Thailand's Srisaket Sor Rungvisai successfully defended his World Boxing Council super-flyweight title against Mexico’s Juan Francisco Estrada by a majority decision on Sunday morning.
The judges gave scores of 115-113, 117-111 and 114-114 in favour of Srisaket after 12 rounds of the fight at the Forum in Los Angeles.
The win helped the 31-year-old Thai boxer retain The Ring's super-flyweight crown, improving his statistics to 50 wins (40 by knockouts), 4 losses and 1 draw.
After the fight, Srisaket was full of praise for his opponent, saying "Estrada was a good, strong fighter."
Srisaket, a near unknown in international boxing two years ago, has won 18 consecutive bouts, including two defences of the title he took from Roman "Chocolatito'' Gonzalez in a major upset last year.
"It was a very good fight,'' Srisaket said. "He hits very hard, and I like his style, but I know I won the fight.''
(Video YouTube/The Boxing Roundup)
The quicker Estrada got off to a strong start to thrill the pro-Mexican crowd, but the Thai asserted himself with his combination of body shots, counterpunching and head movement. Srisaekt tagged Estrada repeatedly in the middle rounds, but Estrada put together a strong flurry in the eighth to begin a surge.
Estrada appeared to win several late rounds with faster hands. Both boxers fought desperately in the 12th, and both were raised in victory by their cornermen after the bell.
"I felt I won the fight clearly,'' Estrada said. "I boxed him all night long, and then I attacked him the last three rounds. I landed great shots at the end. I don't know what the judges saw.''
The fight was telecast lived by Workpoint, Channel 23.
Srisaket is scheduled to return to Thailand on Tuesday.