THANONGSAK Simsri is the new IBF light-flyweight champion after defeating Cristian Araneta via split decision in Tokyo on the undercard of Brian Norman-Jin Sasaki. The Thai fighter picked up the 108-pound strap, which was left vacant by Japan’s Masamichi Yabuki, who ventured up to flyweight in March.
Simsri had to battle through a knockdown here to prevail by divided verdict. Two score totals of 116-111 and 115-112, respectively, secured his win. The third judge went 114-113 in favour of Filipino Araneta.
Simsri boxed smartly for the opening two rounds, employing a solid left jab. Simsri’s defence slackened 30 seconds from the end of the third round and he was made to pay with a crunching left hand that sent him down for a count and erased the first two rounds in one go.
Araneta found a better range as the middle rounds progressed. Stepping forward, letting the left hand go was a key tactic. It was still not enough for ESPN Latino, whose unofficial scorer had the patient Simsri sweeping rounds seven through 10, entering the 11th with a 96-93 lead on the cards.
It seemed that Araneta had the power to change things around at any point, but he was being snakecharmed by the comfortable boxing skills of Simsri.
The two title challengers entered as legitimate punchers and Simsri’s 89 per cent KO ratio was clearly a factor in keeping Araneta overly cautious in his approach. It was fought at a fairly pedestrian pace for the most part, as both men declined to commit and make a mistake.
The tension in the arena was evident as the MC read out the scores, confirming that Thanongsak Simsri had won, improving his record to 39-1 (34 KOs). Cristian Araneta is now 25-3 (20 KOs).
