Japanese award winner for January announced

Earlier today saw the announcement of the Japanese boxing award winners for January. 

Sadly as the month was a very quiet one, with just a small handful of shows, there was no applicable MVP for the month leaving us with just a couple of awards being handed out.

The "Fighting Spirit" award was won by Akihiko Katagiri (16-7-2, 7) who recorded a 7th round TKO against Yoshihashi Yokota on January 29th. For Katagiri this was his third successive victory following a split decision draw in South Korea back in October 2013, when the two traded blows for the WBO Oriental Super Bantamweight title.

The "State of the Art" Award was won by Naoki Mochizuki (6-1, 5) who scored a sensationally quick blow out win against Takuma Okada on January 17th. This was the 21 year old's Mochizuki's first bout after he was beaten by Sonin Nihei last September in the Rookie of the Year.

The men will be given their awards on March 3rd at the Korakuen Hall.

(Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)

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