Chris John To Defend WBA Featherweight Title against Dangerous Thailander Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo
By Carlos Costa
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 27 Sep 2012
BANGKOK, Kingdom of Thailand - The WBA champion of the decade Chris John of Indonesia will make the 16th defense of his world title against undefeated Thailander Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo on November 9 in Singapore, Gilberto Jesus Mendoza, Executive Vice-president of the World Boxing Association (WBA), has informed Philboxing.
"Yes, WBA's featherweight super champion Chris John is set to defend his title against Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo," confirmed Mendoza.
The bout, to take place at the luxurious 5-star Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore, is a production of Indonesian promoter Raja Sapta Oktohari of Mahkota Promotions.
CHRIS JOHN
John, world champion since 2003 with 15 successful defenses is still in scene hungry for more action and he will have it this November 9 at one of the most spectaculars hotels in the planet, the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.
The technical boxer is managed by Australian Craig Christian, while the Thai Chonlatarn is guided by Ms. Pariyakorn of Onesongchai Boxing, the most powerful boxing promotion company in the Kingdom of Thailand.
In his last outing last May, also in Singapore, Chris John (47-0-2, 22KO's) defended his featherweight crown in a rather monotonous win by points over veteran 35-year-old Japanese Shoji Kimura.
An extremely technical and defensive fighter in his combat approach, Chris John invariably fails to excite and thrill fans.
His fight method is based on scoring only the needed points to win a match without exposing much or looking for the knockout.
His old stance does not change unless seriously pressed on by an opponent. The colorless method has bored fans to death for years. Not surprisingly, only three of John's 16 championship fights had ended before the final bell.
That is one reason why, despite his many title fights since 2003, Indonesian Chris John continues to be one of the less entertaining boxing champions.
Understandably, after his boring performance against Rocky Juarez in Las Vegas 3 years ago, Chris John has never again been invited to fight before the demanding thrill-hungry fans in the United States.
The last time Chris John beat an opponent before the limit was almost 5 years ago when Chiricano Roinet "Mus" Caballero unexpectedly stayed on his stool without coming out to fight at the sound of the bell for the seventh round.
"EL TORO" CHONLATARN
In contrast, opponent Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo (44-0, 27KO's), six years younger than John, is an aggressive fighter of contact who likes to go to war.
A knockout seeker, Chonlatarn goes forward throwing power shots, especially overhead and hooks, lethal weapons that he had successfully used to bust down by knockout 13 of his last 15 opponents.
Nevertheless, the WBC featherweight Asian champion Chonlatarn, who has also fought in Muay Thai, does not attack recklessly.
The Thai possesses a good technique and solid knowledge of defense that would carry him out in case of trouble.
With that in mind, it's anticipated that Chris John will try to counter the fury of Thai using his old proven technique of walking the ring, using lateral moves to maintain The Bull Chonlatarn under control, while throwing his smart jab to confuse the less accomplished Thailander.
In addition, since Chris John is rarely aggressive, it is most likely that John will try to counterpunch Chonlatarn each time the violent Thai comes towards him shooting dangerous hands.
Will Chris John once again defend his crown while boring fans... but winning well?
Or will the Thai "Toro" Chonlatarn destroy Chris John bagging his name into his ever increasing list of opponents defeated by knockout, thus ending the Chris John era?
Earlier this year, the winner of the "WBC fighter of the decade" Pongsaklek Wongjongkam" lost by knockout to an unknown veteran, why the "WBA figher of the decade" Chris John can not lose?
We'll find out.
But if Chris John successfully manages to make his defense # 16, he will be approaching the world record for most defenses of the featherweight world crown held by the Hall of Fame Panamanian Eusebio "El Alacran" Pedroza, who in the eighties he put together a whopping 20 featherweight title defenses.
Eusebio Pedroza is one of four Panamanians in the Hall of Fame. The others are "El Tigre de Santa Isabel" Ismael Laguna, Alfonso Panama Al Brown (in 1929 Alfonso became the first boxing world champion in Latin American in history) and Roberto "Hands of Stone" Duran.
Philboxing will report on this WBA featherweight title fight from be Marina Bay in Singapore.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Carlos Costa.
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