Japanese challenger Norihito Tanaka of Misako Boxing Gym failed to win the World Boxing Council minimumweight title on Aug. 31 in Nakhon Ratchasima, northeast of Bangkok, as the 14th-ranked Tanaka dropped a unanimous decision to champion Panya Pradabsri of Thailand.

After the 12-round fight, all three judges each scored the fight119-109, 118-110 and 116-112 all in favor of Panya, who made his third successful defense of the title he won by decisioning compatriot Chayaphon Moonsri in November 2020.

Both fought almost evenly in the early part of the fight as the 37-year-old Tanaka moved forward and connected with body shots, while Panya, 31, landed left and right body blows by moving side to side.
Late in the third round, Panya landed a series of right-hand punches. The champion increased his pace in the fourth round with left jabs followed by left uppercuts and left hooks to the body although Tanaka rallied briefly with right-hand punches.

While Tanaka attempted to move inside by throwing punches, Panya shrugged them off with his body movement and piled up points by unleashing a barrage of left-and-right combinations.

At the end of the eighth round, the three judges’ respective scores were 79-73, 78-74 and 77-75 all in favor of Panya.

Tanaka pressed forward in the ninth round by working Panya’s body, the Thai retaliated with his own body shots and straight rights to the head.

Near the end of the 10th round, Panya landing a sizzling a left uppercut and a straight right, which sent Tanaka tottering back to the ropes.

The tenacious Japanese came back strongly in the 11th round by clearly landing one-two straight rights to the head followed by a left hook.

While Tanaka showed everything he had in his arsenal in the 12th and the final round by moving forward, Panya also connected with well-timed straight rights without gearing down his pace.
With the defeat, Tanaka now has a record of 20 wins, including 10 knockouts, against nine losses. For his part, Panya now has a 39-1 win-loss tally with 23 KOs.

With Tanaka’s defeat, Japanese boxers failed to beat Thai boxers 26 straight times with one draw in the world championship fights in Thailand as far as Japan Boxing Commission authorized fights were concerned.