BANGKOK: Unsung outside the boxing world, a Thai fighter nicknamed the “dwarf giant” is quietly closing in on Floyd Mayweather’s undefeated 50 fight record and with it an unlikely place among the sport’s greats.
At 5ft 2in and weighing just 105lb, minimum-weight Wanheng Menayothin is shorter, leaner and significantly less wealthy than “Money” Mayweather, the brash American who was teased from retirement last year by a $100 million purse to fight MMA star Conor McGregor.
But this spring Wanheng could tie Mayweather’s 50-0 record and enter boxing lore.
His 50th bout in April or May is set to be against Panama’s Leroy Estrada in Thailand, a low-key affair that will be followed by fans and boxing enthusiasts, but not the global audience drawn to the cross-discipline spectacle between Mayweather and McGregor.
The milestone is generating boxing buzz in a country that is better known for Muay Thai, the kingdom’s boxing-style martial art that also allows kicking, kneeing and elbows to the head.
“Am I proud? Yes I am, for being on par with the superstars,” the softly spoken 32-year-old said while sitting on a tire and wrapping his fists with gauze ahead of a training session at his Bangkok gym.
His record of 49 wins with 17 knockouts has been earned against relative minnows — many of them regional fighters — but he has been dominant in the minimum-weight division and holds the World Boxing Council belt.
With his present stats he has already matched the legendary fighter Rocky Marciano, but he doesn’t dwell too much on the numbers.
“I never thought about breaking records. I just want to win every fight like all athletes who don’t want to lose. Keep winning until I quit.”
Wanheng is from Thailand’s poor rural northeast.
Growing up he viewed fighting as a way out of poverty and moved to Bangkok at age 12 to train.
“When he arrived, he didn’t have the best skills, but he got to that point with determination,” gym owner Chaiyasit Menayothin said.
Wanheng’s legal name is Chayaphon Moonsri.
But like many fighters in Thailand, in both boxing and Muay Thai, he has several nom de guerres for the ring in a nod to sponsors, gyms and his own style.
His endurance in bouts combined with his size earned him the label “dwarf giant,” while his alias Wanheng Menayothin derives from the gym owner’s name.
To add to the confusion, a promotional tie-in sometimes sees him add “Five-Star Grilled Chicken” to his title because of a sponsorship deal with a Thai food giant CP.
He is not alone. Another Thai boxer competing around the same weight division punches under the alias “Knockout CP Freshmart” while other fighters have taken on the name of a Thai battery company.
Down a quiet Bangkok road fringed with palm fronds, Wanheng’s gym is in a large shed partially exposed to elements, with a ring, weights, rows of equipment, two cats and the occasional intrusive bird.
Wanheng started out in Muay Thai but made the career change as he was running out of opponents, according to the gym owner.
But the move to boxing can also bring a higher-profile and more prize money.
In preparation for the historic 50th bout, trainer Supap Boonrawd, 54, is working Wanheng hard through intense daily sparring and fitness sessions and the thud of punches landing on heavy bags fills the humid gym.
“It will be a moment of pride for him and the whole country too,” Supap said of the possible 50th victory.
Undefeated Thai ‘dwarf giant’ one win from Mayweather record
Undefeated Thai ‘dwarf giant’ one win from Mayweather record
Some Warren Buffett wisdom on his last day leading Berkshire Hathaway
OMAHA, Nebraska: The advice that legendary investor Warren Buffett offered on investing and life over the years helped earn him legions of followers who eagerly read his annual letters and filled an arena in Omaha every year to listen to him at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meetings.
Buffett’s last day as CEO is Wednesday after six decades of building up the Berkshire conglomerate. He’ll remain chairman, but Greg Abel will take over leadership.
Here’s a collection of some of Buffett’s most famous quotes from over the years:
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“Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”
That’s how Buffett summed up his investing approach of buying out-of-favor stocks and companies when they were selling for less than he estimated they were worth.
He also urged investors to stick with industries they understand that fall within their “circle of competence” and offered this classic maxim: “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.”
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“After they first obey all rules, I then want employees to ask themselves whether they are willing to have any contemplated act appear the next day on the front page of their local paper to be read by their spouses, children and friends with the reporting done by an informed and critical reporter.
“If they follow this test, they need not fear my other message to them: Lose money for the firm and I will be understanding; lose a shred of reputation for the firm and I will be ruthless.”
That’s the ethical standard Buffett explained to a Congressional committee in 1991 that he would apply as he cleaned up the Wall Street investment firm Salomon Brothers. He has reiterated the newspaper test many times since over the years.
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“You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.”
Many companies might do well when times are good and the economy is growing, but Buffett told investors that a crisis always reveals whether businesses are making sound decisions.
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“Who you associate with is just enormously important. Don’t expect that you’ll make every decision right on that. But you are going to have your life progress in the general direction of the people you work with, that you admire, that become your friends.”
Buffett always told young people that they should try to hang out with people who they feel are better than them because that will help improve their lives. He said that’s especially true when choosing a spouse, which might be the most important decision in life.
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“Our unwavering conclusion: never bet against America.”
Buffett has always remained steadfast in his belief in the American capitalist system. He wrote in 2021 that “there has been no incubator for unleashing human potential like America. Despite some severe interruptions, our country’s economic progress has been breathtaking.”
