Bantamweight contender Petch Sor Chitpattana stopped Aries Buenavidez of the Philippines in round three Friday afternoon at Sinwatee Village in Bangkok, Thailand.

With the victory, Chitpattana, who also go by Tasana Salapat, improves to 53-1, 38 knockouts.

The southpaw Chitpattana utilized his height and reach to overwhelm and rain punches down on Buenavidez throughout much of the fight. Early in round three, Chitpattana landed a straight left followed by a right hook to the head, dropping Buenavidez to one knee. Buenavidez remained on the canvas as referee Somsri Bhusi stopped the bout at 49 seconds.

Chitpattana has now won his last five bouts, all by knockout, since losing to Takuma Inoue, the younger brother of unified bantamweight world titleholder Naoya Inoue, by unanimous decision on Dec. 30. The 26-year-old from Roi-Et, Thailand is ranked No. 7 by the WBC.

Buenavidez, who resides in Davao City in the Philippines, drops to 13-4, 7 KOs. Friday marked Buenavidez’s first fight as a bantamweight as he has recently fought as a junior bantamweight.

Junior bantamweight contender Sirichai Thaiyen stopped overmatched Abdul Malaki of Iran in the second round.

Thaiyen, who also goes by Yodmongkol CP Freshmart, backed Malaki into a corner, dropping him with a right hand to the body. Moments later, Thaiyen again backed Malaki into a corner, where he again dropped Malaki with a barrage of punches to the head. Malaki beat the count, but was met with another barrage of punches that prompted the referee to step in and stop the fight.

The 28-year-old Thaiyen improves to 55-4, 37 KOs and is ranked No. 2 by the WBA. He has won his last five bouts since losing by knockout to WBA flyweight titleholder Artem Dalakian.

Also in junior bantamweight action, Jakkrawut Majoogoen (aka Kongfah CP Freshmart), defeated China’s Zhou Yu (1-1) by unanimous decision over six rounds, improving to 30-1, 16 KOs.

Majoogoen is ranked No. 14 by the WBA and has not lost since losing to Daigo Higa by knockout in July of 2015.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing