Floyd Mayweather Jr will fight Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas on May 2.
Somluck Kamsing, right, receives a hero’s welcome after his triumph in Atlanta.
American Mayweather is unbeaten in his professional career with a 47-0 record.
His last defeat was at the 1996 Olympics on home soil when he was a young 19-year-old amateur.
Mayweather was a favourite in the featherweight class in Atlanta but lost 10-9 to Bulgaria’s Serafim Todorov in the semi-finals.
Had he won that bout, Somluck Kamsing might have not become the first Thai to win an Olympic gold medal.
The US team lodged a protest with the International Amateur Boxing Association (Aiba) but as usual the result stood.
The US team complained that judges and referees were intimidated by Emil Jetchen, a Bulgarian who was chief of judges and referees at the tournament.
They also argued that Egyptian referee Hamadi Hafez Shouman did not deduct any penalty points from Todorov who was warned five times during the bout for slapping.
Shouman might have thought that Mayweather had won so he mistakenly raised the young American’s hand after the decision was announced.
Al Mitchell, then coach of the US boxing team, was convinced that Mayweather would have beaten Somluck who defeated Todorov 8-5 in the final.
“If he [Mayweather] had gone on to the final, he would have won the gold medal. No question about that in my mind,” Mitchell said.
Several Thai boxing experts believed Somluck would have had a tougher bout against Mayweather as he felt more comfortable facing an aggressive fighter like Todorov than a skillful and defensive boxing like Mayweather.
Meanwhile, Filipino Pacquiao has visited Thailand several times to fight local boxers or for promotional purposes.
็In 2009, he paid a courtesy call on then prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at Government House in Bangkok.
”He helps promote Asean’s reputation,” Abhisit told reporters after the meeting.
”He is a good example for children in the region and inspires them to take up boxing.”
Pacquiao has a record of 57 wins, five losses and two draws.
One of Pacqiuao’s conquerors is Thailand’s Medgoen Singsurat (Kratingdanggym or 3K Battery), with the other four being Rustico Torrecampo, Erik Morales, Timothy Bradley, and Juan Manuel Marquez.
Pacquiao, the WBC flyweight champion, was knocked out by the Thai in the third round on Sept 17, 1999 in Nakhon Si Thammarat.
Indeed, Pacquiao lost his title on the scales after he failed to make weight.
His defeat was not a surprise because he was not as famous as he is now and virtually no one expected him to become a boxing superstar.
Many Thai boxing journalists said the Filipino was so exhausted and discouraged by his failure to make weight so he did not try to fight as he would lose the title no matter the result was.
Medgoen successfully defended the title once before losing the crown in 2000 to Malcolm Tunacao of the Philippines.
Pacquiao has defeated several Thai boxers including Medgoen’s mentor Chatchai Sasakul.
After his losss to Medgoen, he has gone on to win several world titles and become one of the greatest boxers of all time.
Medgoen reportedly received 15,000 baht (now about US$500) per bout, while it is reported that Pacquiao will get US$80 million (about 2.4 billion baht) for fighting Mayweather.