By James Goyder

Petch Sor Chitpattana faces the greatest challenge of his career to date when he faces Japan’s Takuma Inoue next month. The two go head to head at the Ota City Gymnasium on December 30th with the interim WBC 118lbs belt on the line.

Petch (48-0) holds the most impressive record in the entire division but it has been compiled at the expense of distinctly average opposition. That’s not a description that could be applied to his next opponent

Inoue (12-0) might not be as famous as his brother, bantamweight king Naoya Inoue, but they are both undefeated. He holds wins over the likes of Froilan Saludar and Fahlan Sakkreerin Jnr and has been facing seasoned opponents since the very start of his professional career.

For Petch this represents the acid test. Have all those easy wins against Indonesian opponents with losing records helped prepare him for a genuine test against an elite boxer? Or will the step up prove too great for the undefeated Thai?

In addition to this battle of unbeaten bantamweights the December 30th card features two more world title fights with Masakuki Ito putting his WBO 126lbs strap on the line against Evgeny Chuprakov and Ken Shiro will be defending his WBC 108lbs belt against Saul Juarez.