By Ronnie Nathanielsz
The leadership of the Games and Amusements Board may have been changed but the same anomalous mismatches continue as evidenced in the 2nd round TKO suffered by Ryan Maliteg in Aranyaprathet which is some 240 kilometers east of the Thai capital of Bangkok and near the Cambodian border..
The 24 year old Maliteg entered the ring on Sunday with a record of 15-9-1 with 2 knockouts according to boxrec.com but of his 9 losses, 5 were by knockouts.
His only win in his last four fights was on April 9, 2010 when he scored a unanimous six round decision over Jonathan Ricablanca who was reportedly making his pro debut.
Maliteg had lost his three previous fights by stoppage, 2 by knockout and one by TKO yet the Games and Amusements Board and the WBO Asia Pacific head Leon Panoncillo approved Maliteg fighting for the Asia Pacific light flyweight title against undefeated Thai protégé Paipharob Por Nobnom of the influential Kokiet Gym.
Paipharob entered the ring with a record of 4 knockouts in 5 wins with no defeats. He won the WBO Pan Pacific interim title on February 23, 2010 when T.I. Yamagata Sentillas (Roemart Santillas) retired in the 8th round.
He followed with an easy six round decision over Michael Rodriguez who, at that time had a record of 7 wins as against 18 defeats after which he won the full title with a 2nd round TKO over Ichal Tobidal on April 23, 2010.
In his first two fights Paipharob proved his worth by scoring a 4th round knockout over Rey Megrino on October 9, 2009 and then scoring a 5th round knockout over Donnie Mabao, both of whom were comparatively worthy opponents.
