By Ronnie Nathanielsz
The seeming never ending saga of Filipino boxers getting beaten in Thailand continues as two more boxers were knocked out by their highly-rated opponents. Allan Fuentes was knocked out in the third round by longtime WBC bantamweight champion Veerapol Nakomluang while Jaime Barcelona was stopped in the seventh round by WBC No. 3 ranked super bantamweight Napapol Kiattisakchockchai.
Well known WBC official and Bangkok Post columnist Edward Thangarajah reported that the fights took place in Pathum Thani with Thailand’s interior minister Pokin Polakil as chief guest. Veerapol used a vicious body attack to put away Fuentes who is reportedly the Philippines’ No. 8 bantamweight at 1:50 of round three after battering the Filipino from the opening bell. Veerapol improved his record to 47-1-2 with 33 knockouts. The fight was a tune-up for the Thai world champion who will defend his title against Japan’s Hozumi Hasegawa, the former Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation champion in April.
Napapol on the other hand controlled his fight against Barcelona much of the way and was the aggressor. An all-out assault in round seven saw the Thai deck Barcelona with a flurry of punches forcing the referee, Thawut Plumsamran to halt the massacre at 2:03 of the seventh round. Napapol improved his fight record to 29-2 with 25 knockouts while Barcelona dropped to 19-23-1 with 5 knockouts. Both fighters, according to the website boxrec.com were beaten in their last recorded fights with Fuentes losing a unanimous decision to Chatchai Sasakul in a WBC Asian Boxing Council bantamweight interim title fight while Barcelona lost a unanimous eight round decision to Akira Yamazaki.