Pone Kingpetch
Statue of Pone Kingpetch at Pone Kingpetch park in Hua Hin
Born	Mana Sridokbuab (1935-02-12)February 12, 1935 Hua Hin, Thailand
Died	March 31, 1982(1982-03-31) (aged 47) Bangkok, Thailand
Statistics
Weight(s)	Flyweight
Height	5 ft 6+1⁄2 in (169 cm)
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	35
Wins	28
Wins by KO	9
Losses	7

Pone Kingpetch ( Thai: โผน กิ่งเพชร, RTGS: Phon Kingphet, pronounced [pʰǒːn kìŋ.pʰét]), born Mana Seedokbuab ( Thai: มานะ สีดอกบวบ, RTGS: Mana Sidokbuap, pronounced [māː.náʔ sǐː.dɔ̀ːk.bùa̯p]; February 12, 1935 – March 31, 1982), was a Thai professional boxer and three time world flyweight champion.

Early life

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Pone Kingpetch (born Mana Sidokbuap) was the seventh of nine children born to Hoi and Riew Sidokbuap in the Hua Hin district. He attended Sathukarn Secondary School until the fourth grade before transferring to the Hua Hin District School, where he completed his ninth-grade studies. Kingpetch completed his secondary school education at Hua Hin Wittayalai School.

Kingpetch was extensively involved in many sports. But his favorite sport was always boxing, going on to tell his friends he would become the first boxing world champion from Thailand. At the time, Chamroen Songkitrat had unsuccessfully challenged for the world bantamweight championship three times from 1954 to 1955.

Boxing career

Early career

Pone Kingpetch turned to professional boxing and won the Thai flyweight title with a TKO victory over Kunoi Vithichai in April 1956. He defended the Thai title against Vithichai on October of that same year.

On January 1957, Pone Kingpetch defeated Danny Kid in Bangkok to win the OPBF flyweight title. He made one title defense of the OPBF belt against Hitoshi Misako in September 1957.

World flyweight champion

He became Thailand's first world boxing champion on April 16, 1960, when he defeated Pascual Pérez of Argentina at Lumphini Boxing Stadium in Bangkok for the world flyweight championship. ^{[1] [2]}

In his second title defense, he lost the title to Fighting Harada of Japan via 11th-round knockout on October 10, 1962. Pone Kingpetch regained the world championship after outpointing Harada in a rematch on January 12, 1963. However, his second reign proved to be short, as Hiroyuki Ebihara knocked Pone out in the first round to become the new world flyweight champion.

In On February 14, 1963, with the creation of the World Boxing Council, Kingpetch was named the inaugural WBC flyweight champion. Several other champions had been named in some divisions while in others, the reigning champions fought for the inaugural title. In his final title win he defeated Ebihara in a rematch on January 23, 1964, to become a three-time world flyweight champion. After the win in Japan, he travelled to Italy to defend his title against Salvatore Burruni and lost a 15-round decision to the Italian in his final world title fight. He retired from the sport altogether in 1966 at the age of 31. ^[3]

Later life and death

After retiring, the money he earned from his boxing career was invested into other businesses. However, the Manawitthaya School, which was built in his hometown during his career, had to be sold. His attempts at running other businesses resulted in financial losses, as Kingpetch proved inadept in the many aspects of business and trade.

Kingpetch was also afflicted with a chronic illness: diabetes. While having a family meal at home, he choked on his food, which got stuck in his windpipe. This resulted in rotting and blood poisoning, leading to Kingpetch's health deteriorating significantly as he was already suffering from both a cold and pneumonia. He was admitted to Ramathibodi Hospital, although his condition did not improve. Kingpetch died on March 31, 1982, from pneumonia and heart failure, He was 47. ^[4]

Pone Kingpetch was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) in 2023.^{[ citation needed]}

Professional boxing record

See also

• List of flyweight boxing champions

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pone Kingpetch.

• Boxing record for Pone Kingpetch from BoxRec (registration required)
• Pone Kingpetch - CBZ Profile
• National Boxing Association's Quarterly Ratings: 1960 - BoxRec
• National Boxing Association's Quarterly Ratings: 1961 - BoxRec
• National Boxing Association's Quarterly Ratings: 1962 - BoxRec