The WBC world light flyweight title fight between Jonathan Taconing and Kompayak Porpramook was originally reported to be held on May 5, but it was truly dated on May 3 as per the contract. Upon their arrival in Bangkok, the Filipino contender still had to drive 5 hours to get to the venue at the Provincial Hall in Buriram, Thailand. Jonathan Taconing, from my previous interview, was aware that he may need to knock his opponent out to win on away turf. During what seemed to be a knockout in the making, an incident shattered one man's dream of becoming a world champion.
It was clear since the first bell that both men had bad intentions; a fight where it was easy to predict that the bout won't go the distance to be won on the scorecards. Taconing started the round with a few jabs, then went to applying his inside fighting style going to the body. The champion, on the other hand, was trying to gauge the challenger, but eventually gave in to trading punches, landing clean straight rights and left hooks. The round went to Taconing for dictating the tempo and taking the fight to the champion.
Taconing started strong in round 2 by putting pressure on early, bobbing and weaving and unleashing combinations while effectively cutting off the ring. It didn't take long before the two warriors started trading again. Porpramook landed clean hard shots that did not bother the challenger, who continued to apply pressure, throwing hard uppercuts and going to the body. While the champion landed clean, hard shots, it was Taconing that got the better of the exchange.
In round 3, Taconing put his jabs together with the pressure. The brave challenger moved and landed clean shots on Porpramook using his lateral movement. The round looked kind of the same as the first two, but it was this round that the champion started to fight at Taconing's pace.
Taconing started round 4 with hard flurries. Referee Jae-Bong Kim of Korea had to break the fighters before the 1st minute mark due to an accidental headbutt followed by a right hook, which resulted in a small cut above Porpramook's left eye. The doctor inspected the cut and gave Porpramook a go signal soon after. Taconing went back to putting pressure on his Thai opponent as the fight resumed. More than halfway through the round, Porpramook tried to press forward only to get outlanded and outclassed.
Taconing tagged the champion with a hard left in the opening seconds of round 5, then followed it up with a series of combinations, forcing Porpramook to tie him up. After being separated by the referee, Taconing went in hard on Porpramook, landing hard shots that wobbled the champion. The fight could have ended in that sequence, but the seemingly crooked referee from Korea separated the fighters and deducted a point from Taconing, signaling a headbutt. Yes, a point deduction without a single warning whatsoever after an alleged headbutt. which did not even bother the champion. After the referee's little freak show, Taconing battered his man. to which the champion responded by throwing his own punches only to have very little success.
The ring doctor went up to the ring before the start of round 6 and checked on the exhausted champion's small cut above the left eye. To the surprise of many, the doctor asked the fight to be stopped. The cut wasn't that bad though. As a matter of fact, this writer did not even notice blood dripping after the beating Porpramook took in round 5. After 5 rounds of action, many observers, including this writer, had Taconing winning the fight, with some giving all 5 rounds to him.
Remember when they say to fight like you're taking the belt away from the champion? Or when they say knock the opponent out in his home turf to secure the win? Apparently, the shady team of judges, referee and ringside physician still found a way to make their man win, as Kompayak Porpramook won by technical decision, improving his record to 45-3, 30 KO's and dropping Jonathan Taconing to 13-2-1, 10 KO's. The scorecards were an unbelievable 50-45, 48-46, and 47-47. Ironically, even the local Thai's who witnessed the live fight did not agree with them.
"We got cheated. First of all, the referee separated us the moment I was hurting Kompayak. Second, the doctor was working on their corner, plus we also noticed the promoter talking to the judges during the fight," said Jonathan Taconing during my interview. "I know I was ahead before they stopped it; even the local Thai newspapers wrote that I was winning the fight. The cut was dealt by a punch, I didn't feel a hard butt that could have opened a cut. There were also some instances that I was hit low, but they didn't call it. When the referee waived the fight, I thought I was going to bring home the championship belt to the Philippines. I can take his punch. If they let the fight continue, I would have knocked him out in round 6."
Taconing's manager, Johnny Elorde, immediately wrote a letter to WBC President Don Jose Sulaiman asking for an immediate rematch after the controversial match-up. It was reported at Philboxing.com that Sulaiman has received the protest letter and ordered a WBC official in Thailand to send him a DVD copy of the controversial fight. Taconing and his team already did their part, now it's up to the WBC to make a stand and do the right thing. And whether the brave Filipino gets his rematch or not, it is more than clear that the Philippines has added another name to the roster of its world champions; a champion without a belt named Jonathan Taconing.
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