text: World Boxing Federation Champions Of The Past: Fahprakorb Rakkiatgym
  FEATURE Photo: Former World Boxing Federation (WBF) World Bantamweight Champion Fahprakorb Rakkiatgym.
  While he entered professional boxing with significant experience from Muay Thai Kickboxing, as is the norm in Thailand, former WBF World Bantamweight Champion Fahprakorb Rakkiatgym had quite a rough start to his career in traditional boxing.
  Born Prayat Saway-ngam on August 7, 1975 in Khon Kaen, about 450 kilometers north-east of Bangkok, Rakkiatgym made his pro debut at seventeen years of age, in September of 1992, winning on points against a fellow first-timer on a big show at the Crocodile Farm in Samut Prakan.
  Taking on the name of the gymnasium where he trained, the Southpaw was off to a good start and the future looked bright and promising. But seven months later his record stood at a rather mediocre 5-2, having lost two fights after venturing to Bangkok.
  But in between those losses he had also impressed local insiders by defeating former Thai Strawweight and Light Flyweight national champion Pornchai Sithpraprom (26-6), proving that he was capable of competing at a certain level.
  Between June of 1993 and August of 1994, Rakkiatgym put together a string of ten consecutive victories, improving his record to 15-2 (8) and setting up a challenge for the vacant WBF World Bantamweight title against Boualem Belkif from France.
  On October 22, 1994, in Bangkok, Rakkiatgym put on what was close to being a boxing exhibition, flooring his foe en-route to a wide and dominant unanimous decision. 120-107, 120-108 and 119-106 were the scores after twelve one-sided rounds.
  That night would be the start of a very successful reign as WBF world champion for Rakkiatgym, which lasted over three years and included seven defenses of the title. All his challengers, which included skilled Nicaraguan Sergio Gonzalez (14-1-1) and Australian champion Lucas Matthew (15-9), were dispatched inside the distance!
  After stopping tough South African challenger Vuyani Moss (10-5) in December of 1997, Rakkiatgym was inactive for twenty months. When he returned in a non title-fight in August of 1999, stopping Rolando Pritos (10-7-5) from the Philippines, it became clear that he was having trouble making Bantamweight.
  After two more stay-busy fights, he finally made the official jump to Super Bantamweight the following December, and started his chase for a second world championship by winning the IBF Intercontinental strap with a split decision over Indonesia's former world title-challenger Adrian Kaspari (22-1).
  He climbed the rankings of his new division, beating the likes of Edison Valencia Diaz (17-4) and Nestor Martin Farias (46-7-1), defending his IBF title three times to secure a crack at world champion Manny Pacquiao (34-2-1) in October of 2002.
  Unfortunately for Rakkiatgym, the now legendary Filipino was a step too far. Pacquiao, only twenty-three at the time and a true whirl-wind of speed and power, overwhelmed the Thai and scored four knock-downs to win by first round technical knockout.
  Despite the devastating defeat to Pacquiao, Rakkiatgym had another run at world glory in him. He moved up in weight again, to Featherweight, and won the IBF Pan Pacific title a year later with a unanimous decision over another Filipino, the much less intimidating Roberto Dalisay (12-9-3).
  After ten defenses of that title, Rakkiatgym was awarded with another world championship opportunity, this time the vacant IBF Featherweight crown against undefeated Brazilian Valdemir Pereira (22-0) in January of 2006 at the Foxwoods Resort in Connecticut, USA.
  Rakkiatgym held his own against the man from Sao Paolo, but Pereira was just the sharper man on the night and ended up winning by deserved unanimous decision. This would turn out to be Rakkiatgym´s last fight, after almost fourteen years in the game.
  A WBF world champion at Bantamweight and IBF world title-challenger at Super Bantamweight and Featherweight, he retired with an outstanding 51-4 (33) record, and a winner of twenty-three of twenty-five championship fights. With a title on the line, only Pacquiao and Pereira managed to defeat him.