Petchmorakot: After 965 days as champion gets dethroned by Tawanchai

The reign of the Petchmorakot has come to an end after a 5 round war in the featherweight (155lbs for ONE FC) dvision between him and Tawanchai went down at ONE 161 in Singapore. The match was for the 26.4 pound featherweight Muay Thai championship belt that only one of the men could leave with.

The 28 year old legend with a muay thai and kickboxing record of 165-35-2, 3x one featherweight champ and last man to beat Saenchai, another legend in Muay Thai, Petchmorakot came into this fight on a 7 fight win streak dating back to October 2019 and on his 4th title defense.

But his younger contender (23) Tawanchai was not deterred by the status or record of his opponent. In fact Tawanchai, who has a record of 127-31-2, and 2018 Lumpinee fighter of the year stated that Petchmorakot is “overrated“. Tawanchai winning his last 3 fights by KO.

Round 1

Round 1 started off with the 2 exchanging calf-kicks and push-kicks to the thigh and mid-section. Both landing shots with little strikes thrown to the head.

Round 2

Round 2 was Tawanchai being the aggressor, but both letting the hands go swinging for the fences. Tawanchai pacing himself intelligently not letting himself gas out was leading the dance, but Petchmorakot having his moments landing the counter shots in exchanges. The round ended with both smiling and taunting eachother.

Round 3

Round 3 was very similar to the the second, although Tawanchai’s pressure was starting to slow as the counter shots were starting to tally up. Also Petchmorakot catching Tawanchai’s left kick countering with the left created some swelling under Tawanchai’s left eye. Tawanchai did land an illegal throw that put Petchmorakot on the canvas.

Round 4

Round 4 started off with Petchmorakot landing many jabs which got interrupted by him receiving an eye-poke. The round consisted of much clinch work with knees to the body and strikes in the clinch. Being the least active round as fighters save their energies for the last round.

Round 5

The hardest strike of round 5 came from Tawanchai who landed and uppercut exiting the clinch. Both started throwing power shots, with Petchmorakot landing more but Tawanchai the harder shots.

Conclusion

While it did look like Petchmorakot was leaving on his 4th title defense, 8th win and the 26.4 lbs of gold. Tawanchai was deemed the winner on the judges scorecards and got to leave the circled cage with the featherweight strap, not without thanking the fans, Singapore, his team and coaches.