RP FIGHTERS LOSE BY POINTS AND RECEIVE OVATION FROM THAI FANS
By Carlos Costa
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 15 May 2010
Despite the political unrest and a state of emergency in the Kingdom of Thailand, all three Filipino fighters on Friday's Bangkok card engaged in exciting toe-to-toe crowd pleasing wars, and regardless the fact that they all lost by points, the Thai audience rendered enthusiastic applauses to the visiting Pinoy warriors.
In an extremely hard fight, Ricky Susmundo (16-5) from Bohol lost a 12 rounds unanimous decision to world ranked and WBO oriental super featherweight champion Terdsak Kokietgym (40-3-1).
Terdsak is also the current super featherweight #2 by the WBO and #12 by the WBC. But that distinction did not intimidate Ricky, who was very effective in the middle rounds with good straight rights and combinations to the body.
Ricky Susmundo was a late substitute who signed for this bout only a week before.
And to everyone's surprise, the Tagbilaran resident gave an unexpected, impressive tough afternoon to his well experienced but sometimes baffled and tired opponent.
Ricky was unfairly deducted 1 point from a Thai judge when an unintentional head clash occurred. But then the referee failed to penalize the Thai boxer after he delivered a low blow to Ricky. At that instance the ref gave some seconds for Ricky to recover, but did not deduct any point from Terdsak.
In addition, at the very end of the fight another unintentional head clash occurred which opened a one inch cut on the right eyebrow of Ricky. Again, the obviously bias judge failed to deduct a point from the Thai.
Scores from the all-Thai panel of judges were 115-112 in one judge and 116-111 from the other two judges, all in favor of the Thai fighter. Philboxing saw the fight a draw.
In the main event, world rated and WBO Asia Pacific Champion Sod Kokietgym (45-2-1) had to sweat all 12 rounds of non-stop action packed slugfest against Leyte kid Adonis Aguelo (12-3-1), a fast hands fighter who never stopped throwing punches and showed no respect at all to the more accomplished world class Thai fighter.
At the end of the 12 rounds the all-Thai judges scored identical 117-111 in favor of Sod Kokietygym, who is the current #2 WBO and #8 WBC. However, at the end of the fight the Filipino kid's face look much more fresh and without visible signs of combat, while Sod Kokietgym has shown a face with more signs of punishment. Sod Kokietgym looked for Adonis to wish him good luck in his carreer (see pic below).
Top photo: Ricky Sismundo (R) goes toe to toe with highly regarded Terdsak Kokietgym to the delight of the audience.
Adonis Aguelo (R) scores a crushing left cross on Sod Kokietgym.
Sod (R) and Aguelo exchange pleasantries and good wishes after a very entertaining fight.
Pinoys lost but in high spirits during dinner, left to right, Japanese manager Mr. Sato from TI Yamagata Gym, Cebuano trainer Brix Flores, Philboxing reporter Carlos Costa, Fighers Ricky Susmundo, Michael Rodriguez, Adonis Aguelo, and Japanese boxing and Muaythai reporter Mr. Kazuto Harada.
In the first fight of the afternoon, Michael Rodriguez, a Gensan fighter without a manager and who trains by himself, and owner of a rather poor record of 7-20 gave another meaning to the word courage by getting into a battle of will with a stronger, well prepared and well-trained world class foe Pigmy Kokietgym (41-5-2).
Even though Pigmy Kokietgym hasn't lost a fight since 2002 and is the current #4 in the WBC and WBA and #2 in the WBO, Michael went into war with him the whole duration of the exciting fight.
At the end the panel of Thai judges saw Pigmy winning, though no exact official scores were announced. Michael, who has a tatoo in his left leg that reads "no fear" and likes the fighting style of two division champion Gerry Penalosa, seemed a bit disappointed when the desicion that he lost was announced. However, in the opinion of this reporter, Pigmy Kokietgym indeed won the entertaining clash by 3 points.
At the sound of the last bell the audience at the Impact Arena stood up and applauded the heart and determination of all RP boxers while their fights were seen live across Thailand by Channel 7.
Later on during dinner at the 13 Coins Hotel Bangkok, Cebuano Trainer Brix Flores who was the head cornerman assisting all three Filipino fighters said "they were good fights, we fought really well, I am very proud, Thanks God." (see pic during dinner).
Brix Flores, an outstanding amateur fighter who represented the Philippines in international competitions, winning bronze in the 10th Asian Games in Seoul 1986, will lead the group of Filipino fighters back home as they are scheduled to arrived in their home soil via Philippine Airlines flight Sunday morning.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Carlos Costa.
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