A hero arrives

Thai champion Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym, second from the left, and his wife at the airport.

Newly-crowned World Boxing Association champion Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym is eyeing a unification fight against World Boxing Council champion Toshiaki Nishioka of Japan.

The 28-year-old Poonsawat wrested the WBA super bantamweight title from Bernard Dunne with a stunning knock out victory in front of a shocked Irish crowd at the O2 Arena in Dublin at the weekend.

The Sakon Nakhon-native yesterday was accorded a hero's welcome at Suvarnabhumi airport with his wife among a big crowd waiting for the arrival of the new champion.

Poonsawat, who improved his record to 39 wins and one loss, made no secret of the fact that he wanted to line up against Nishioka for the unification fight.

"I'm thankful to the Thai people for their continuous support. Without them, I would not be standing where I am today. I'll do my best to keep the title with me as long as possible. I'll train even harder because the tests ahead will be tough.

"If it is possible, I would like to fight against Nishioka next. I believe I have a good chance to beat him," said Poonsawat.

Niwat Laosuwannarat, the Thai champion's manager, came short of confirming whether Poonsawat would be granted his wish of such a mouthwatering fight.

"We got rewards for the hard work we had put in during the last three months. We still have a mission to deal with, though.

"Poonsawat's title defence would be mainly held overseas because there' s difficulty to stage the fight in the country. So far, I've received enquiries from England and Japan. I'll look into the details once more," said Niwat.

Meanwhile, Vitali Klitschko easily defended his World Boxing Council heavyweight title, pummelling previously unbeaten Cristobal Arreola through 10 rounds before the challenger's corner threw in the towel.

The one-sided fight ended with a victory for Ukraine's Klitschko when Arreola's trainer Henry Ramirez waved it off before the start of the 11th round, telling referee to Jon Schorle to halt the slaughter.

"I know he was hurt," Klitschko said. "I hit him a lot. He has a great, great chin."

"I landed a couple of very hard punches to his head, but he still stayed on his feet."

Klitschko, who won every round on one of the judge's scorecards and all but one each on the other two cards, improved to 38-2 with 37 knockouts while Mexican-American Arreola dropped to 27-1.

Klitschko appeared to taunt Arreola throughout most of the fight, keeping his hands low and sticking his chin out.

Meanwhile, Venezuela's El Universal newspaper reports that WBC lightweight champion Edwin Valero has been arrested on domestic violence charges.

Valero was arrested last week after a neighbour called emergency services and told authorities the boxer had struck his mother and a sister during a family dispute, according to a report published on Sunday in El Universal.