Looknongyangtoy Decisions Catubay in Bangkok, Thailand

By Ronnie Nathanielsz

The almost never-ending saga of Filipino boxers being overmatched and invariably losing to superior Thai opponents continues.

Federico Catubay (24-15-3, 13 KO’s), whose fighting style can best be described as ugly, lost a twelve round decision to WBO Asia Pacific super bantamweight champion Sod Looknongyangtoy (41-2, 18 KO’s) a southpaw who is ranked No. 4 in the world by the WBO, at the Pathumwan Technology School in Bangkok, Thailand.

Well known boxing writer Scott Mallon said Catubay “butted, elbowed, shouldered and mugged for the crowd in a foul-plagued bout that had Looknongyangtoy shrugging his shoulders and referee Sawaeng Tawekoon issuing several stern warnings."

Catubay resorted to every trick in the book and many others not in the book to clearly irritate and upset the Thai champion who eventually won on the scorecards of all three judges with two judges scoring it for the champion 116-112 and the third judge by a wider 117-111 margin.

Looknongyangtoy won the vacant title on November 30, 2006 with a unanimous decision over Filipino Jun Talape some four months after suffering a first round knockout at the hands of then WBO super bantamweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon.

The Thai champion scored a 6th round TKO over Donriel Marcos in a title defense last September 26 followed by a twelve round unanimous decision over Joel Dela Cruz last November 28.

Former WBA super bantamweight champion Somsak Sithchatchawal (58-3-2, 44 KO’s), the 31 year old southpaw won a six round decision over Lotolot Gaviola whose record fell to 2-10 with 2 knockouts raising serious questions on how the Philippine Games and Amusements Board could have approved such a bout since Gaviola had lost five fights by knockout.

The third Filipino to get beaten was Nelson Llanos (5-11-1, 4 KO’s) who lost by points to veteran Pigmy Muangchaiyaphum who, in sharp contrast,  had a record of 35-5-2 with 17 knockouts once again pointing to the failure of the GAB to appreciate fighters records and to understand what a mismatch is all about.