By Jake Donovan
Former two-division champ Sirimongkol Singmanasak maintained his winning ways with a brutal 5th round knockout of Dennis Padua in a welterweight bout Thursday evening in Pathum Thani, Thailand.
Singmanasak won every round of the fight (WBC open scoring revealed a 40-36 sweep on all three ringside cards through four rounds) before breaking down his opponent in the fifth. A vicious body attack was key throughout the fight and its definitive conclusion, which saw Padua curled up on the canvas, squirming in pain as he was counted out.
The official time was 1:14 of round five. Padua has now lost five straight – including three in Thailand – as he falls to 9-7-1 (4KO).
Singmanasak advances to 69-2 (45KO), racking up his 26th consecutive win in a streak dating back to 2004. The 35-year old Thai has enjoyed title reigns at bantamweight and super featherweight.
His first tour as champ came in the mid-‘90’s, picking up the vacant alphabet bantamweight strap left behind when Wayne McCullough vacated to pursue a run in the 122 lb. division. Singmanasak made three successful defenses before losing to the always-thrilling Joichiro Tatsuyoshi nearly 15 years ago.
Five years and three divisions later, Singmanasak re-entered the title fray with an early knockout over Kengo Nagashima to pick up the vacant 130 lb. belt. His reign lasted nearly a year before falling short against Jesus Chavez in his stateside debut in Aug. ‘03. The bout aired live on Telefutura, back when the network still offered fights worth watching.
Singmanasak returned to the U.S. in May ’05, stopping Michael Clark in seven rounds on the undercard of Winky Wright’s 12-round whitewash of Felix Trinidad in Las Vegas. The win was supposed to earn him a shot at the lightweight championship, won a week prior by the late Diego Corrales against Jose Luis Castillo in an all-time classic.
However, nothing ever came of the opportunity as he has fought almost exclusively in Thailand ever since, save for a two-fight stretch in 2008, which took him to Australia and once again to Las Vegas.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
