Phaibarob Kokietgym Stops Legada, Remains Unbeaten
By James Goyder
Phaibarob Kokietgym extended his perfect professional record to 28-0, stopping Filipino journeyman Lionel Legada in three rounds Friday afternoon in Nonthaburi, Thailand.
The referee called off the fight midway through the third round after a series of unanswered blows from the undefeated Thai.
The fight—for which Phaibarob’s WBO Oriental 108 lbs title was at stake—got off to a slow start. The champion was content to use the first round for a feeling out process, although he did find himself on the receiving end of a sharp left hand to the body from Legada.
In the second stanza the Thai began to apply more forwards pressure and succeeded in backing Legada up against the ropes on a couple of occasions, landing hard shots to the body and head while switching between an orthodox to a southpaw stance.
Phaibarob seemed to be in cruise control at this stage but he picked up the pace in the third round, hurting Lizadas with a series of right hands in a row followed by a hard left hook. The Filipino was trapped against the corner getting repeatedly tagged with right hands to the chin and the referee sensibly stepped in to save him.
Lizadas drops to 12-8-1 while Phaibarob remains undefeated after making the first defence of a belt he won last year. The Thai claimed the Interim WBA 105 lbs belt in 2011 but for some reason he never made a defence and has returned to fighting for regional straps.
Also on the card was a bout between experienced Myung Goo Yuh and Joan Imperial which had the Interim WBO Asia Pacific 108 lbs title on the line. It took the South Korean less than a minute to put his Filipino opponent down with body shots and he repeated the trick with another left hook downstairs late in the round.
It was the same shot which finished the fight early in the second as Imperial took a knee after another left hand to the body. The win is Goo Yuh’s 16th in a row and takes him to 25-4-1 while the Filipino drops to 11-6-6.
