Thai ‘giant’ to walk tall with Floyd
AFTER a career laden with belts, cash and kudos, boxing great Floyd Mayweather Jr retired undefeated over 50 fights – but now his flawless record faces an unlikely challenge from an obscure Thai fighter known as the “dwarf giant”.
At 1.57m and weighing just 47.6kg, minimumweight Wanheng Menayothin is shorter, leaner and significantly less wealthy than Mayweather, who briefly emerged from retirement last year to fight MMA star Conor McGregor for a $100-million (R1.26-billion) purse. If Wanheng triumphs this afternoon he will equal Mayweather’s 50 successive wins.
His WBC minimumweight belt is on the line against Panamanian challenger Leroy Estrada. The fight, to be held in Thai city Nakhon Ratchasima, has none of the glitz or pay-per-view pull of a Mayweather bout in Las Vegas.
But still Wanheng will enter boxing lore with victory – and, at 32, has time to go one better and match the 51 wins, one draw and no losses set by Mexican flyweight Ricardo Lopez.
It is not just the box office that differentiates Mayweather from the Thai, who turned to the ring at the age of 12 as a path out of poverty. While the prelude to Mayweather fights was defined by hype and trash-talking, Wanheng has adopted a more karmic approach. “I’m not feeling pressured. You win and you lose, that’s the nature of sports,” he said at his gym in Bangkok a few days before defending his title. But he said he had trained hard with the aim of “equalling Floyd”.
The welterweight has 27 KOs to Wanheng’s 17.
“Wanheng has never beaten anyone of note,” said Anson Wainwright, a boxing correspondent for The Ring magazine, adding that matching the record would nevertheless be a “good achievement”.
Reporter Carlos Costa said Estrada, 23, poses a unique challenge to Wanheng, 32.
“He’s younger and fresher,” Costa said of Estrada. “He’s hungry for glory, and that always makes a boxer dangerous.”
And the Panamanian is in no mood to help Wanheng into the history books, telling reporters “this is my opportunity to be a champion”. —