By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Talented Filipino southpaw Jonathan "Lightning" Taconing attempts to add to the growing list of Philippine world boxing champions when he battles WBC light flyweight champion Kompayak Por Pramuk in the province of Buriram later today.
The title fight will take place in a temporary ring in front of the Buriram City Hall.
The manager of Thai boxer Samartlek who recently lost a twekve round unanimous decision in a PABA light flyweight title fight against the Philippines Randy Petalcorin told the Manila Standard that Kompayak said he was 150 percent sure of beating Taconing. He told
Kazuto Harada who uses the name Gangkok Gurentai in the internet said the Thai champion claimed he had watched Taconing's fught video and that "it was no problem for me. I will try to knock him out if I have a chance."
The soft-spoken Taconing merely said he had trained for the hot weather in Thailand and added, "I can compete with Kompayak."
Both fighters made the weight with Taconing coming in at 107 pounds and champion Kompayak tipping the scales at the 108 pound limit during the official weigh-in on Wednesday.
Komayan who has a record of 44-3-0 with 30 knockouts won the title when he stopped Mexican Adrian Hernandez in Bangkok in December. He expressed confidence he would retain the crown.
The 29 year old said "I am in better shape than when I fought Hernandez and after 109 rounds of sparring supervised by Chatchai Sasakul (the former world flyweight champion who lost his title via a sensational 8th round knockout to Manny Pacquiao in December 1998) said "I feel very confident."
Former world champion Chatchai told the Bangkok Post that Taconing had "a dangerous left hand" and warned Kompayak that he must be careful.
