Sriasket Sor Rungvisai stopped Kwanthai Sithmorseng to set up a fight with the Juan Francisco Estrada-Roman Gonzalez winner.
Sriasket Sor Rungvisai demonstrated on Friday that the winner of the Juan Francisco Estrada-Roman Gonzalez fight has a serious threat waiting in the wings.
Sor Rungvisai, who lost his 115-pound title to Estrada in April 2019, pounded an overmatched Kwanthai Sithmorseng until he could no longer fight after three rounds at Workpoint Studio outside Bangkok, Thailand.
Sor Rungvisai (50-5-1, 43 KOs) is the WBC’s mandatory challenger, meaning he’s next in line to face the winner of Saturday’s title-unification fight in Dallas.
“I prepared very well for this fight but didn’t rush it in the first few rounds,” Sor Rungvisai said through a translator. “I wanted to get some rounds in a real fight so I can be ready for the big fight later this year.”
Sithmorseng (50-8-1, 27 KOs) is an accomplished boxer, having held a strawweight title a decade ago. However, he was too small and perhaps too old – he’s 38 – for a slugger like his opponent.
Sor Rungvisai, fighting in a methodical manner, battered Sithmorseng from the opening bell with hard shots to both the head and body. The underdog landed a number of his own clean punches and showed some durability in the first and second rounds but he broke down in the third.
Sithmorseng had absorbed a flurry of damaging blows when he decided it was best to take a knee with around 40 seconds remaining in Round 3. He managed to finish the round but couldn’t go on.
The referee officially stopped the fight but it was clear that Sithmorseng had taken enough punishment from one of the biggest punchers pound-for-pound in the sport.
Now it’s on to the winner of Estrada vs. Gonzalez, which is a rematch of their 2012 fight that Gonzalez won by decision.
Sor Rungvisai was asked about the showdown on Saturday during the post-fight interview. He wouldn’t make a prediction but he knows who he’d like to see have his hand raised.
He handed Gonzalez his only two losses, the second a brutal knockout that made him a worldwide star. He’s 1-1 against Estrada, including the disappointing decision that cost him his belt.
“It will be a great fight tomorrow with Estrada and Chocolatito,” he said. “Whoever is prepared best for this fight will win. I hope Estrada will win because we have unfinished business. I want to get revenge, I want to get the trilogy and fight him one more time.”
Does he have a message for his rivals?
Said Sor Rungvisai: “Stay fit, stay strong and we will you again later this year.”
