By Cliff Rold

34 second knockout losses, as a rule, rarely blossom into career defining rivalries.  They rarely blossom into rematches at all.  Japan’s Daisuke Naito (32-2-2, 20 KO) got not one but two rematches over the course of the five years that passed following the sleepy 35th second of his first title shot.  He made good in the most recent of those opportunities, not only lifting the World Flyweight championship from Thailand’s long-reigning Pongsaklek Wonjongkam (67-3, 35 KO) but nailing two clichés as well.

He was the exception to the rule.  His third time was the charm. 

This Saturday, in the city of his birth, Tokyo, Japan, Naito will try to make it even-steven all around.  Not bad for a fighter decried as an awful example of WBC-mandatories run amok last July 18.  In an upset that no one predicted, Naito fought the fight of his life.  He pressured the champion, repeatedly beating him to the punch, to build a solid lead through eight rounds.

In the ninth, what was a game effort turned into a hellish gut check that defined the drive it takes to be a champion.  Hurt early in the round, Naito punched back where he could and weathered where he could not as Wonjongkam unloaded the best of his arsenal in pursuit of victory.  It was a dramatic stand from each of these diminutive warriors and, as it turned out, the last great stand in the Thai’s championship run.

It had been a championship run, from 2001-2007, both historic and disappointing.  History came in the number of consecutive title defenses Wonjongkam registered, 17, to surpass the record of 14 that the man his title descended from, the great Mexican Miguel Canto, had amassed a generation ago.  Disappointment came in the form of porous opposition on the way to that record, opposition that didn’t seem to deserve the honor. 

Certainly there were some good fighters; Hussein Hussein, Trash Nakanuma, and Malcolm Tunacao fit that label.  Naito turned out to as well.  There was nothing much above that level though, and it wasn’t for lack of depth at 112 lbs.  During Wonjongkam’s reign, which included the WBC belt, fellow titlists included American Eric Morel, Venezuela’s Lorenzo Parra and Australia’s Vic Darchinyan.  He faced none of them.  For bizarre reasons whose blame lies more with the sanctioning body than the fighters, he never faced long time mandatory/interim WBC titlist Jorge Arce either. 

I guess it made sense in business terms, with Wonjongkam presumably a force in his native markets but invisible abroad.  In fistic terms though, he was the champion of an impressive class and faced none of the impressive fare.  To ultimately lose his crown to a man he had so mastered twice previously seemed appropriate.

And sad.

Sad because, as he made his rush in the ninth round last July, the champion he could have been was on display.  A crowd pleasing pressure fighter throughout his career, with good power and fast hands, who had been sold short of his potential; what if? 

We’ll never know and, worse, he’ll never know.  Not knowing can be a burden as one gets older and, already 30 years old, Wonjongkam is closer to his days of pondering than his days of plodding forward.  That’s what could make this Saturday so valuable to him.  If he can regain his title, becoming the first man to regain the World Flyweight championship since Sot Chitalada reigned twice in the 1980s, perhaps he can have a sliver of second chance.

And maybe, just maybe, he can add a risk in a second reign; a risk against Japan’s Takefumi Sakata (WBA titlist) or American-based Filipino Nonito Donaire (IBF).  Maybe he can still catch up to his own history.

One thing is certain: Naito won’t make it easy.  Flush with confidence that he can defeat the only man who had ever defeated him, and with a title defense under his belt, he’ll show up for chapter four ready to make this a story of ultimate vindication in denial of the pursuit of validation. 

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com