Former Boxing World Champion Yodsanan Sityodtong Looking To Get Back In The Ring This Year

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Former Boxing World Champion Yodsanan Sityodtong Looking to Get Back in The Ring This Year
by James Goyder



BANGKOK: -- Former WBA Super Featherweight Champion Yodsanan Sityodtong (3K Battery) who has an outstanding record of 57-3-1 with 46 KOs is looking to return to the ring this year.

The 38 year old’s last fight was against Jonathan Simamora in 2009 when he won the IBF Australasian Light Welterweight title with a third round KO.

The Sisaket born fighter would never defend the belt, instead switching codes to sign with ONE Fighting Championship, Asia’s biggest MMA promotion, where he has run up a record of 1-1 in the 135 lbs division.

After successfully defending his PABA Super Featherweight title 18 times with 17 KOs Yodsanan got the chance to fight for the vacant WBA Super Featherweight title in 2002 and defeated Lakva Sim by unanimous decision.

He successfully defended the belt three times before being beaten in a title fight by Vicente Mosquera at Madison Square Garden in 2005, but not before becoming the first man to ever put the Panamanian down for a count. After the loss Yodsanan returned to fighting in his native Thailand and put together a run of 13 wins but says he stopped because he simply ran out of opponents,

“I did not want to stop fighting but it was very difficult to find opponents because no-one wanted to fight me. Also I got a very good job at Evolve MMA in Singapore which is the top martial arts school in Asia and is very famous so I focused on teaching instead of fighting.”

Yodsanan made his MMA debut in 2011 and won by first round TKO but was less successful second time around being submitted in the first round of his second fight in 2012. He enjoyed trying a new sport but feels that first and foremost he will always be a boxer,

“I enjoyed MMA and it was a new experience for me, I hope to fight again in the future but boxing is my specialty. I am the same weight now that I was when I won the PABA belt in 1997, I don’t smoke, I don’t drink and I have never stopped training and I have not lost any of my power.”

Yodsanan is one of the most famous fighters to have ever emerged from the famous Sityodtong camp in Pattaya, whose founder Yodtong Senanan passed away earlier this month at the age of 75. However he says he would not necessarily need to return to Thailand to make his comeback,

“Many of the most famous Muay Thai fighters from Thailand are here at Evolve MMA and although they are more famous for Muay Thai than boxing they are all world class level boxers. The fight team train together twice a day and I would get very good training and sparring in Singapore, I cornered Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo for his fight recently and I enjoyed that even though it was a disappointment when he lost, I would like to box in Singapore one day.”

The interview with Yodsanan appears courtesy of Evolve MMA.

Source: http://combat-asia.com/index.php/former-boxing-world-champion-yodsanan-sityodtong-looking-to-get-back-in-the-ring-this-year/

-- COMBAT ASIA 2013-02-25