Chatchai Singwangcha


Chatchai Sasakul is a Thai former professional boxer in the flyweight division who held the Lineal and WBC flyweight titles. Aside of being a professional boxer, Sasakul is also a practitioner in snooker.

Amateur career

Sasakul was an amateur boxing star in Thailand. He had an amateur record of 85 fights, winning 78 of them, and also earned the King's Cup for the Best Boxer.

Olympic career

He represented Thailand as a Light Flyweight at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. The results of his fights were:
Sasakul turned pro in 1991 and captured the WBC and lineal flyweight titles with a win over Yuri Arbachakov in 1997. He defended the titles twice before losing to Manny Pacquiao by knockout in 1998 to earn Pacquiao his first championship title.
On March 31, 2007, Sasakul knocked out Lito Sisnorio, a Filipino boxer. Sisnorio reportedly sustained brain injuries during the fight. The next day, following unsuccessful brain surgery, Sisnorio was pronounced dead at Piyamin Hospital in Thailand at 9:15 PM. The controversy over the match arose from the fact that Sisnorio's role in the fight was not officially sanctioned by the Philippine Games and Amusement Board. His death prompted the Board to ban all fights involving Filipino boxers in Thailand starting April 2007.
On August 30, 2008, Sasakul challenged Cristian Mijares, the WBA and WBC unified super flyweight champion. However, he stopped in three rounds. According to a doctor who provided him medication after the match, this was the Thai boxer's last career fight. What might have become a disadvantage for Sasakul was that he had to go to a second flight to Mexico through Germany after having problems with the first flight which tried to go through Hong Kong. By the time he got to Mexico, the fight was only three days away and that he experienced jet lag.

After retirement

After retirement, Sasakul opened his own boxing gym, Sasakul Muay Thai in Bangkok, focusing primarily on boxing with aspirations to create a new generation of Thai world boxing champions. Sasakul is also a trainer to Superbon Banchamek and to fighters in his former team Petchyindee Boxing Promotion, such as Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, Kompayak Porpramook, Panomroonglek Kratingdaenggym, Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep, Knockout CP Freshmart, Noknoi Sitthiprasert.