Pichit, making his 2nd defense, wrested the WBA 108-pound crown on a stunning 2nd-round stoppage of Japanese lefty Keiji Yamaguchi in Osaka, Japan, in Dec., 1996. Hadao, a veteran campaigner at 30, failed to win the WBA throne when he battled to a draw with the then champ Leo Gamez, Venezuela, in Bangkok in Jun., 1994. Though this mandatory title bout between the fellow countrymen was slated to take place earlier, it was inevitably postponed dut to some heavy effect by the notorious recession in Thailand.

The lefty Pichit, 23, started with faster southpaw jabs and straight lefts, while Hadao, an orthodox stylist, responded with left jabs and straight rights. Hadao caught him with roundhouse lefts and rights, and threw solid blows to the left speedster in the 2nd. The champ utilized his faster footwork and outboxed the slower but game opponent in the 3rd and 4th.

An accidental collision of heads opened a bad gash on the forehead of Hadao in the 5th. Referee Mitch Halpern, from Las Vegas, called it unintentional. Hadao kept bleeding from a cut, which became a great handicap for him. Pichit dominated the 5th as he showed quick attacks to the gory foe. The southpaw champ was in command in the 6th through 11th, as he solved a monotonous strategy of Hadao who just threw left-right combinations to the face and midsection. The faster and smarter Pichit often scored with southpaw right hooks, piling up points steadily.

With about 30 seconds remaining in the 12th and final session, Pichit landed a well-timed left cross and had Hadao sprawling to the deck. Hadao barely regained his feet, but looked exhausted and groggy enough. But Pichit adopted a safety-first way of fighting without following it up.

Pichit, whose previous Cuban trainer Ismael Salas left for Japan, bettered his mark to 19-1, 12 KOs. Hadao fell to 35-10-1, 8 KOs. The loser said, "This was my final opportunity to fight for the world title. I am too old to expect another title shot, so I will retire from the ring."

SCORECARDS

FERDINAND ESTELLA (PHILIPPINES)
ROUND 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
PICHIT 10 10 10 10 10 9 10 9 10 10 10 10 118
HADAO 10 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 9 9 9 8 111

DEREK MILHAM (AUSTRALIA)
PICHIT 10 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 9 10 10 118
HADAO 9 10 9 9 9 9 9 10 9 10 10 9 112

PHILIP VERBEKE (BELGIUM)
PICHIT 10 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 119
HADAO 9 10 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 108

Promoter: Niwat Laosuwanwat.
WBA supervisor: Shigeru Kojima, Japan.

(3-1-98)