Srisaket to return April 4th against Ruenroeng

Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images

The fight takes place in Thailand and will air on DAZN

Former WBC super flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai will end a nearly year-long hiatus on April 4th, taking on longtime flyweight ruler Amnat Ruenroeng in the pair’s native Thailand. American viewers can catch the fight on DAZN.

Srisaket (47-5-1, 40 KO) was one of the more unexpected feel-good stories of the late ‘10s, rising from obscurity to shock pound-for-pound great Roman Gonzalez by majority decision in the Gennadiy Golovkin-Daniel Jacobs co-feature. Though the victory was questionable, the brutal knockout he inflicted on “Chocolatito” in the rematch decidedly wasn’t.

He successfully defended his WBC belt twice more, taking decisions over division heir apparent Juan Francisco Estrada and Iran Diaz, before losing a competitive rematch to “El Gallo” last April.

He remains the WBC #1 contender, but will take a warm-up against his countryman.

Ruenroeng (20-3, 6 KO) once had a strong claim for being the best flyweight on the planet, having beaten Kazuto Ioka, McWilliams Arroyo, Zou Shiming, and John Riel Casimero in succession, but things have been rough for him since a shock knockout loss to Casimero in their 2016 rematch. He was one of a handful of pros to take part in the Rio Olympics, where he tried his hand at lightweight and was battered into submission in the Round of 16 by eventual silver medalist Sofiane Oumiha.

From there, he returned to Muay Thai, receiving a very unwelcome welcome from Tenshin Nasukawa. Back to boxing he went, where he beat a 6-12 foe before suffering consecutive losses to Wanfeng Ge and Nawaphon Por Chokchai. Now 40, he enters the ring on a two-fight winning streak.

Ruenroeng has a half-foot reach advantage, but odds are that Srisaket batters him to the body for a quick finish. Let’s just hope we get Srisaket in a title fight afterwards.