Saenchai PKSaenchaigym turned on the style to beat three separate foreign fighters, showing off some of his trademark tricks en route to winning the 140 lbs Toyota Marathon tournament in Phitsanulok, northern Thailand.
The most dominant fighter of the last decade was always going to be a strong favorite against a field of non Thai welterweights but he did not have things all his own way as he faced competitive opponents in the semi finals and final.
Saenchai’s afternoon got off to an easy start as he destroyed the outmatched Stanislav Patrakov in the quarter final, putting him down for a count with a flurry of punches and then finishing him off with a short right elbow.
The other outstanding performer at the quarter final stage was Iranian Vahid Shabazi who stopped Mickael Alonzo with a vicious knee to the midsection after totally outclassing him for the best part of two rounds.
He took on the much smaller Saenchai in the semi finals and was extremely competitive in the opening round, repeatedly making the two time ‘fighter of the year’ and four weight Lumpinee champion miss with his body kicks.
At one point, Shabazi succeeded in pulling off a maneuver more commonly associated with his opponent, bending out of the way of one of Saenchai’s high kicks and then kicking his off balance opponent square in the back. Towards the end of the round, the usually ice cool Thai fighter looked uncharacteristically aggressive as he attacked with a jumping downwards elbow.
It is unusual for an opponent to be able to frustrate Saenchai for any length of time and Shabazi’s luck ran out abruptly in the second round as he was dropped with a hard left cross. From that point onwards there was only going to be one winner, but the Iranian managed to see it through until the final bell with the pace dropping dramatically towards the end.
The other semi final ended in the second round as the impressive looking Uzbek Naimjon Tutaboef was putting such a beating on John Michel Pierre that the referee decided to step in and save the French fighter, who was doing a good job of covering up but wasn’t offering much by way of offence, from further punishment.
That set up a final between Saenchai and Tutaboef and after possibly being taken by surprise by the skill level of his opponent in the previous round the Thai was taking no chances this time around. In a vintage performance, which was punctuated by cartwheel kicks and flying teeps to the face, he controlled the action from start to finish to win by margins of 30-27 on all three judges scorecards.
It was the second time he has won a Toyota Marathon and he picked up a 300,000 Baht cheque, while the runner up had to settle for 200,000 Baht and although Saenchai was on the receiving end of a few low kicks in the semi final he didn’t take too much punishment and should have recovered in time to fight Kongsak Sitbonmee at Rajadamnern on August 8th.
140 lbs Toyota Marathon, Phitsanulok, July 24th, 2013
Final
Saenchai PKSaenchaigym beat Naimjon Tutaboef by decision WINS TOYOTA MARATHON
Semi Finals
Naimjon Tutaboef beat John Michel Pierre by TKO (punches and elbows) round two
Saenchai PKSaenchaigym beat Vahid Shabazi by decision
Quarter finals
Naimjov Tutaboef beat Leonard Nganga by decision
Jhan Michel Pierre beat Jamie Stuart Stamp by decision
Saenchai PKSaenchaigym beat Stanislav Petrakov by KO (elbow) round one
Vahid Shabazi beat Mickael Alonzo (Belgium) by KO (knee) round two
Story: CombatAsia / James Goyder
Photo: Saenchai’s Facebook page
