Kwanpichit 13 Rien Express Scores KO in Sveen Over Twalib Tuwa
By James Goyder
Kwanpichit 13 Coins Express scored the most impressive win of his career in Kanchanaburi this afternoon, knocking out Tanzania's Twalib Tuwa with a left hook in the seventh round to defend his WBO Oriental 112 lbs title.
The tall Tanzanian came into the fight, which took place at Western University, with a significant reach advantage and looked to keep Kwanpichit at bay with his jab in the opening round but couldn't prevent the Thai from landing a left hook followed by a hard right cross right on the bell.
If this was a warning sign for Tuwa he failed to heed it and came out swinging in the second only to be dropped by a counter left hook right at the start of the round. Tuwa was in the process of putting together a combination of his own when the punch landed and might have been slightly off balance but it was a clear knock down.
Knowing he was already behind on the scorecards Tuwa decided to put the pressure on Kwanpichit, attacking with flurries of punches. In the third round both men were landing and receiving clean shots to the head and the Thai was forced to hug and hold to slow his opponent's onslaught at the start of the fourth.
For the first time in the fight Kwanpichit began to work the body of Tuwa and at the end of the fifth round both men exchanged hard right uppercuts upstairs. The pace was relentless with the two fighters maintaining a high punch output and in the sixth the action slowed a little.
The fight would explode back into life at the start of the seventh after Kwanpichit landed a left hook with no real power behind it. As Tuwa tried to counter with a punch of his own the Thai put his full force into a second left hook in quick succession which left the Tanzanian out cold on the canvass.
The win takes Kwanpichit to 37-1-2 and was his tenth in succession since dropping a decision to Zou Shiming in 2014. It was also the tenth successful defence he has made of the WBO Oriental 112 lbs title, Tuwa drops to 14-2 after seeing his 11 fight winning streak snapped.
Earlier in the afternoon former world title challenger Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo (61-2) stopped Karim Migea (7-2) in a super featherweight matchup while up and coming Thai prospect Rakniran Muadransarakam (12-0) scored a six round decision victory over newcomer Nopparat Sor Sakunwong.
This article originally appeared on The Fight Nation.
