EMULATING FLOYD
Wanheng emulates Floyd by reaching the fabled 50-0
Wanheng Meenayothin ‘does a Mayweather’ by moving to 50-0
WHEN Floyd Mayweather took his record to 50-0, it was in one of the most lucrative and highly publicised bouts of all time. The crossover appeal of his duel with MMA star Conor Mcgregor trained the eyes of the wider sports world on to the T-mobile Arena in Las Vegas and generated him a nine-figure payday.
When Wanheng Meenayothin did likewise, beating Panamanian mandatory contender Leroy Estrada, it was in a temporary outdoor ring on the grounds of a local government office in an event sponsored by a minimart and attended by a crowd of a few hundred.
Nonetheless, the fight drew international curiosity as the downto-earth Thai reached for the iconic statistic so vaingloriously trumpeted by Mayweather. The gimmick was also reason enough for WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman to make the trip to Thailand and bring with him a commemorative belt worth almost $16,000, to be presented to his body’s strawweight champion should he win.
Wanheng did exactly that – and in dominant fashion.
Critics have pointed out – quite rightly – that Wanheng’s record flatters to deceive. While recognised as a legitimately world-class fighter, his ledger nevertheless is, in typical Thai fashion, stuffed with non-title fights and ‘keep busy’ contests. Knowing the Mayweather connection would draw more attention to this clash than any of his previous 49, Wanheng fought as if he had a point to prove.
On paper, it was a good match. Better, certainly, than the cynical circus that was Mayweather-mcgregor. But in the event, Estrada’s sublime skills were no match for a champion fuelled by a sense of history. It’s history with an asterisk, of course, but it would have taken a killjoy of the highest order to labour that point amid the jubilant scenes that greeted Wanheng’s victory.
With Estrada slumped on his knees, referee Jay Nady having waved the contest off in the fifth round, the small but passionate crowd erupted with delight. Ringside was soon swamped with ecstatic Thais, with everyone from small children to old women jumping and chanting with delight.
Amid the chatter, one word was heard over and over and could be understood even by someone who knows not a word of Thai: “Mayweather”. The public had bought into the narrative of the record and its association with the most famous living name in the sport. The truth about the quality behind the numbers was not part of the conversation. But if many of those 50 wins were superficial, this one wasn’t.
Estrada started well, boxing with accuracy behind a southpaw stance that initially seemed to befuddle Wanheng. The challenger won the first round comfortably, and was competitive in the second, but once Wanheng found his range – especially with the classic southpaw antidote, the straight right – the momentum shifted irrevocably.
The champion seemingly hurt Estrada every time he landed flush, and the visitor switched tactics from counter-punching to backpedalling. But there was to be no escape, nor respite, as the tireless Thai dropped his man twice in the third, twice in the fourth, and for good in the fifth.
All eyes will now be on Wanheng’s next fight, to see if he can beat Mayweather’s record. The real test of the ‘history’ of his accomplishments, though, will be in whether he can ultimately conclude his career without a blemish. Other boxers have exceeded 50-0 before – such as Julio Cesar Chavez, Willie Pep and Yori Boy Campas – but all would later suffer defeats. Mayweather’s record stands as the most wins in a completed career (assuming he never boxes again).
Wanheng, 32, will find it hard to walk away while he is in peak form, and plotting the remainder of his career may be a tougher strategic task than the majority of his opponents have provided.
Quite what the ‘management’ of Oleydong Sithsamerchai are doing is beyond me. A former WBC strawweight titlist, he has been treading water since losing to Kazuto Ioka way back in 2011. Oleydong has fought and won no fewer than 32 times since then, but appears no closer to a world title shot.
This time he trundled to a wide unanimous decision over a craggyfaced journeyman billed as Super Top Singhnamchai (no, me neither…) in a super-bantam six-rounder.
THE VERDICT Wanheng writes his name in the record books.