By James Goyder
Eaktawan Mor Krungthepthonburi took on Lionel Legada in Thailand on Friday afternoon (local time) and stopped the Filipino after four rounds to claim the vacant IBF Asia 112 lbs title.
The fight took place at Thonburi University on the outskirts of Bangkok and the two exchanged jabs in the opening round with Legada appearing to have a slight size advantage against the Thai boxer.
In round two Eaktawan began to go to work on the inside with hard hooks and uppercuts to the body, sneaking through a couple of left hooks whenever Legada let his hands drop. The Filipino also found himself on the receiving end of a fast jab whenever he attempted to respond with any offence of his own.
In rounds three and four Eaktawan was applying constant pressure. Legada was standing his ground and firing back intermittently but a left uppercut followed by a left jab towards the end of the fourth left him staggering back in obvious discomfort.
It’s not clear exactly what damage the Thai had done but Legada, who had only been stopped twice in 22 previous fights, stayed on his stool after the fourth round causing the referee to wave off the contest.
With the win Eaktawan (who sometimes fights under the name Tawanrung Eausampan) improves to 14-3 and maintains his 100 percent winning record in Thailand while Legada drops to 13-9-1.