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Panpayak Jitmuangnon has called for an immediate rematch with Lamnamoonlek Torfunfarm after alleging that a disputed punch following a referee’s intervention affected the outcome of their ONE Championship kickboxing bout.
Lamnamoonlek won Friday’s flyweight main event at The Inner Circle 32 by split decision at Bangkok’s Lumpinee Stadium, ending Panpayak’s perfect 4-0 kickboxing run in the promotion.
But Panpayak questioned the fairness of the result in an Instagram Story on Saturday, sharing footage of the late second-round exchange originally published by ONE Championship Thailand.
“With all due respect to my opponent, he punched me after the referee had clearly stopped the action, and that punch affected me significantly in the following round,” Panpayak wrote in Thai.
“No foul was called, and the referee did not give me any time to recover from what had happened.
“How can that be considered a fair fight? Where is the fairness?
Referee Ricky Sewell raises Lamnamoonlek Torfunfarm’s hand after his split-decision victory over Panpayak Jitmuangnon (Large)
“Should the referee come forward and apologise for this? I also believe a rematch should be arranged.”
The dispute centres on a left hand landed late in the second round as referee Ricky Sewell moved between the fighters. No foul was called and Panpayak was not given recovery time before the bout continued.
Lamnamoonlek later addressed the incident in a post-fight video published by Thai outlet Lumpinee7ch.
The 28-year-old said he did not realise the referee had stopped the action and denied deliberately seeking an unfair advantage, insisting he had never intended to harm or cheat an opponent.
ONE had not publicly announced a review of the incident or responded to Panpayak’s rematch request as of Saturday.
Panpayak, 30, had controlled much of the opening two rounds with sharp push kicks and straight punches, while also finding success with his jab-head-kick combination and attacks to Lamnamoonlek’s lead leg and body.
Lamnamoonlek Torfunfarm speaks during his post-fight interview after defeating Panpayak Jitmuangnon by split decision (Large)
Lamnamoonlek began to close the distance more effectively as the contest progressed, before the disputed left hand at the end of the second round.
He then increased the pressure in the third, landing hook combinations and a clean uppercut as Panpayak struggled to reproduce his earlier control.
ONE’s official account of the fight described Panpayak’s early advantage as clear but said Lamnamoonlek’s late surge and accumulated damage had swung the judges’ scorecards.
All three judges scored the opening round for Panpayak and the third for Lamnamoonlek.
They were divided only on the second, with Abby Nelson and David Truong awarding it to Lamnamoonlek and Joshua McFadyen siding with Panpayak.
Nelson and Truong therefore scored the fight 29-28 for Lamnamoonlek, while McFadyen returned a 29-28 card for Panpayak.
Any discussion of an immediate rematch comes with a further complication for Panpayak, who missed the flyweight limit at Thursday’s weigh-ins.
Panpayak Jitmuangnon is joined in the ring by his young daughter after his split-decision defeat (Large)
He came in at 136.6lb – 1.6lb above the 135lb limit – while Lamnamoonlek weighed 134.8lb. The bout proceeded after Lamnamoonlek accepted weight compensation.
Panpayak had described the contest as effectively a title eliminator before the event, with the ONE flyweight kickboxing belt becoming vacant after Superlek Kiatmoo9 relinquished it to concentrate on his recovery from a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
The defeat and weight miss have now complicated Panpayak’s route towards that title, while Lamnamoonlek’s fourth ONE victory moved him closer to a US$100,000 main-roster contract.
The disputed exchange, however, has left the result under scrutiny and presented ONE with a potential route back to the match-up.
With the flyweight kickboxing title vacant, a rematch could carry consequences beyond settling Friday’s controversy – but the promotion has yet to indicate whether it will run the fight back.
