One of the most exciting little guys in the sport today, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, a national hero in his native Thailand, will likely fight again on September 8, in a rematch with Mexican warrior Juan Francisco Estrada. According to a news bit from Dan Rafael of ESPN.com, promoter Tom Loeffler is working on staging “Superfly III” on Sept. 8 and the return fight would be the headliner.
Rungvisai, 45-4-1(40) and the reigning WBC super-flyweight champion, burst onto the world stage in a big, big way with his back-to-back wins over then pound-for-pound king Roman Gonzalez; the second fight, that saw the Thai fighter score a crushing KO victory being especially impressive. The 31 year old southpaw has not boxed since February of this year and when he did defend against Estrada, 36-3(25) he gave us yet another excellent action fight, having to make do with a close majority decision win.
A real rags to riches story, Rungvisai will no doubt be looking to improve on his performance in the first fight in the return bout (not that Rungvisai fought at all badly in February, Estrada also fighting well in what was a great battle). In the first fight with “Chocolatito,” Rungvisai had to go all 12-rounds, yet in the return fight that took place six months later, he destroyed the Nicaraguan sensation in style.
That said, Estrada has never been stopped (Gonzalez had not been stopped at the time of his rematch with Rungvisai either, it should be pointed out) and the way he hung tough and gave as good as he got back in February suggests we could be in store for another rough, tough and gruelling 36-minutes of superb action in September.
Rungvisai might not be around at the top of the top for too much longer considering his age (32 in December, this being a somewhat advanced age for a smaller-weight fighter, particularly one with such an aggressive all-out style and approach as Rungvisai), but he figures to entertain us a whole lot for as long as he does remain rumbling with the best.
A pound-for-pound entrant on most of the various lists or rankings, Rungvisai, AKA Wisaksil Wangek, is to Thailand what Manny Pacquiao is to the Philippines. Let’s hope “Superfly III” comes off as planned.