Looking back 2006 was a notable year for boxing. The year saw Floyd Mayweather Jr taking the proverbial mantle from Oscar De La Hoya to become the new “face” of boxing, it saw Joe Calzaghe score his break out win, dominating Jeff Lacy, and it saw the boxing turn towards an obscure bout from France for their FOTY, with both Ring and ESPN declaring the excellent WBA Super Bantamweight title fight between Somsak Sithchatchawal and Mahyar Monshipour.
The fight is a strange one in many, with one of the most notable being the fact it’s one of the very few Ring magazine FOTY’s to not feature either an American or a Mexican fighter. In fact you need to go back to 1970 to find the previous Ring FOTY not to feature an American or a Mexican, and only 4 fights in the history of the magazine have managed to win the award without featuring an American born or Mexican born fighter.
In my eyes the bout should have been the turning point and not an oddity, it should have been the point where Ring and ESPN both began to make the most of the internet and look outside of the US for their Fights of the year. The bout earned a lot of attention due to winning the FOTY award and that attention lives on today, almost a decade late. That same attention could have been directed to numerous bouts since, however that never happened and numerous bouts have since been over-looked.
Of course it’s impossible to call the “FOTY” a closet classic, but there was a number of “Closet Classics” during 2006 that didn’t get the attention of the Sithchatchawal Vs Monshipour bout. One such bout was the WBC Minimumweight war between Japanese based Thai “Eagle” Den Junlaphan (then 16-1, 6) and unheralded Mexican challenger Lorenzo Trejo (at the time 28-16, 15).
Coming in to this one it looked like a mismatch, a real “gimme” for “Eagle”, who’s only loss had come in December 2004 due to a severely damaged shoulder. Trejo had been beaten in almost every bout of note, losing against the likes of Jorge Arce, Fernando Montiel, Alex Sanchez, Eric Morel, Roberto Carlos Leyva, Ivan Calderon and Rodel Mayol. He was seen as the next in line to be out boxed by “Eagle”, who was seeking the third defense of his second reign.
The bout however turned out to be the complete opposite of a mismatch, in fact it turned out to be an unheralded classic that was over looked partly because it was in Japan, and shown on pay channel NTV G+ as opposed to the free to air terrestrial channels like Fuji TV or TBS, and partly because it was a Minimumweight bout, with the 105lb division generally being over-looked regardless of who fights there.
From the opening bell it was clear that Trejo hadn’t read the script, he hadn’t been informed he was the patsy and instead he took the fight to “Eagle”. In the opening stages it wasn’t too hard for the more technically capable champion to pick off the Mexican as he came in however as the bout progressed Trejo became less worried about what was coming back and charged his way inside, neutralising the reach and timing of “Eagle”.
In round 3 Trejo was forced to pay for his aggression, which was stepping up in intensity, as he was dropped from a sharp right hand behind the ear. It was a clever shot from the champion and one that seemed to excite the fans but not one that seriously damaged Trejo who took a few seconds on the canvas before returning to being the aggressor.
The Mexican would avenge the knockdown in round 6, twice dropping “Eagle” who seemed to be fighting fire with fire as both began to linger longer in the pocket. The first knockdown came from a sweeping right hand from the Mexican and just seconds later a similar shot dropped Eagle down for the second time. Although not visibly hurt the Thai was forced to dig deep and the round ended with both men throwing huge shots and Eagles legs looking like they were starting to give up on him.
Knowing they could both be hurt by the other, the smart thing would have been to respect the other man’s power, instead the second half of the fight was just rougher and tougher than the early stages with both men trying to out-do the other and win the rounds. That lead to Trejo amping up the pressure, “Eagle” trying to answer and the action leading to some insane exchanges, with a notable one around 1 minute into round 11, between two men who knew every round was going to count and that neither could rely on the judges to help them out.
Going into round 12 both fighters knew they to prove something to themselves, each other and the judges, and it showed as the two embroiled in an insanely action packed round that would have sent Compubox operators into melt down, with Trejo throwing a huge number of shots.
Trejo’s engine had shown it’s self to be something special, he had thrown hundreds of shots whilst his toughness had also been impressive with the Mexican being forced to take heavy leather from the champion, who was landing very cleanly with his shots.
Unlike some closet classics this one doesn’t end with a KO, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth watching, so set yourself down with an hour of time, a few cold beers, a tub of popcorn and enjoy a really brilliant, competitive and action packed classic from the Minimumweight division.
Interestingly this bout was also the first bout that used the WBC open scoring system. The system was a real success for the bout. Firstly the scores were 39-36, all to Eagle, after 4 rounds and later 75-74, twice to Eagle, and 75-74 once to Trejo after 8 rounds.
Scott Graveson covers the Asian boxing scene for www.asianboxing.info
