26-year-old American super flyweight prospect (52.2 kg) John “Scrappy” Ramirez (10-0, 8 KOs) and 32-year-old Thai veteran will fight in a WBA elimination match in 2023 and determine the mandatory challenger for Joshua Franco (18-1, 8 KOs) – unless, of course, Kazuto Ioke flies in on New Year’s Eve.
The boxer from Thailand is known as Sirichai Taien (50-3, 35 KOs), aka Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep, and also Yodmongkol CP Freshmart. As a boxer who has been playing as a pro for almost 14 years, his name is actually known, probably only to the local Minsotsu.
The date, place of the battle and other details will be determined later.
Ramirez is second in the WBA rankings, Thien is third. The first line is empty – the winner will be promoted there.
John started boxing at the age of 20. 7 out of 10 of his fights are with opponents who have had more losses than wins. In May, Ramirez took the regional NABA belt, knocking out in the 1st round of a certain Yana Salvatierra (8-1), and since then has not entered the ring again, which is not trivial for a prospect.
After losing in the 8th round of the fight with the “regular” WBA champion Artyom Dalakyan in Kyiv (Ukraine) in the summer of 2018, Thayen set up a winning streak of 14 fights. True, the level of rivals was – to hug and cry.
Ramirez has already promised to “finish him in the 7th or 8th round”.