Athlete of August – Wuttichai Masuk

Wuttichai Masuk
Athlete of August – Wuttichai Masuk
Thailand’s Incheon 2014 Asian Games winner Wuttichai Masuk won the gold medal at the ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships in Bangkok in the front of the home crowd therefore the staff of the Asian Boxing Confederation chosed him as ASBC Athlete of August in our continent.
He was born on 16 March in 1990 and began boxing in at the age of 12 while he also tried the Muay Thai boxing during his teenage. His first international competition was the King’s Cup in Bangkok on April in 2008 while he also attended in the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in Guadalajara, Mexico seven years ago.
Masuk claimed gold medal in the 2009 King’s Cup following his great development in our sport. The Thai Bantamweight class (54 kg) boxer defeated four strong opponents in the 2009 ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships in Zhuhai and claimed the gold medal in the continental event at the age of 19.
Following that success he moved up three weight classes but he was quickly adopted the level of the Light Welterweight class (64 kg) in 2010 when he bagged bronze medal in the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games. Masuk took part in the Season II of the World Series of Boxing but suffered an unexpected loss in the second preliminary round of the AIBA Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Astana and failed to qualify to the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Masuk raised his level in the training sessions after the unsuccessful qualification to the London 2012 Olympic Games and he proved wonderful footwork in the ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships in Amman two years ago. He was excellent in the competition but he lost to Mongolia’s London 2012 Olympic Games bronze medallist Uranchimeg Munkherdene in a tight quarter-final bout.
Masuk claimed his first gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar short after the Amman event. The Thai boxer won the Republic of Kazakhstan President’s Cup in Almaty in July 2014 where he eliminated all of the top athletes of our continent. Masuk arrived to the venue of the Incheon 2014 Asian Games as gold medal favourite. He won all of his previous bouts to the road to the finals where his opponent was Korea’s new sensation Lim Hyun Chul who advanced to the final after his 19th birthday.
The Korean boxer had a brave attempt to beat the top favourite of the Light Welterweight class (64 kg) and found the best fighting distance in the opening round of their battle. Masuk raised his footwork and the number of attacks in the second round and in spite of the warning which he received in that period, he was able to win the bout by unanimous decision in Incheon which was his best ever result.
Following his gold in the Thailand International Invitational Tournament Wuttichai Masuk could fight on home soil at the ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships in Bangkok where he was under pressure as he was seeded as No.1. The Thai boxer defeated Mongolia’s strong favourite Battarsukh Chinzorig in the first preliminary round in Bangkok and following that success he was able to prove better performance in the front of the home crowd.
Masuk eliminated with Korea’s Lim Hyun Chul on their re-match in the semi-final in Bangkok with top performance. His gold medal opponent was Uzbekistan’s London 2012 Olympic Games quarter-finalist Fazliddin Gaibnazarov who was too strong for Syria’s super talented Ahmad Ghossoun in the last four. Thailand’s national pride had excellent footwork in the opening round and tried to use his longer reach in the gold medal bout. The Uzbek boxer was also well concentrated but Masuk had better day in the front of the local boxing fans and delighted them with his gold medal.
Wuttichai Masuk qualified to the Doha 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships where he is a favourite to get a quota place to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.