by James Goyder

Fahlan Sakreerin Jnr continued his quest for a second world title shot with a win in Nonthaburi this afternoon. The records will reflect that he defended his IBF Pan Pacific 108lbs belt, beating Richard Rosales by decision but it was a truly wretched performance by the Thai.

Sakreerin Jnr took the first two rounds off with Rosales the busier fighter but he struggled to land any clean shots. The rare occasions that the two men engaged often resulted in a head clash and in the third round tempters became frayed with the Filipino trapping his opponent in a headlock and punching him repeatedly.

Rosales, who missed weight and wore bigger gloves to compensate, gestured that he was angry about a low blow and the referee elected to give both men a warning. By the end of the round this hostility had been forgotten as they smiled and touched gloves before heading back to the corner.

In the fifth round Sakreerin Jrn started to walk Rosales down and trapped him in the corner but the Filipino got the better of the resulting exchange. It was a similar story in the sixth and seventh, the Thai moving forwards more but frequently walking into a short left hand.

In the eighth Sakreerin Jnr fought with a far greater sense of urgency but couldn’t catch Rosales with anything of note. The ninth followed a similar pattern although this time the Thai fighter did succeed in landing a one two combination as the round came to a close.

Sakreerin Jnr left it until late in the tenth round to impress the judges but again he scoffed with some straight punches in the final seconds. The eleventh saw him moving forwards more but the cleaner punches, albeit few and far between, were being landed by the Filipino.

With so much inaction the fight could easily have gone either way but the judges all saw the local fighter as winning by a wide margin. Two of them scored it 117-11 for Sakreerin Jnr while the other had him winning by a slightly more realistic margin of 116-112.