By James Goyder

Pungluang Sor Singyu knocked out Juna Fundi in the second round to claim the WBO International Bantamweight Title in Nakhon Sawan this afternoon. It was the first outing for the Thai fighter since losing his world title to Paulus Ambunda in Namibia in March.

Pungluang made a patient start, moving forwards with lots of head movement but not throwing too many punches as he allowed Fundi to fire away to his body.

The Thai fighter still did enough to win the opening round with a series of stiff jabs which drew blood from the nose of the Tanzanian.

In round two Pungluang landed with practically his first power shot of the day, a solid left hook to the body, and followed it up with a hard left hook which put

Fundi down for the count. The Tanzanian tried getting up but was very unsteady on his feet and the referee called it off.

The win takes Pungluang to 44-2 and he will be hoping that holding the WBO international belt will put him back in contention for the world title which he won by beating AJ Banal last October and held until March. Fundi, who stepped in on short notice to replace the injured Fredirex Rodriguez, drops to 19-9-1.

Kwanpichit 13 Rien Express is another fighter from the One Songchai stable with world title aspirations and he preserved his unbeaten streak at the expense of an overmatched but incredibly brave Tarek Krab. The Thai fighter scored a second round knockdown with a straight right hand which stunned the inexperienced Tunisian.

To his credit Krab recovered well and came out swinging at the start of the third. Kwanpichit easily weathered the storm and then waited until the onslaught was over to fire away with hard hooks to the body interspersed with the occasional left uppercut.

In round four it was all one way traffic with the referee taking a very close look at the action but no matter how much punishment Krab took he refused to give up and continued to answer with combinations of his own, although they were becoming increasingly infrequent.

The pattern continued in the fifth when Krab, who in fairness never looked like quitting, suffered an injury to his right arm which left him unable to continue. The win takes Kwanpichit’s record to 22-0-1 while his opponent drops to 1-4 after suffering his third straight defeat.