Boxing: Pakau gets his shot at the big time

By PETER JESSUP

New Zealand lightweight champion Santos Pakau gets his first chance at the big time when he fights for the Pan Asian Boxing Association super-featherweight title in Auckland on Saturday.

Pakau, who is 26-0 as a professional and still only 20, will have his work cut out in the 12 three-minute round title fight against Thai champion Pongsith Wiangwiset, a veteran of both the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics.

Wiangwiset did not win medals at either Olympics after being eliminated in middle stages, but he has a gold from the Asian Games.

He began as a Muay Thai kickboxer as a young child and has more than 100 bouts in that code behind him.

There is nothing in the height and reach, both around 165cms. Pakau still had weight to lose to come down the 2.3kg from his usual division to the 59kg of super-featherweight and the Thai looked close to, if not over the weight, when training at the Boxing Central gym yesterday.

A southpaw, Wiangwiset looked tough, fast and with a better plant of the feet than many converted kickboxers who tend to stay up on their toes looking for kicking opportunities.

At 31, he is defending his title for the seventh time.

The fight is in Auckland because Pakau's promoter Mike Edwards and trainer dad B.J. Pakau of the Pakaurangi gym wanted to avoid the heat and parochial crowd in Bangkok.

The fight was ordered by PABA with Pakau the mandatory challenger. It took more than two months of wrangling before the Thai agreed to come here for a decent purse.

Wiangwiset is with the stable of fighters run by Thai boxing promotions' Songchai Ratanasuban, who has managed nine previous WBA world champions.. He controls television coverage of the sport in Thailand and is referred to by some as "the Don King of boxing in Asia".

Edwards and B.J. Pakau said Santos was in the best shape of his career, "by a country mile".

"This is the one he's been waiting for," said Edwards.

Pakau has had four previous fights against former and/or current kickboxers. He has gone the 12-round distance on three occasions and will need that experience in order to beat the Thai, who does not look the sort to go down easily.

Pakau is working his way up to a world title fight and this is a big step for the fighter who took time off his job as a roofer to train fulltime for six weeks, three times a day.

On the undercard at Alexandra Park on Saturday are three other professional bouts and a range of amateur contests featuring fighters from Northland, Hamilton, Rotorua and Tokoroa.