One of the greatest Thai fighters ever, and certainly the most historic, Saensak Muangsurin, has passed away at the tragically young age of 58.
Southpaw Muangsurin won the WBC light-welterweight title in just his third professional fight when he stopped dangerous Spaniard Perico Fernandez in eight rounds in Bangkok in 1975. It was an achievement which will surely never be broken and defied belief in a boxing era when world titles still meant exactly that: a holder was the best fighter in the world at his weight (alongside the rival champ, given there were WBC & WBA champs).
After one defence, Muangsurin ventured to Spain and was blatantly robbed of his crown on a disqualificiation (for nothing, except for the fact he was winning). A picture of the mentally and physically 'broken' Ameican referee Jay Edson, laid out on the canvas, having been poleaxed by a bottle, is one that lingers in the memory. It summed up the win-at-all-costs attitude from the vicious Spanish crowd that night (and their crass officials, one of whom later kicked a Board official in the groin when he protested about the use of an illegal substance on the gloves of Juan Francisco Rodriguez against Johnny Owen, which affected Johnny's eyesight.
Owen was similarly robbed of a win as a result.
Muangsurin put the experience behind him and showed his mettle when he regained the title in Spain just four months later in October 1976, then went on a run of defences that made him one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport, a fighter whose very name signified class and power and danger. Muangsurin, a former kickboxer, was incredibly heavy handed and slick with it. He retained seven times against the fabulous likes of Saoul Mamby, Monroe Brooks, Guts Ishimatsu (who beat Buchanan), Philadelphia's Mike Everett (brother of the ill-fated and gifted Tyrone) and French star Jo Kimpuani, before eye problems and the demanding pace caught up with him in a shock defeat in 1978 in Korea to a man he would have destroyed a couple of years earlier.
Obviously, Muangsurin was over the mountain and spent the next couple of years as 'name' opponents for Thomas Hearns and company. His eyesight inevitably worsened and his retirement in 1981 led to depression and further health problems.
Muangsurin, however, is a name that everyone knows for that world title win so early into his career. To remind you, he won it in his third fight as a pro, his seventh month as a pro.
