ratanapol sor vorapin

[Autobarn]

i'm curious to know more about this thai who made a remarkable 18 title defenses at strawweight. i know it's not a classic division and i know the opponents he defended against may not have been the best. but you have to have something special about you to have that kind of consistency and i'm sure we're all aware of the business side of boxing, especially in the lighter weights in which quantity (of title fights) rather than quality is emphasised. without the HBO or showtime money, the big fights can't usually happen; and fighting from thailand, he was well off the radar, but that doesn't mean he should be dismissed or forgotten.

obviously he doesn't quite get the credit recognition calderon and ricardo lopez get. both these guys had better longevity than vorapin - who seemed to have a more physically demanding fighting style and fell to pieces on his 19th title defense - and went on to have success in the jr flyweight division. lopez and calderon found their great rivals at jr flyweight obviously (alvarez and cazares), lopez even stopping a version of vorapin coming off 3 bad defeats.

was he done in by weight making problems? he lost his IBF strawweight title on the scales and had to win it back subsequently.

i would like to know about vorapin at his best. how good was he, how did he compare with lopez/calderon as a quality strawweight champ; more appopriately, how does he compare with recent thai standouts pongsaklek and veeraphol?

[Autobarn]

no replies??

i suppose it's hard to see this guy's fights.

[bennie]

If I were you, I would email Graham Houston on his fightwriter sight. I like the light-fly and flyweights but anything lower became a bit confusing for me and Vorapin is after my time. Houston is the only one who still studies these guys. Unsurprisingly, he is like Ross Geller in Friends and knows all about divorce.

[oliverfennell]

AFTER your time??

You mean you stopped following the sport at some point?

[bennie]

I'm a 1980s know-all. From the 1990s, the world title scene became muddled, the amateur game became a blur of headguards, and I lost a bit of interest.

[oliverfennell]

Fair comment.

When I first got into the sport (1990), I was almost Aspergers-like about it. I could have named you all four champions in all 17 divisions at almost any point for years. Now? Forget about it! I couldn't even name you all three WBA "champs" at particular weights...

Saying that, I think it's a good thing if fans start to pay less heed to the title tags now.

[tanibanana]

scottmallon is the guy who can answer this best on this board... i think.

[giacomino]

I seem to remember reading a few stories about him in The Ring or some other magazines in the 1990s. Nice pressure style but his title opposition would have made Erdei blush and he was target practice for Petelo in 1997 and Ricardo Lopez in 2000. I remember seeing the Lopez fight live on the Trinidad-Vargas card.

[jont]

Ratanapol's title reign was the impetus to my interest in the Thai boxing scene...I used to love waiting for the reuslts to see if he had won another defense... by the time I actually got to see him live... he was past his prime against Ricardo Lopez but still he was a great fighter to ME.. during the time of his long reign there were several other good Thai fighters in the lower divisions...Chana Porpoain and Fahlan Lukmingwan were titlists around the same time and also another Thai in 112 pound divison San Sor Ploenchit had a very long reign as well... the older brother Ratanapol seemed to have a short prime but his power was great as he seemed to kayo many of his opponenets ...over the years I have seen some clips and he was a good fighter..many will shame him and say he was overrated but I liked him and the Thai scene during the early nineties was a strong era..

[Goodnight, Irene]

Ratanapol's title reign was the impetus to my interest in the Thai boxing scene...I used to love waiting for the reuslts to see if he had won another defense... by the time I actually got to see him live... he was past his prime against Ricardo Lopez but still he was a great fighter to ME.. during the time of his long reign there were several other good Thai fighters in the lower divisions...Chana Porpoain and Fahlan Lukmingwan were titlists around the same time and also another Thai in 112 pound divison San Sor Ploenchit had a very long reign as well... the older brother Ratanapol seemed to have a short prime but his power was great as he seemed to kayo many of his opponenets ...over the years I have seen some clips and he was a good fighter..many will shame him and say he was overrated but I liked him and the Thai scene during the early nineties was a strong era..

Question is --- is he the owner of the most legitimately bad ass surname in Boxing history?

They should name a snake or something after this guy.