Cancel! The Philippines! Fight Fixes! My Office!

My office in Bangkok, Thailand. It’s small but comfortable and it has everything I need in it – my computer equipment, my photography equipment, photos of fights, a TV, and of course, an extremely comfortable sofa that sometimes doubles as my sleeping apparatus

My office in Bangkok

My Office in Bangkok

Once again, a fight involving Chris John has been cancelled. John, the WBA featherweight champion, had been scheduled to defend his title on July 26th against British Commonwealth champion Jackson Asiku. For the second time in a row, the promoter of John’s bout has failed to produce the necessary fund thus forcing the cancellation.

That’s the bad news – the good news is I should be able to cover his next fight. On the same day, Filipino fighter AJ Banal fights Rafael Concepcion for the vacant WBA super flyweight title. Since I can’t be in two places at once and I’m doing a feature on Banal and have already done one on John, I would have missed John-Asiku. So at least for me, there’s a plus side to the cancellation.

I leave for the Philippines on July 23 to cover the AJ Banal – Rafael Concepcion title fight. The fight is on the 26th so I’ll be there for the press conference and weigh-in for the fight. I’ll also spend a day or two with Banal for a feature article about the rising star – that is, assuming he’ll win the title. My guess is he will and he’ll look brilliant. Some like Bautista – personally, I like Banal – he’s the total package. He’s got a great offense, good defense, he has good hand and foot speed, and he moves his head and body when advancing towards his opponent. I haven’t seen him hurt but I’m going to go out on a limb and say he’s probably got the necessary heart to be a champion as well as all the other attributes.

The morning after the bout, I’ll head to Zamboanga City for a Thai vs. Philippines card. The main event is what I’m interested in; Eric Canoy vs. Terdsak Jandaeng. You may remember Jandaeng for his brutal fight with Juan Manuel Marquez and his other two losses, one each to Joan Guzman and Steve Luevano. In Thailand they call Jandaeng “The Pit Bull,” and he certainly lives up to his name. Thing is, he needs a little more strategy and technique and less blood and guts. He needs to get past Canoy to stay in the hunt for a title or at least a big money fight. Canoy needs to get past him to reach the next rung on the ladder. This is an interesting bout in which the winner of the bout is hard to determine – just the sort of bout I like and unfortunately all too uncommon these days.

Gambling is big business around the world, and it’s certainly big business here in Thailand and other parts of Asia. Soccer (football) is huge here and gambling on the sport is done with a fervor. Gambling on Muay Thai is legal inside the stadiums and done so with equal passion. It seems gambling and fixes and have now reached the sport of boxing here in Thailand. Olympics gold medalist Somluck Kamsing, arguably one of the most famous boxers in the country, has filed fraud charges with his brother and another fighter against two boxers from his gym, Kengkla Sor Kamsing and Nilmongkon Kaennorasing.

Kengkla Sor Kamsing admitted throwing a match at Channel 7 stadium on July 6th. According to published reports, Kengla stated for the record he was asked repeatedly by a high ranking official to throw the bout. For his role in the caper, Kengkla was to receive a total of 200,000 baht (approx. $6000).

The other boxer, Nilmongkon Kaennorasing, admitted to purposely losing his June 29th bout, also at Channel 7 Stadium, for a reported 100,000 bout. Recently, Channel 7 Stadium has been mired by numerous allegations of fraudulent fights.