Thammanoon Niyomtrong is now a two-division world champion after picking up the suddenly vacant WBC junior flyweight title Thursday in Bangkok, Thailand.

The Thai veteran Niyomtrong, who boxes under the ring name Knockout CP Freshmart, defeated late-replacement opponent Junior Leandro Zarate by unanimous decision at Imperial Queens Park Hotel in a fight in which five judges scored the bout instead of the traditional three.

The fight, which punctuated the 2025 WBC Convention, was originally scheduled to match Carlos Canizales, who until a few days ago was the 108lbs belt holder, against Niyomtrong, a long-time former WBA strawweight titlist from Surin. Those plans were nixed last week when Canizales, a native of Caracas, Venezuela, was unable to leave his home country due to escalating political tensions between Venezuela and the United States, which imposed a no-fly zone over Venezuela’s skies.

Unable to make it to Thailand, Canizales was designated a “champion in recess,” which means Canizales would be able to fight for the full title again in the future.

The 35-year-old Niyomtrong pressed the action from the bell, forcing the taller Zarate to fight more than he was comfortable with, chopping away with body punches and clubbing power shots upstairs. 

The win is the fourth straight for Niyomtrong, who lost his title just over a year ago when he was stopped in seven rounds by Oscar Collazo in a 108lbs title unification in Saudi Arabia.

Zarate, 36, of Buenos Aires, Argentina, dropped to 26-6 (9 KOs), snapping a two-fight winning streak.

Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.