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WBA featherweight “Super” champion Chris John makes his traditional autumn title defense this evening as he meets Thai challenger Chonlatarn Or Piriyapinyo on neutral ground, at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands Hotel.
You’ll have to go back to 2003 to find the last time that John fought more than twice a year, prior to his 2004 WBA title winning effort on the road in Tokyo against Japan’s Osamu Sato.
John, 47-0-2 (22), went on to record 15 title defenses, mostly against little known opposition, but does hold a points verdict, albeit controversially, over multi-weight world champion Juan Manuel Marquez along with a victory and draw against Rocky Juarez.
The fast-handed Indonesian most recently retained in Singapore against ex-Japanese champ Shoji Kimura, despite losing a point for low blows, back in May.
At age 35, John may be past his peak, a condition that Team Piriyapinyo is hoping actually exists as their man will be taking a massive step up in class this evening and will need all the help they can get if they are to lift the WBA crown.
Piriyapinyo, 44-0 (27), has achieved a glittering won-loss record on paper but the 27 year old has done so by facing a laundry-list of less than world class level of opposition on the way to 27 WBC Asian Boxing Council and 5 WBO Asian Pacific featherweight title defenses.
The aggressive, come-forward pressure style of Piriyapino could be effective in draining energy from the champion and force John into the trenches if the contest goes into the later rounds.
But John’s seasoned footwork makes him a hard to hit fighter while his fast, accurate punching allows him to control fights. These attributes plus the champion’s machine-gun like combination punching should make it very difficult for Piriyapinyo to achieve a victory in Singapore.
Also on the bill is a IBO featherweight title contest between reigning champ Daud Cino Yordan, 29-2 (23), of Indonesia and Englad based Mongolian Choi Tseveenpurev, 36-5 (24).
Yordan has the edge in experience with losses to Chris John, Robert Guerrero and Cellestino Caballero while Tseveenpurev has come up short against Veeraphol Sahaprom and Lehlo Ledwaba.
