MACAU – The Manny Pacquiao look-alike from Thailand didn’t turn out to be a fight-alike of the boxing icon from the Philippines.
Kwanpichit Onesongchaigym, who made a lot of heads turn here because of his resemblance to Pacquiao, fought Chinese superstar Zou Shiming Sunday at the Cotai Arena.
The moment he stepped into the ring, fight fans cheered him on, some of them shouting Pacquiao’s name.
“Go Manny,” one female fan shouted.
Kwanpichit went down early after taking some solid punches from the two-time Olympic champion from China.
The second time the Thai went down, he wobbled to his corner with his hands raised. And again, fans egged him on with shouts of “Go Pacquiao!”
He went down a third time and in the sixth, Filipino referee Danrex Tapdasan deducted a point on Kwanpichit for low blow.
But the Thai refused to roll over and die.
In the seventh and eighth, Kwanpichit landed a couple of good shots on Shiming. A clash of heads opened a cut on Shiming’s left eyebrow.
Freddie Roach, who was manning Shiming’s corner, could only shake his head.
The Thai boxer who climbed the ring with a perfect 27-0 record plodded on, swinging wildly at the undefeated Chinese, and in the 11th he landed another big right.
Shiming was in a fight, and the crowd cheered the Thai fighter on.
Kwanpichit lasted the distance and was bleeding from the left eye after the final bell. It was a unanimous decision for Zou, who’s now 7-0.
For this game Thai fighter, it was good while it lasted.