Rungvisai vs Sithmorseng results and highlights: Srisaket Sor Rungvisai wins easily, sets up Estrada or Chocolatito trilogy

Former junior bantamweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai got in some pretty light work in Thailand, stopping Kwanthai Sithmorseng after three rounds of one-sided action, setting himself up to likely face the winner of Saturday night’s Estrada-Chocolatito 2 fight later this year.

Rungvisai (50-5-1, 43 KO) didn’t seem to be putting in much serious effort here, and even the commentary noted that he wasn’t throwing much at even 50 percent power. It felt, in all honesty, like the “hard sparring” we heard all about from the California commission last fall before Tyson-Jones; this wasn’t an exhibition, mind you, but it didn’t feel much like Sithmorseng (50-8-1, 27 KO) was legitimately trying to win, either. He did throw back, but Rungvisai just kept the hands moving and overwhelmed everything.

But a win’s a win, and it’s not like this is the most unusual thing in the world, either. It’s also not that great to watch for boxing fights, but it sets up the likely much bigger fight. Either Estrada-Rungvisai or Chocolatito-Rungvisai would be a trilogy fight, and that has been Eddie Hearn’s plan all along, which is why everyone worked on this same weekend.

Undercard Results

• Chainoi Worawut UD-10 Pungluang Sor Singyu: Much like the main event, if we’re being completely honest, it didn’t seem like the underdog was really trying all that hard to win. “Rock Man” Chainoi (14-0-1, 12 KO) has had some push in Thai boxing, but the veteran Pungluang (54-10, 36 KO) tagged him constantly, then basically refused to actually follow up. Scores were 97-93, 98-92, and 98-92.
• Phongsaphon Panyakum UD-10 Karoon Jarupianlerd: Panyakum lost his pro debut in 2017, but has won 12 straight and is now 12-1 (6 KO), this one a solid win over Jarupianlerd (44-11, 20 KO), who challenged Naoya Inoue for a world title in 2016 and lost obviously. Jarupianlerd gave this good effort, but Panyakum out-worked him consistently. Panyakum has a lot he could improve — defense, notably — and some stuff he probably can’t do much about, like not having a lot of hand speed. But he’s tough as hell, he took some good, well-placed shots from the veteran in this fight and just ate them, mostly. You can get a good ways on determination and a hard head. Scores were 97-93, 98-92, and 98-92, which seem about right.
• Danai Ngiabphukhiaw TKO-3 Wichet Sengprakhon: A rematch from a Dec. 5 fight, which Ngiabphukhiaw won by first round knockout. Sengprakhon felt Ngiabphukhiaw had landed a lucky punch and wanted to run it back. Ngiabphukhiaw (8-2, 4 KO) landed a lot of lucky punches in this one, dropping Sengprakhon (11-10, 6 KO) in the second and twice in the third, and it should have been twice in the second but the referee didn’t call a knockdown when he got launched into the ropes on a punch, clearly held up against his body’s will. The effective work was one-way action here, but Sengprakhon absolutely went for it in the third, throwing everything he had at Ngiabphukhiaw. It just wasn’t nearly enough, but he gave the effort and it was a fun TV fight.