Panya Pradabsri stopped Norihito Tanaka in their rematch bout which took place in the Rayong province of Thailand this evening, in another defense of his WBC strawweight belt.

Pradabsri, rated No. 2 at this weight by The Ring, had Tanaka down in round one and seriously hurt in the early rounds, and the fight was close to being stopped.

Pradabsri (also known as Petchmanee CP Freshmart) opted to counter Tanaka’s offence using lateral movement and a beautiful jab as well as mixing up attacks to both the body and head.

Both fighters also happily traded on the inside in an explosive fight. However, tonight, the 38 year old Japanese veteran seemed to have better days. A cut looked to open over the eye of Tanaka in the 5th round, and gave the champion the advantage when he continually jabbed at the wound of the challenger.

In round six, it looked as if Tanaka had a second wind and brought it straight to the champion. Pradabsri stayed focussed and began landing some hard punches to the head and body. The referee began to keep a close eye but it was Tanaka’s trainer who had seen enough and entered the ring waving the towel in the 8th round.

It is unclear what could be next for the fearless 38-year-old Tanaka as tonight his age might have caught up the veteran of 30 fights who has had an incredible career.

As for Pradabsri, this was an impressive performance compared to their last fight in Korat 10 months ago. According to his management, his next opponent could be Yudai Shigeoka in Japan at the end of the year.