JIRO MERLIN BADLY BEATEN IN MISMATCH AGAINST FORMER WORLD CHAMPION
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 07 Mar 2012
Poonsawat (L) and Merlin after the bout.
Filipino boxer Jiro Merlin, ranked No. 13 by the Pan Asia Boxing Association was badly beaten and suffered a knockout in the 9th round by reigning PABA super bantamweight champion and former WBA world champion Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
A PABA report said that the Thai fighter whose real name is Prakorb Udomna was leading by a shutout on the scorecard of judge Chalerm Prayadsab 80-72 while the two other judges ? Arkom Wanasit and Amnart Saichalard - gave Merlin only one round in turning in identical 79-73 scorecards at the end of eight rounds. Referee was Wanchai Pongsri.
The 31 year old Poonsawat improved his record to 46-2 with 32 knockouts while the 23 year old Merlin dropped to 11-13-1 with just 2 knockouts once again raising serious questions as to how the Philippine Games and Amusements Board which is under the Office of the President could approve such blatant mis-matches.
Poonsawat won the PABA super bantamweight title with a 2nd round knockout of Filipino Jonathan Ba at on September 8, 2006 and defended it successfully no less than 15 times.
He fought for the world bantamweight title and lost a unanimous twelve round decision to Wladimir Sidorenko on July 15, 2006. Sidorenko is the same boxer who was bloodied, battered and knocked out in the 4th round of a WBC Continental Americas bantamweight title fight on December 4, 2010 in a WBC title eliminator against reigning WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire.
Poonsawat won the world title with a stunning 3rd round knockout of Bernard Dunne in Dublin, Ireland on September 26, 2009 and defended it successfully with a 12 round majority decision over Satoshi Kimura on January 11, 2010 in Tokyo and a 4th round knockout of another Japanese, Shoji Kimura, on May 20, 2010 in Thailand.
However, Poonsawat suffered a shocking upset when he lost his title by a unanimous twelve round decision to South Korea?s Ryol Li Lee in Tokyo on October 2, 2010.
Merlin was coming off a 4th round TKO victory in a rematch with Jestoni Pepito on September 16, 2011 after winning a six round unanimous decision over Pepito on March 7, 2011 following which he lost four fights in a row.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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