Hidenori Otake appears to have settled to British conditions

Recent blog entries from Kaneko gym trainer Kenji Kaneko appear to show that his charge, Hidenori Otake (22-1-3, 9) has settled to British conditions ahead of his world title bout this coming Saturday against Britain's unbeaten WBA Super Bantamweight would champion Scott Quigg (29-0-2, 22).

Pictures poster from Mr Kaneko's blog show Otake enjoying a stake from a plush Liverpool restaurant, training in a local gym and stood in front of some memorable Liverpool landmarks including the Beatles museum, the Merserside Maritime Museum and a Ferris wheel close to the Echo Arena, which will serve as the venue for this weekend's upcoming contest.

Despite having only been in the country for a few days it does look like Otake has taken to the country relatively quickly though from Mr Kaneko's blog entries, which have been posted daily since the two arrived in the UK not everything has been as wonderful as they'd have hoped.

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One notable issue that has been raised is the weather, yup the good old British weather. Mr Kaneko has mentioned the rain, the cloudiness and the chilly weather which our British readers will be all too aware of, especially at this time of year where thick socks and multiple layers are advised for just wondering the street. The whether on Monday was said to have been worse than it was on Tuesday where there was just a light drizzle early on.

On Wednesday the two men will be going to the press conference arranged for the show and for some members of the British press this could be their first chance to see Otake in the flesh. The press however are unlikely to be too concerned by the visitor, instead focusing on local fighters such as Scott Quigg, WBA Bantamweight champion Jamie McDonnell and main event fighters Tony Bellew and Nathan Cleverly. 

For Otake this will be his first bout outside of Japan though he does appears to have traveled well and is expecting more members of the Kaneko gym to join him later this week. It could well be that the British conditions will bring out the best in the former Japanese national champion though for many he is a huge under-dog with local book makers pricing Otake as a 10/1 under-dog whilst Quigg has been heavily favoured with one bookmaker pricing the home fighter at 1/25 to pick up the win. Of course Otake knew he was always going to be the under-dog in his first world title fight but those odds on Quigg really do suggest that this is complete and utter mismatch.

Sadly for the shows promoter Eddie Hearn it's odds like that which have seen the show, which will be broadcast on pay-per-view, slammed by the British boxing fans who appear to feel the show has been matched heavily in favour of his fighters in what amount to little more than mismatches. One of our British readers has said that a £10 bet on the 7 favourites for the show would see a return of just over £25 with much of that being from the main event fight. Taking out the main event a £10 bet would return just £14 from 6 fights, that's less than the cost to watch the show on TV! Hopefully, for Otake's sake, he can score the upset despite being up against it big time.

(Image courtesy of Kenji Kaneko's blog)

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