By Ronnie Nathanielsz

Both mandatory challenger Marlon Tapales of the Philippines and WBO bantamweight champion Pungluang Sor Singyu had a hard time making the weight for Wednesday’s world title fight in the historic city of Ayutthaya on Wednesday.

While the two fighters arrived hours ahead of the official weigh-in at the ultra modern Vichaivej International Hospital Omnoi according to Philboxing’s Dong Secuya, Tapales weighed one pound over the 118 pound limit during an unofficial check while Pungluang  was half a pound over.

Pungluanmg worked out for an hour and made the weight but Tapales reportedly had “a hard time even after soaking himself in a sauna bath forcing his trainer to make him run under the sweltering heat of the sun outside the weigh-in venue before he stripped naked to eventually make the weight. Pungluang also did the same thing.

The travel hours in getting from one venue to another in the miserable Bangkok traffic which clearly sapped the energy of Tapales although the challenger claimed it did not affect him.

The Tapales team headed by well-known manager/promoter Rex ”Wakee” Salud will have to travel for around two hours to get to the fight venue on Wednesday which is bound to put a strain on Tapales and his team.

WBO Asia Pacific vice president Leon Panoncillo who is the fight supervisor presided over the weigh-in.

He earlier told us that Pungluang is “a tough nut to crack” and that Tapalese will have to be in top form to wrest the title from the Thai champion.