1994-Pichit Sithbanprachan Vs Arthur Johnson
When we think about fighters who retired as unbeaten world champions there are a number of names that often get forgotten, such as Thailand's Pichit Sithbanprachan. He held the IBF Flyweight title from 1992 to 1994, making 5 defenses of the title. Among those defenses were several notable names, one of who was former American standout Arthur Johnson. Coming into this bout Pichit was 19-0 (16), an aggressive and pressure fighting champion. Johnson was 8-0 (5), and a very skilled American looking to score the biggest win of his career. The bout turned out to be a competitive one, though one that Pichit did enough to win, with scores of 115-113, twice, and 118-110. Pichit would defend the title once more, defeating Jose Luis Zepeda in May 1994 before retiring later that same year. He would however make some sporadic returns to the ring before hanging them up for good with a record of 24-0 (18). Johnson on the other hand would fight through to 2003, running up a record of 22-6 (14). 1968-Howard Winstone vs Mitsunori Seki It's not often that we see Japanese fighters fighting in world title bouts in Europe, one rare example came in 1968 when Japan's Mitsunori Seki travelled to England to face great Welsh fighter Howard Winstone for the WBC Featherweight title. Both, Winstone and Seki, had given the legendary Vicente Saldivar great prior to Seki retiring in 1967, leading to these fighting for the vacant title. Sadly for Seki he would be stopped in 9 rounds, when a cut forced the referee to stop the contest. It had been a pretty interesting contest, with Seki falling behind early on before trying to turn the fight around. Sadly for the man from Tokyo this would be his final bout, retiring afterwards with a record of 61-11-1 (35), having gone 0-5 in world title fights. Winstone would also his career soon afterwards, losing to Jose Legra in his first defense, before retiring with a record of 61-6 (27). Like Seki he would fight in 5 world title bouts, with this win being the 1 in 1-4. 1964-Pone Kingpetch vs Hiroyuki Ebihara II In September 1963 Japanese great Hiroyuki Ebiuhara ripped the Flyweight crown from Thai great Pone Kingpetch inside a round, avenging the loss of his close friend Fighting Harada. The following year, on this day, the two men would have a rematch in Thailand, and sadly for Ebihara he would lose a split decision to the Thai, who would become a 3-time champion. Kingpetch's third reign was only a short lived one, losing the belt in Italy in his first defense against Salavatore Burruni 15 months later, and his career would fizzle out in 1966 with a career tally of 28-7 (9)and sadly he would pass away in 1982 aged 47. Although Kingpetch is best remembered as being Thailand's first champion it should be noted that he was a 3 time champion, having taken the titles from legendary trio of Pacaul Perez, Fighting Harada and Ebihara. As for Ebihara this loss Ebihara would go on to essentially have another career, going 24-3 (10) before retiring in 1969 with a record of 62-5-1 (32). Following the loss to Kingpetch Ebihara would twice lose in world title bouts against Horacio Accavallo, both in close decisions in Argentina, before beating Jose Severino in 1969 to become the WBA champion. Sadly he would lose the belt in his first defense, losing a competitive bout with Bernabe Villacampo. Like Kingpetch he would also pass away at a young age, passing in 1991 at the age of 51.
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