Ahead of the biggest fight of his career, Thai challenger Komgrich Nantapech (22-3, 15KO) says he will enter his bout against Donnie “Ahas” Nietes (39-1-4) with a lot of confidence, thanks to his past setbacks.
As ironic as it may sound, Nantapech credits his early struggles as the reason for the major turnaround of his career. From a modest record of 7-3 — where he lost to top Pinoy boxers Froilan Saludar and Albert Pagara — he was able to rack up 15 straight wins, earning his first crack at a world title.
“The two fights which I lost before [were] because I was not experienced…but this fight will be different from the previous ones,” the number-four ranked flyweight in the world told Tiebreaker Times during the weigh-ins for Pinoy Pride 40.
One of Thailand’s top boxers, the 27-year-old Thai does not mind stepping into the ring as an underdog opposite two-division champ Nietes. According to him, he knows what it takes to topple the longtime light-flyweight champ.
“We have a good strategy against Nietes, we’ll do our best for the fight,” the native of Bangkok, Thailand said.
“No predictions. Anything can happen but I’ll do my best.”
A victory would definitely be big not only for him, but also for his country, who have just added another champion to its long list of champions after Srisaket Sor Rungvisai stunned then-undefeated Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez to claim the WBC world Super Flyweight belt last March 18.
And this fuels Nantapech even further, as he plans to replicate his compatriot’s performance and bring home the gold.
“Same as Srisaket — when he defeated Roman Gonzales, he was very popular when he came back to Thailand. It would be the same (to me) when I beat Nietes.”
