The achievements of Vasyl Lomachenko are often lauded and rightfully so. In fact, it is difficult to remember the last time that the amateur sensation fought, and his phenomenal 396-1 record was not mentioned by the commentators. However, whilst his accomplishments as a professional are equally astounding, they are not unmatched.
‘Loma’ famously challenged for a world title in just his second contest as a professional but shockingly lost a split-decision to Orlando Salido that delayed his inevitable title reign and just three months later, the era of Lomachenko truly began – defeating Gary Allen Russell Jr. for the vacant WBO featherweight title via majority-decision.
This feat meant that Lomachenko had equalled the world record of Saensak Muangsurin by winning a world title in just three official bouts, although the fact that Muangsurin took 241 days between his debut and his world title win gives him the edge of Loma – who took 252 days.
Much like the Ukrainian, Muangsurin debuted as a professional with serious pedigree and expectation but not due to his amateur success, instead because of his celebrity status as a Muay Thai fighter, which can be accredited to his devastating punch power as much as his skill.
This power saw Muangsurin score a multitude of knockouts during his Muay Thai career and earnt him the nickname of ‘The World Collapsing Southpaw’.
As expected by his fans in Thailand, Muangsurin’s power instantly translated into the world of boxing, debuting with a first-round knockout over Rudy Barro and following that success up with another stoppage win – this time against two-time world title challenger Lion Furuyama, who had never been knocked out in his seven defeats prior.
That performance earnt Muangsurin a world title shot in just his third fight, facing Spain’s reigning WBC super-lightweight champion Perico Fernandez in Bangkok and dominating the bout before getting the knockout in the eighth-round of their 1975 encounter and making boxing history that still stands almost half a century later.
Unfortunately, Muangsurin would make just one defence of the 140lb belt, that being a rematch with Furuyama that went the full 15 rounds, before he controversially lost the belt to Miguel Velazquez in Madrid, as a consequence of knocking the challenger out with a punch thrown after the bell.
In their rematch, Muangsurin did as expected and ran through the only man to have defeated him with a second-round knockout and this time held on to the title, making seven title defences in his two-year reign before he was knocked out by Sang Hyun Kim in 1978.
The hard-hitting southpaw would fight on five more occasions after losing the belt including a loss to the legendary Tommy Hearns, but won just one of these outings and eventually hung up the gloves with a record of 14-6.
Muangsurin records still stands today, with Lomachenko arguably equalling his achievement of the fastest world title win, but he also maintains the record of Thailand’s heaviest (highest weight-class) world champion and was honoured with a statue in Petchabun in 2018, nine years after his death at the age of 57.
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