Buitrago-Niyomtrong Battle For Vacant WBA Interim Title

By Carlos Costa

Unbeaten Carlos "Chocorroncito" Buitrago, the tough Nicaraguan fighter who battled a 12-round draw against Filipino former champ Merlito Sabillo last year in Manila, will have another shot at a world title when he battles undefeated hard-swinging Thai warrior Niyomtrong "Knockout" Freshmart for the vacant interim WBA minimumweight belt this coming Wednesday (Oct 1) in Buriram, Kingdom of Thailand, 400 Km northeast of the capital Bangkok.

As informed by the WBA, the judges for the title fight are Byung Moo Kim of Korea, veteran Takeshi Shimakawa of Japan and Octavio Rodriguez of Panama.  The referee will be Silvester Abainza of the Philippines.

The 22-year-old Buitrago (27-0-1, 16 KO's) is already in Thailand accompanied by his team comprised of experienced head coach Jose Arnulfo Obando (also coach of 3-division world champion Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez), his father and co-trainer Mauricio "Alconcito" Buitrago, and adviser Ricardo Rizzo.

"I am not going to let pass this new opportunity of becoming a world champion.  In the Philippines, I had my opponent (Sabillo) nearly knocked out... and I let him survive.   That mistake will not happen again," said Buitrago at his hotel, the Pinnacle Hotel Lumpinee in Sathon, downtown Bangkok.

The Buitrago Team exudes confidence, which is good.    However, the Thailander Niyomtrong "Knockout" Freshmart (his last name is from his sponsor, "Fresh Mart", a large Thai chain of convenience stores), could be an enemy much tougher than his prior foe, Sabillo. 

For one thing, the Thai has been in combat mode forever, and doing it quite well.   

Since an early age, the now 24-year-old Niyomtrong "Knockout" Freshmart (8-0, 5 KO's) has been training in the grueling martial art of muay thai, competing for years as a tough combatant in the ancient Thai way of fighting.   Then, he successfully switched to pro boxing to become the reigning WBC Youth World minimumweight champion, a title that he captured in his first pro-fight in June of 2012 and defended seven times.

The interesting match-up will be a clash of undefeated fighters from very different schools of boxing, featuring a fast and slick Buitrago with decent power punch, against a relentless, experienced, come forward warrior Niyomtrong "Knockout" Freshmart.  

The clash will take place in an open air soccer stadium at 3pm local Thailand time (UTC/GMT + 7 hours), a first for the Nicaraguan boxer, who is used to battle in the evenings in closed roofed venues.  But in Thailand, pro-boxing is normally on weekdays in the afternoon hours.  Muay Thai is in the evenings.