Menayothin Matches Marciano

By Derek Bonnett

Thailand’s Wanheng Menayothin, world titlist at 105-pounds, won his ninth world championship bout early this morning in Nakhon Ratchasima. Menayothin, one of boxing’s busiest fighters, won over Japan’s Tatsuya Fukuhara in a twelve round bout, giving him his fifth decision victory in 2017. What was lost on most boxing fans was that the victory also pushed Menayothin even with Rocky Marciano’s unbeaten streak and one more victory from a tie with Floyd Mayweather Jr. With the Thai champion’s break-neck pace, we could be looking at a new record by March.

Fukuhara fought well and was tough throughout, but Menayothin’s stiff jab and ability to fight well off his back foot produced enough effective counters to take the rounds away from the on-charging Japanese bull. The Thai fire-plug stood two and a half inches shorter than Fukuhara officially, but it looked more like five in the ring given the champions crouch. It wasn’t all jabs and counters for the champion though as he found a willing home for his right hand on the chin of the Japanese boxer often, including three in a row at the height of round five. Fukuhara was the aggressor from start to finish, but many of his wild on-charging blows were smother by the gloves and arms of the champion. SecondsOut saw Menayothin the winner by a 116-112 margin, but it could have been a round closer with no complaint. The official judges saw it 118-110, 117-113, and 116-112.

Menayothin, 32, improved to 49-0-0 (17). A unification match with fellow Thai world champion Knockout CP Freshmart still looms as the best fight in the division, but little effort has been evident to see this bout as a reality. SecondsOut currently sees Freshmart as number one and Menayothin as number two in the division. Fukuhara, 28, fell to a deceptive 19-6-6 (7).