Wanheng Menayothin retires…then decides to un-retire?!
Like sands through an hourglass, so are the days in the life of a professional boxer. Retirement is a tricky deal for any fighter with many flip-flopping on the issue like your everyday congressman or senator before voting on legislation.
It’s nothing for a prize-fighter to announce they are calling it a career only to announce that he/she is coming back. Yeah, boxers are fickle like that.
The latest to engage in this retirement dance is WBC minimumweight champion Wanheng Menayothin AKA Chayaphon Moonsri (54-0, 18 KOs). And in his case, this latest “two-step” is a real doozy.
On June 21, the 34 year-old suddenly announced on social media that he was retiring from the sport. As it now turns out, the long-reigning world champion from Bangkok, Thailand has had an “about-face”.
Now a day later on June 22, the WBC Asia Council posted on social media that after a conversation with the WBC champ, he had retracted and decided to carry on (and Menayothin has since deleted his June 21st retirement social media post).
FEAR, FRUSTRATION, AND INJURY
Speaking to Menayothin from Thailand boxing news source, Komthai, the champ, and his manager, Chaiyasit Kongkaitkong, tried to explain the situation surrounding not only the fighter’s decision to say “no mas”, as well as his reversal and his decision to carry on.
Komthai is based in Thailand so the English translation is rather difficult, to say the least (even with Google Translate). So here’s a summary of what both the fighter and manager had to say regarding this ordeal.
It appears that the reason Menayothin retired in the first place had to do with a multitude of issues both in and out of the ring. One, frustrations were heightened from not being able to fight due to the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions in his home country. This included his planned United States debut on April 25 which was also his debut with new co-promoter Golden Boy.
The champ is also currently dealing with a nose injury which has resulted in him having difficulty breathing.
THE DARK SIDE OF BOXING BUSINESS
It now looks as if the champ’s co-promoters, Petchyindee Boxing Promotions, are planning to stage a fight in his native Thailand with the target date of September.
However, there’s the prevailing issue even with that. Because the pandemic has taken a hit on the country financially, businesses and sponsors have started to cut back on the money they’re willing to shell out to hold a boxing card.
When it comes to the economic side of the sport in Thailand, there’s a history of “skull-duggery”. Menayothin seems to be a bit overwhelmed by physical and personal issues beyond his control. Yet because this is a business first and foremost, it looks like he’s being forced to fight.
Ultimately this entire saga is perplexing, confusing, and sad. Here’s betting that privately, this is far from resolved, but will somehow get swept under the rug publicly.
Stay tuned to 3KingsBoxing for updates on this very fluid development.
By: Michael Wilson Jr.
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