Teerachai hopeful of title shot
Victory over Tanzania’s Shauri next month in Rayong will earn Thai chance to fight WBA champ
>> Teerachai Sitmorseng will get a shot at the WBA welterweight title if he beats Tanzania’s Ramadhani Shauri in Rayong next month, his handlers said yesterday.
The 25-year-old Thai will fight Shauri in an elimination bout in Rayong on July 14, said promoter Niwat Laosuwanwat.
The winner will meet WBA welterweight title-holder Lamont Perterson of the US in a championship bout expected to be held in November, he said.
“It will be an important fight for Teerachai [against Shauri]. He must win to challenge for the world title,” said Niwat.
Unbeaten Teerachai, is the highest-ranked challenger in the division. He has won all of his 37 fights with 28 knockouts.
Thailand currently has only three world boxing champions — WBC minimumweight champion Wanheng Menayothin, WBA minimumweight title-holder Knockout CP Freshmart and WBC super-flyweight king Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.
Meanwhile, Daigo Higa said becoming the WBC flyweight champion last month has given him more to fight for.
“Becoming a world champion has given me more goals,” Higa, who scored a sixth-round technical knockout of Mexican Juan Hernandez on May 20, said.
“I want my name to be more widely recognised.”
Higa, who has a record of 13-0 with every win by knockout, picked fighting WBA flyweight champion Kazuto Ioka in a unification bout and claiming the Japanese record of 15 straight knockouts as two targets he is looking to achieve.
Higa, 21, was given a hero’s welcome in his native Okinawa after his title win and a victory parade was held for him in Miyakojima.
“Lots of people congratulated me and it [becoming champion] really sunk in,” he said.
Higa’s gym chief Yoko Gushiken said: “I was delighted and have watched it [Higa’s title fight] on video over 50 times. There are a lot of people looking forward to it so I want to get him to fight Ioka.”
Higa’s first title defence is scheduled to be held before the end of the year.
In Little Rock, an Arkansas judge has ruled against world champion boxer Jermain Taylor after the former Olympian didn’t appear at a court hearing regarding a 2014 shooting involving his cousin.
Taylor is currently serving a six-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to nine felony charges in 2015, including those related to a shooting that left his cousin, Tyrone DaWayne Hinton, in critical condition, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
In August 2014, Hinton and his son, Aharon Coley, drove to Taylor’s home in North Little Rock in Taylor’s car. Taylor confronted the two about damage he saw on his vehicle. When they denied causing the damage, Taylor allegedly retrieved a pistol from his home and fired in their direction. Hinton was struck five times.
Hinton filed a lawsuit against Taylor in 2015 seeking compensatory and punitive damages for medical bills related to the shooting.
Taylor’s representatives told a Pulaski County Circuit judge Thursday that Taylor was in Florida, with no money and no intention of attending his hearing in Little Rock. The 38-year-old was bonded out of jail in 2015, and a judge allowed him to move to Florida to get back into boxing shape.
A trial date to determine the amount Taylor owes Hinton will be scheduled.