor Singyu debuting back in 2004.
Sor Singyu started his career in excellent fashion and won his first 23 fights as well as the WBC Youth World Bantamweight title. Impressively he remained unbeaten until 2009 when he was controversially beaten by the talented Belgian Stephane Jamoye, in Jamoye's home city of Liege.
Since being beaten by Jamoye, Sor Singyu has run up 19 more successful victories, however they have all been at home and often against nondescript opponents with the best of them being against the likes of Marvin Tampus and Danilo Pena (both of whom are Filipino journeyman).
Sadly for fans wanting to see something of Sor Singyu it's hard to find footage of him in a decent fight, however the footage I have seen has shown him to be an "in your face" type of fighter with a solid guard and powerful looking right hands. His style looks like he'll be hard to force back and that if you remain in front of him, he will happily guide you to the ropes to bounce straight right hands off your hands. The fact he's only been in with poor opponents (Jamoye aside) however doesn't fill me with much confidence as to just how good he really is.
Whilst I do, genuinely like what I've seen of Sor Singyu I can't help but question his opponents and this leads me to feel that Banal will come out victorious, especially with this fight being held in the Philippines. I have to go with Banal by decision in what could genuinely turn out to be the fight of the weekend. I have a feeling that their styles will just play off on each other other as each man takes his turn to land their hardest shots on the other.
Prediction-Banal UD.
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