ONE Championship: Tawanchai title triumph met with chorus of boos from unhappy crowd
- Judges’ majority decision in favour of Tawanchai PKSaenchaigym after fight for bantamweight Muay Thai belt leaves crowd furious
Tawanchai PKSaenchaigym retained his bantamweight Muay Thai belt at ONE 167 on Saturday, beating Jo Nattawut in a decision that met with derision by most of the crowd in Bangkok.
Regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound Muay Thai fighters there is, Tawanchai dominated the early exchanges with his left kick, consistently connecting with the challenger’s midsection.
In response, Nattawut managed to get in the occasional low kick, and the fight followed this pattern for the first two rounds, before exploding in the third.
At that point Nattawut unloaded with a flurry of punches and elbows, backed the champion up against the cage and landed a series of unanswered knees from the clinch. Both men traded punches as the bell sounded but it was the challenger who appeared to be in the ascendancy.
It was a similar story in the fourth round, and the fighters appeared to be even heading into the final round, which ended with Nattawut reeling off a slew of punches.
The challenger’s corner celebrated wildly when the bell sounded while the mood among Tawanchai’s entourage seemed more sombre. The judges though saw it differently, with two of three believing the champion had one, and the other scoring it a draw.
Any hope Tawanchai had of being heard at the Impact Arena was lost in a chorus of boos, and all he could get out was to apologise “if I disappointed you”.
