While the talk of boxing's lightest weight class is still the undefeated WBC champion Wanheng Menayothin, WBA champion Knockout CP Freshmart is not far behind and is looking to defend his title next month.
Freshmart, real name Thammanoon Niyomtrong, will defend his WBA world title against unbeaten Filipino contender ArAr Andales on August 2. The fight will take place in Bangkok, Thailand in what is Freshmart's second straight fight in Thailand.
The 28-year-old Freshmart has won all 19 of his pro bouts with more than half of them being either for a world title or for an interim WBA title. Freshmart won the WBC Youth World title in his pro debut back in 2012 and after seven title defenses, he would go on to beat Carlos Buitrago in 2014 to win the interim WBA title.
Freshmart became the full world champion in 2016 and in his seven world title fights, he has defeated the likes of Byron Rojas on two occasions, Rey Loreto, Chaozhong Xiong and Toto Landero. Freshmart is currently ranked No. 9 on Fightful's rankings at minimumweight and light flyweight, which can be seen at this link.
Andales is a 19-year-old fighter from the Philippines who has a chance at being one of the youngest world champions in history and the youngest champion in boxing today. Andales quickly ascended to the top five of the WBA rankings, capturing the WBA Asia title back in January with a fifth-round knockout win over Charlie Malupangue. The teenager's last outing took place in April when he defeated Cris Ganoza.
