By Ronnie Nathanielsz
It wasn’t a Merry Christmas for two Filipino boxers who traveled to Phang-Nga, which is south of Bangkok and a twelve hour drive only to be beaten by Thai fighters.
Eric Barcelona lost on points to 39 year old champion Pramuansak Posuwan in a WBO Asia Pacific title fight while Jack Asis was beaten also on points in an eight round bout against Somsak Sithchatchanal.
Posuwan had won five previous fights this year which included three successful title defenses while the 26 year old Barcelona had lost four of his last give fights according to the records of boxrec raising questions as to how he was allowed to fight for the WBO title. That’s because one of the requirements of the Games and Amusements Board is for a fighter to win two of his last five fights to be cleared to fight abroad.
Posuwan improved his record to 41-1-1 with 22 knockouts while Barcelona dropped to 38-13-4 with 12 knockouts.
The 25 year old, Asis, on the other hand fell to 12-9-2 with 7 KO’s after losing to the 30 year old Somsak who now has a record of 56-2-1 with 44 knockouts to his name. Since his third round TKO loss at the hands of Celestino Caballero in a WBA super bantamweight title fight in Thailand, Somsak has racked up 9 straight wins, seven of them by knockout.
