By James Goyder
Mike Tawatchai mounted a successful defence of his IBF Asia 122 lbs title in North East Thailand this afternoon winning a unanimous decision victory over Boy Pumar after the fight went to the scorecards midway through the seventh round with the doctor ruling that the Filipino super bantamweight was unable to continue due to a cut above his eye.
Pumar was a potentially awkward opponent for Tawatchai, who had never lost a fight on home soil, but by the third round the Thai boxer was starting to punish his tall, rangy southpaw opponent with a barrage of hard right hands.
Blood from a wound which had apparently been caused by an accidental headbutt began to pour from the outside of Pumar’s left eye and the Filipino seemed increasingly hesitant to engage Tawatchai who was making the second defence of the lightly regarded belt he won last year.
In the fifth round Pumar started to go to the body and had some success, trapping Tawatchai against the ropes and landing a right hook to the midriff followed by a right hook to the head which sent the Thai fighter stumbling backwards but the referee decided it was a slip.
Sensing weakness Pumar looked to punish the body of Tawatchai in rounds six and seven but his punches were telegraphed and the Thai was able to easily evade them and counter with some short sharp right hands which stopped the lanky Filipino in his tracks.
Tawatchai’s glove touched the ground again in the seventh but the referee ruled it a slip again and moments later the fight was interrupted so that the doctor could attend to the wound by Pumar’s left eye which was pumping blood onto his face.
The doctor promptly called off the fight and as the cut was not caused by a cut we went to the scorecards with the judges seeing it 68-66, 69-65 and 69-65 in favour of Tawatchai whose record improves to 33-7-2 while Pumar drops to 10-6-3.