Thai boxing superstar Srisaket Sor Rungvisai is ready to make history in ONE Championship on Saturday, 6 October as he will become one of the first two men to ever compete in boxing under the promotion’s banner.
Srisaket puts his WBC Super Flyweight World Championship on the line against Mexican challenger Iran “MagnifiKO” Diaz in the main event of ONE: KINGDOM OF HEROES, which emanates from the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.
As he prepares for one of the most important bouts of his celebrated boxing stint, Srisaket remembers a time far removed from the Thai capital’s bright lights when he and his loved ones struggled to make ends meet.
Growing up in Sisaket, Thailand, the country’s best boxer left his hometown at the age of 13 to look for odd jobs in the capital of Bangkok.
Srisaket initially worked as a security guard, but when the money was not enough to buy food, he searched for leftover food from the trash that he collected at a nearby department store.
“On some difficult days, I had to collect the food from trash to cook and eat to survive because I did not have enough money,” he shared.
To augment the family income, Srisaket moonlighted as a competitor in Muay Thai, which is a revered combat sport in Thailand.
“As a young guy who didn’t have the right qualification to earn decent office jobs, fighting professionally was the only way I could get some money. It was also something I liked, and it was a fun challenge. I saw it as a way to help better my life and future,” he stated.
With his Muay Thai career going nowhere, Srisaket discovered professional boxing, which gave him the impression that it could be his ticket out of poverty due to the sport’s profitability.
However, his transition to boxing was not a walk in the park as he was knocked out in his first two bouts in 2009.
“I needed the money very badly, so I accepted the fight even though I didn’t have much time to prepare and didn’t really know how to box. I just knew that boxing has similarities to Muay Thai,” he recalled.
“There were only two paths to choose for me at that time,” Srisaket added. “One is to become a boxer and the other one is to keep on working as a trash collector, and I chose the path to become a boxer because there’s more hope at least. There’s some hope in this career.”
Srisaket did not post a win until his fourth professional match in November 2009 when he scored a third-round knockout over compatriot Prakaipech Aunsawan.
After suffering another loss to Japanese Kenji Oba in February 2010, Srisaket joined Nakornloung Promotion (NKL) camp and reeled off 26-straight victories, including an eighth-round stoppage of Yota Sato to clinch the WBC super flyweight title in May 2013.
Although his impressive winning streak was halted by Mexico’s Carlos Cuadras in May 2014, Srisaket established another series of triumphs, winning 19 in-ring contests with 16 coming by way of knockout.
During that remarkable stretch, Srisaket recaptured the WBC super flyweight belt by pulling off an upset win against Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez of Nicaragua via majority decision in March 2017.
Srisaket’s astonishing conquest of Gonzalez earned him a spot in The Ring Magazine’s international pound-for-pound rankings, where he currently occupies the No. 7 seat.
“I never thought that I would come this far or even get to be a world champion. I only aspired to win a regional title and maybe get on television. I wound up doing so much more,” Srisaket disclosed.
After successfully defending the green-laced strap twice and making a quick work of South Korea’s Young Gil Bae in a non-title tilt last July, Srisaket is set to make his debut in ONE Championship on Saturday.
Now revered as a national treasure in Thailand, Srisaket seeks to successfully defend his WBC Super Flyweight World Championship for the third time against Diaz at ONE: KINGDOM OF HEROES.
Knowing that his opponent is driven, well-prepared, and determined to capitalize on this rare opportunity, Srisaket is motivated to win the title tiff in convincing fashion, gunning for the 42nd knockout victory of in illustrious professional boxing career.
“My confidence in my ability to win by knockout is 100 percent. I think there’s no way he can beat me. I just have to be cautious. I won’t let this belt get taken away from me that easily,” he vowed.
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