PUNCH LINES
JULIAN TURNER
Pongsaklek Wonjongkam looked like a shadow of himself when he failed to beat WBC flyweight champion Daisuke Naito in Tokyo on Saturday.
The pair drew, which meant Naito retained the title he took from Pongsaklek last July to end the Thai's run of 17 consecutive defences.
The close points defeat and the draw against Naito - who also boxed poorly - are a good indication of how much Pongsaklek has declined in the last year or so.
He needed just 34 seconds to knock out Naito in their first meeting six years ago in Khon Kaen and then stopped him in seven rounds in October 2005 in the second match of their series.
On Saturday, Pongsaklek looked slow and he failed to get to grips with Naito's wild style, even though he had already started 20 rounds against him in their earlier fights.
Pongsaklek couldn't figure out how to get inside, he failed to cut off the ring and also faded badly in the last few rounds.
That is a far cry from his best days, when he was probably among the top five fighters in the world.
The Thai southpaw used to box so intelligently with aggression, and was incredibly accurate, but now looks on the slide.
So where does he go now?
Already this week his camp have said they will be looking to the WBC to provide them with a mandatory shot at Naito to try and get the belt back.
I'm not so sure that is a good move as Pongsaklek's loss of pace puts him at a severe disadvantage against a mover like Naito.
Also, the pair have met four times already and the Thai may struggle to get motivated to go over old ground yet again.
He could do with a fresh challenge and a move up to super-flyweight seems like a decent option.
Mexican Cristian Mijares is the WBC champion and it looks, on paper, as though it could be a good clash.
It is seven years since Pongsaklek first captured the WBC flyweight belt and his body may benefit from a move up to the next division.
The request for a mandatory shot is interesting because Pongsaklek didn't fight a mandatory challenger himself for three years after his points win over Australian Hussein Hussein at Lumpini Stadium in November 2003.
WBC rules state that champions have to defend against a mandatory challenger every 12 months, but Pongsaklek cherry-picked his way through weak opposition before he was forced to take on Monelisi Myekeni in Nakhon Ratchasima in November 2006.
During that time, the WBC also allowed Mexico's Jorge Arce to win and defend the WBC interim flyweight title four times in Mexico and the USA (against stronger opposition) while Pongsaklek was active with his title in Asia.
It was extremely confusing and meant nobody knew who actually was the WBC champion. The real shame was that Pongsaklek and Arce never met in the ring to sort it out.
I always thought that Pongsaklek would have won easily as his precise, southpaw counter-punching would have been the perfect foil for Arce's porous aggression.
Arce moved up to super-flyweight and Mijares - a precise, southpaw counter-puncher - tore Arce to pieces over 12 one-sided rounds.
If Pongsaklek and Mijares (or Arce) finally managed to meet now it would at least tie up a few loose ends before his career draws to a close.
Pongsaklek will probably stay loyal to the WBC but if he did switch sanctioning organisations he could fight Filipino Nonito Donaire (IBF) or Japan's Takefumi Sakata (WBA).
He has a greater chance of beating either of those two than Naito because their styles would play into Pongsaklek's strength on the inside.
Panomroonglek Kratingdaenggym is the number two in the division but, from what I have seen, he isn't anywhere near ready to beat a world class opponent.
Pongsaklek must choose his next step wisely as he is only likely to deteriorate further as time goes on.
He should go for the big paydays in the USA now because another defeat to Naito would be disastrous in terms of how his career is remembered.
juliant@bangkokpost.co.th
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