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November 26, 1998
PATHUM THANI, THAILAND-Short but sturdy Thailander SAMAN SORJATURONG,
107, barely kept his WBC light flyweight title, as he survived a
5th-round visit to the deck, fought back hard and earned a close but
unanimous decision over Mexican LADISLAO VAZQUEZ, 107, over 12 heats at
Muang Thong Thani Sports Complex.
Scored: Cliff Heaver (Australia) and Franz Marti (Switzerland) both
115-113, and Jaebong Kim (Korea) 116-114, all for Saman, who registered
his 10th defense since he dethroned Humberto "Chiquita" Gonzalez in Los
Angeles in 1995. Referee was David Chung (Korea). (Regarding the
figures of these scores, please refer to the below-written REMARKS under
the scoresheets.)
The champ's overconfidence might account for this tough battle. After
they probed each other in the first 2 rounds, Vasquez earlier started
his engine with busier combinations in the 3rd. The Mexican almost
stunned the champ with a solid right in the closing seconds of the 4th.
Vazquez landed a wicked left hook following a straight right, dropping
the champ midway in the 5th. Saman, however, furiously retaliated with
a flurry of punches to have him at bay in that round. It was Saman's
usual strategy that he recklessly attacked his opponent after
withstanding a crisis.
The 6th saw Saman sustain a gash over the left optic, though he took
this session by bouncing him off with solid combos. There happened a
collision of heads, which opened a cut on Saman and also enlarged a gash
on Vazquez who had that laceration in the opening session. The referee
then declared a deduction of a point from each contestant. It was a
very rare decision of a dual deduction. The game champ was in command
in the 7th through 9th.
But Vazquez dispalyed his determination by welcoming his second wind,
and dominated the last 3 rounds. He threw by far more blows to the
fading champ who sporadically fought back with few strong shots. The
Mexican's retaliations, however, weren't enough to overcome his early
deficits on points. The hairline victory raised Saman's mark to 40-2-1,
31 KOs. Vazquez fell to 39-13-1, 22 KOs.
Saman is slated to meet Ricardo Lopez, Mexico, with his WBC 108-pound
title at stake in his next defense. The Thailander had been annihilated
by Lopez in two rounds in Mexico in 1993, when he had an ambitious crack
at Lopez's WBC 105-pound crown. Saman has improved since, and thus
registered 10 defenses to his credit. But Lopez must be his strongest
opposition through his more than 3 year reign.
UNDERCARDS:
TBC #1 ranked light fly RIDHICHAI KIATPRABHAS exploded his trade-mark
southpaw lefts, floored Japanese SHIN TERAO and stopped him in the 6th
round. Ridhichai is 18-4, 12 KOs. Terao dipped to 10-4-1, 1 KO.
WBC #9 ranked super fly PONE NAKONTHORN-PARKVIEW, previously fighting as
Pone Saengmorakot, lopsidedly battered Filipino RICKY SALES to pound out
a unanimous decision over 10. Pone extended his unbeaten streak to
15-0, 5 KOs. Sales refused to go down despite his absorption of much
punishment.
Promoter: Sahasombhop Srisomvongse.
SCORESHEETS
CLIFF HEAVER (AUSTRALIA)
ROUND 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 TOTAL
SAMAN 9 9 10 10 9 10(-1) 10 10 10 10 9 9 114
VAZQUEZ 10 10 9 9 10 9(-1) 9 9 9 9 10 10 112
FRANZ MARTI (SWITZERLAND)
ROUND 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 TOTAL
SAMAN 10 10 9 10 9 10(-1) 10 10 9 10 9 9 114
VAZQUEZ 9 9 10 9 10 9(-1) 9 9 10 9 10 10 112
JAEBONG KIM (KOREA)
ROUND 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 TOTAL
SAMAN 10 10 10 10 8 10(-1) 10 10 10 9 9 10 115
VAZQUEZ 9 9 9 10 10 9(-1) 9 9 10 10 10 10 113
REMARKS: Although the official scores were announced as written above,
this reporter rechecked the scoresheets reported from Thailand and found
that the announced tallies didn't reflect the deduction of a point from
each boxer in the 6th round. Therefore, exactly speaking, the scores
should have been as follows:
Heaver and Marti 114-112, and Kim 115-113, all for Saman.
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