In a year that has been full of stunners, last night’s truly shocking result in Carson, California might just have topped the lot. Srisaket Sor Ringvisai, AKA Wisaskil Wangek, absolutely destroyed one-time Pound-for-Pound king Roman Gonzalez.
Last night’s fight was a rematch of a great action fight that saw the tough, strong and, as we saw last night, viciously powerful Thai southpaw score an upset decision win over a 46-0 “Chocolatito” – what happened last night blew that win off the charts.
Gonzalez, brutally KO’d in the 4th-round, may never again reign as a world champion. Indeed, it could be a hard road back to anything approaching top level for the Nicaraguan star who, less than a year ago, was being called a great.
To his credit, Gonzalez offered no excuses after last night’s stunner (how could he?) and maybe he can come back, perhaps at a lower weight. As for Rungvisai, who was just too strong and powerful for the former champ who won his first world title down at Minimumweight, he looks like an absolute beast who will take some stopping. Can anyone at super-flyweight be expected to defeat him? As an article on RingTV.com asks, is Rungvisai now to be considered as one of the very best Pound-for-Pound fighters in the world?
Looking at the 30 year old’s record (the same age as Gonzalez), at 44-4-1(40), Rungvisai is clearly not unbeatable. However, the last time the 5’3” stack of dynamite suffered a defeat was way back in May of 2014, when he suffered a Technical Decision loss to Carlos Cuadras in fight that saw the man from Thailand lose his WBC super-flyweight title. Before that, you have to go back to 2009/2010 to find a loss on the champ’s record (Rungvisai actually losing his debut, via 3rd round TKO, as well as his second pro fight, via 3rd round KO – these early fights marking the only times he has ever been stopped).
Having now won his last 17 fights, all but two of them inside the distance, we are witnessing a fighter operating at his absolute peak. Certainly, Rungvisai’s star power is at an all-time high right now. Who could he fight next? Can anyone live with his blend of strength, power and sheer physicality?
One thing is clear: we can forget all about the trilogy a number of people felt might have happened had Gonzalez managed to get revenge over Rungvisai last night.