On March 4th we have a hectic day with a Japanese title fight in Tokyo and then a world title fight, featuring a Japanese fighter, in action in Jalisco. For Japanese fight fans it's going to be a long 24 hours, but will it be worth staying up for, and will their fighter manage to come out on top in the world title bout?
The world title bout in question will see IBF female Light Flyweight champion Naoko Shibata (16-3-1, 5) travelling to Mexico to take on Alondra Garcia (16-3-1, 1), the woman she originally beat for the title back in November 2013. In their first bout it was a then unbeaten Garcia getting on a plan to face Shibata for the vacant title, in what many though was going to be Shibata's final world title shot. This time around however the Japanese champion will be on the road whilst seeking her 6th defense of the title whilst Garcia will be fighting to get her career back on track after a number of recent set backs. At her best Shibata is a real nightmare to fight. She's tough, hard working, well experienced and seems to get better as fight go on. She's certainly not the most skilled fighter in the sport but with her stamina and determination she has become of the toughest fighters to actually beat. In fact it's around 4 years since her last loss, to Ibeth Zamora Silva, and her only other losses have come to world class fighters in the form of Etsuko Tada and Naoko Fujioka. Whilst it's true that Shibata has been run close in recent bouts, narrowly over-coming Saemi Hanagata and Maria Salinas, as well as fighting to a draw with Salina, she has managed to grit her teeth and continue to retain her title. Although a veteran with an 8 year career, 20 bouts and 7 contests at world level, this will actually be Shibata's first contest outside of Japan. More tellingly she has only fought 4 times outside of Tokyo, with this being her 5th contest outside of the Japanese capital. The travel to a new country here could well be a major problem for the 35 year old, who is showing signs of coming to the end of her career at the top. As mentioned Garcia was unbeaten ahead of her first bout with Shibata, which was a clear loss on the cards. Since that defeat the Mexican has gone 7-2-1, losing to Victoria Argueta in a title bout at Minimumweight and Sabrina Maribel Perez in a Bantamweight title bout. More notable than those two defeats is a draw to the then debuting Eloisa Martinez. In the ring Garcia lacks power, and hasn't scored a stoppage since her second bout, when she scored a 2nd round TKO win over Norma Ojeda, despite that she is quick and comes to fight. With the crowd behind her, we know that Garcia will get cheers every time she does anything. With that in mind we suspect we'll see Garcia pick moments to strike, and with the crowd cheering her work she'll get into the mind of the judges, who we don't imagine will make life easy for Shibata. Whilst we're not expecting a robbery, or a bout that leaves a nasty after taste like last year's Chavez Vs Fujioka bout, we do think Garcia will get the nod thanks on the score cards.
0 Comments
On August 20th fight fans will be filling up the Komagatani Gym in Hyogo to watch an all-Japanese WBO Minimumweight title bout between teenager Riku Kano and veteran Katsunari Takayama. That bout is a really interesting one, and one we've been looking forward to since it was first announce. That however isn't the only world title bout on the show with a WBO female Light Flyweight title bout also taking place as the unbeaten Kei Takenaka (11-0, 3) battles against against fellow unbeaten Louisa Hawton (6-0, 3). Hawton was first brought to our attention by her team more than a year ago, with her then targeting the WBC Atomweight champion Momo Koseki. She then turned her focus towards the WBO Light Flyweight title and was seemingly set to fight Korean Eun Hye Lee, but that bout fell through several times. As a result of Lee's issues the title became vacant and Hawton finally got a shot arranged, though she would have to face Takenaka instead of the Korean. From the footage available of Hawton she's a genuine pocket rocket. She is aggressive, exciting and comes to fight. The sort of fighter that fight fans love to see in action. Unfortunately as a Light Flyweight she is tiny and has typically been fighting as an Atomweight, at 102lbs. And even there she has looked small. Despite being a novice Hawton does hold some genuinely notable wins. She has already stopped Angor OnesongchaiGym, who fought Momo Koseki for the WBC title in 2014, and out pointed Filipino veteran Jujeath Nagaowa last year. Sadly she hasn't fought in close to a year, following the multiple issues with getting Lee in the ring, but she has been busy with training camps and should be sharp, though could well be over-trained. Whilst Hawton is moving up in weight Takenaka is a definitive Light Flyweight. Her career weights have been between 106¾lbs and 110¼lbs and has claimed her only title at the weight, the OPBF female title which claimed in 2014 and made two defenses of. Unfortunately whilst she is a naturally bigger fighter than Hawton her record completely lacks in terms of solid wins, with her best victories coming against very poor Thai's. In the ring Takenaka can certainly fight, she's part of the Takesago gym and has received a lot of help in her development, with training and exhibitions in Mexico but she has yet to show the effects of that development against good opposition. Hopefully for her however sharing the ring with people like Anabel Ortiz has rubbed off and helped her develop her tools. Given the style of Hawton we're expecting to see Takenaka pushed all the way and in fact pushed harder than she's ever been pushed. Saying that however we do think natural size difference will play a big part and Takenaka will likely come through with a very close win, a win that may well be partially thanks to fighting at home. Last November fans at the Korakuen Hall saw female IBF Light Flyweight champion Naoko Shibata (15-3-1, 5) [柴田 直子] retain her title with her 4th defence, a very hotly disputed draw against Mexican based American Maria Salinas (11-4-3, 4). This coming Saturday the two women go at it again in a really interesting rematch being held in Saitama. Since their first bout the 27 year challenger hasn't fought. She has been out of the ring for 9 months exactly and has only actually fought 20 rounds in the last 24 months, suggesting their could be some serious ring rust. At her best however she's a very capable fighter. She came close to over-coming Shibata last year, she also fought to a draw with the talented Arely Valente in 2014 and managed to be competitive with the likes of Etsuko Tada and Esmeralda Moreno. Not blessed with big power Salinas is a busy but talented boxer who knows how to look after herself in the ring and often does enough to be competitive. Sadly she sometimes fails to go that extra bit to be more than just competitive, and has come up short in close decisions numerous times during her career. Aged 35 Shibata is a veteran of the ring and has fought with some of the best in the world during her career. She holds notable early career wins over Yuko Kuroki and Ayaka Miyao whilst more recently she has claimed the IBF title and made 4 defenses, including an impressive stoppage of Ana Arrazola. She's not a puncher but she is a busy fighter who has shown her experience in recent bouts. Although experienced Shibata does look like a fighter coming to the end of her career and her last two defenses were both razor thin wins. She started slowly against Saemi Hanagata in February 2015 before just doing enough for the decision whilst her first bout with Salinas saw her holding on to the title with a draw. There are some question marks about her stamina, given her age, he speed and her strategy with the fighter perhaps getting her gameplans wrong in recent fights. She has however been retaining the title and showing that she won't just roll over and take the belt from her. Here we have a battle of a ring rusty against a possibly aged fighter. Sadly for Shibata however her performance have regressed since scoring her defining stoppage against Arrazola and we think that regression will continue here with Salinas taking a very close points decision over the 10 rounds. On paper Japan's Mari Ando (12-8, 5) has the record of a journey woman but the reality is that she's a bona-fide world level contender who has a “win some-lose some” record at the top level. In fact coming into this weekend she is 3-4 in world title bouts, a 2-weight world champion and a fighter who has been really unlucky to actually have a 12-8 record. This weekend Ando attempts to become a 3-weight champion as she travels to Mexico to battle Ibeth Zamora Silva (24-5, 9), the current WBC female Light Flyweight champion and one of the best female fighters on the planet. Ando is a true warrior. She has limitations but the 28 year old is a real battler who has regularly made up for her limitations with a high work rate, insane toughness and incredible will to win. That will to win has her over-come the likes of Amara Kokietgym, Maria del Refugio Jimenez Cruz and Jasseth Noriega whilst managing push fighters like Ayaka Miyao, Yuko Kuroki, Su Yun Hong and Cai Zong Ju all the way. A big question when it comes to Ando is how she will cope at Light Flyweight. Interestingly she is 2-0 (1) above 105lbs, though this match up is a huge step up in class from her other two at the weight. When it comes to Zamora the 27 year old really is one of the sports best female fighters. Her record is incredible, not just the numbers but also the quality of her wins which have come against the likes of Esmeralda Moreno, twice, Jessica Chavez, twice, Anabel Ortiz, Naoko Shibata and Ava Knight. Not only has she been beating top names but she's also been a 3 year reign as a world champion and has already recorded 7 defenses of her title. In the ring Zamora can almost everything, in fact the one thing she's missing is “power” though she more than makes up for that with her ability to box, or brawl. When it comes to being adaptable she certainly has plan A, B, C and D in her locker and with a large crowd behind her and her confidence sky high it's going to take a very special fighter to beat her. Whilst we rate Ando as being much better than her record, we can't see over-coming Zamora, especially not in Mexico A new is upon us and title fights are back on January 10th when we get the first world title bout of the year. The bout in question sees Korean world champion Eun Hye Lee (8-0, 3) defending her WBO Female Light Flyweight title for the first time and battling against Touted Australian destroyer Louisa Hawton (6-0, 3). For Lee the bout will be her first since last September's title win over Ploynapa Sakrungrueng whilst Hawton, who had previously chased Momo Koseki, will be in her first world title bout and see her return to the ring for the first time since last August.
The 33 year old Korean has come through the local scene claiming a national title in her third professional bout, back in 2012, and a regional title two years later before finally taking a world title last year. Whilst she has progressed the typical way she does lack wins of real quality with Ploynapa being her best win so far, not an outstanding win. In total she has beaten just two fighters with winning records and has failed to show her ability is genuinely top tier. Despite that she has rarely lost more than a couple of rounds in a fight and appears to fight to her strengths. Australian fighter Hawton debuted less than 2 years ago and has raced up her record. Through 2015 she faced 3 fighters with winning records, including former world title challenger Angor Onesongchaigym and Jujeath Nagaowa, with Nagaowa being the only fighter to last more than 4 rounds with Hawton. In the ring Hawton is a confident, fast and powerful fighter. There are some technical chinks in her defense but watching her attack is worrying given her ability and explosiveness. Getting into a fight with her isn't a smart idea, but from watching her she does seem able to force her style on to fights. Of course there is a question regarding her stamina though it's fair to say that she's never had to prove it given her style and dominance so far. Coming into this one it's fair to say both fighters are facing their stiffest opponent so far. Neither fighter is amazingly proven and although both are unbeaten neither has faced anyone of real quality. Saying that however we have been more impressed by what we've seen of Hawton and suspect her explosive aggression will be the difference between the two here. It's seemingly ladies week in Japanese boxing with 3 female world title fights in just 3 days, the final of which is an IBF female Light Flyweight title defense by Japanese veteran Naoko Shibata (14-3, 4), who faces Mexican southpaw Maria Salinas (11-4-2, 4). The bout will be Shibata's 4th defense whilst Salinas is challenging for a world title for the second time, incidentally her first world title bout was also in Japan where she was out pointed by Etsuko Tada. Aged 34 Shibata is one of the “elder-stateswomen” of Japanese boxing. Like a fine wine however Shibata has gotten better with age and has turned a faltering 9-3 record into her current 14-3 record, winning a world title in her third attempt, out pointing Alondra Garcia in November 2013, and keeping that title one way or another. It's fair to say that Shibata hasn't been a sensational fighter, though wins over Garcia, Guadalupe Martinez, Ana Arrazola and Saemi Hanagata are certainly wins that deserve respect. Those wins have shown Shibata to be a fighter who has improved with the title around her waist. She has shown her heart and determination, her improving skills and her will to win, gutting out some real problems, especially against Hanagata, to retain her title. Although not the best, or hardest hitting, or most skilful fighter out there Shibata is a good, solid all rounder who, as mentioned, has that real will to win. In fact it sometimes seems that she would be willing to go through anything to retain her title and continue being a world champion. In Salinas we have a hungry young challenger. She's 26 and has been mixing with top tier competitive for the last 4 years. That run has seen her going 4-3-1 though has featured bouts with the likes of Esmeralda Moreno, Etsuko Tada, Jessica Nery Plata and Arely Valente. Although she's mostly lost to those top names she will have improved just by being in that type of company and she'll have improved so much from being the fighter that she once was, In the ring Salinas isn't a puncher but is a good solid southpaw who has shown bravery on the road, especially in the loss to Tada. Sadly though she hasn't shown world class ability and her best achievement so far is becoming a 2-weight WBC Youth champion, claiming the title at 105lbs and 115lbs. Notably she has fought across all the lower weights, apart from Atomweight, and although she's growing it does seem like she could make anything from 105lbs to115lbs with no real issue. Whilst Salinas has been up against some very capable fighters it does need to be said that sh has usually lost to the better ones. We suspect that will be the case again here with Shibata who we suspect will just refuse to lose in a bout that will be full of action but see the champion just out hustling the challenger over the scheduled 10 rounds. One of the final major bouts of June takes place in Jalisco, Mexico as IBF female Light Flyweight champion Naoko Shibata (14-3, 4) defends her belt on the road for the first time. In fact she fights outside of Japan for he first time in her memorable and successful career. In the opposite corner to the champion will be Mexican veteran Esmeralda Moreno (30-7-1, 10) who looks to end Shibata's reign after 3 successful defenses.
Shibata, 34, is a true veteran of the sport and like many Japanese fighters she has faced some of the very best in and around her weight class. That has included the likes of Ayaka Miyao, Naoko Fujioka, Etsuko Tada and Ibeth Zamora Silva. Although she's lost many of her biggest bouts she has always been competitive, tough and never just takes a loss. She's not the biggest puncher but she's a fighter's fighter with good speed, movement and a real will to win. Coming in to this fight Shibata is on a 5 fight winning streak. That has included her world title win back in November 2013 against the previously unbeaten Alondra Garcia as well as 3 defenses, including an outstanding TKO win against Ana Arrazola. As a boxer Shibata isn't the best but there isn't many better than here or gutsier and she has really improved since becoming a world champion, in what was her third shot at a world crown. With an impressive 38 bouts behind her Moreno is a true veteran, though at just 27 years old she's a young veteran. Her career began a little more than a decade ago and although she was 9-5 after 14 bouts she has really turned turned things around with a 21-2-1 record in the last 6 years. Like Shibata she lost to a lot of really good fighters, such as Ibeth Zamora Silva, Alesia Graf, Ana Maria Torress and Mariana Juarez. Although Moreno has lost to many of her most notable foes she has scored some really big wins of her own, such as a victory over Jessica Chavez and Naomi Togashi, with the win over Togashi netting Moreno the WBC Flyweight title around 3 years ago. Sadly for Moreno she had to give up the belt after just once defence and is now looking to become a 2-time world champion. In the ring Moreno can do a bit of everything. She hits hard enough to get get respect, even if she doesn't score many stoppages, she's tough and experienced. Not unbeatable but it takes a very good fighter to beat her. Unfortunately for Shibata we know fighting in Mexico will make life very difficult for her to keep her title. With out trying to sound too cynical she'll probably need a knockout to get a draw, and that won't be happening. We're expecting to see a very competitive bout, between two genuinely world class fighters, but we're also expecting to see Shibata lose her belt. Sadly we expect the cards to misrepresent the bout which will be close in reality but made to look one sided by the judges. It's not often that a world title bout goes completely under-the-radar but it appears that one really has done. That's the upcoming WBO female Light Flyweight title fight between unbeaten Korean Eun Hye Lee (7-0, 2) and Thai youngster Ploynapa Sakrungrueng (12-5-1, 1). The bout, which is set to take place in Lee's homeland of Korea on June 27th, has hardly had a mention by those in the boxing press, and that's despite the bout now taking place on a rescheduled date after originally being announced for May 23rd. It had to be put back a month following an injury suffered by Lee though the bout was so under-the-radar that no one seemed to even know about the injury.
Thankfully here we are and the bout now looks to be a go-er with Lee getting her first world title fight and Ploynapa returning to South Korea, where she has been unsuccessful on 3 previous visits. The title's vacant coming in to this bout, following Argentinian legend Yesica Yolanda Bopp vacating the belt, though that won't take anything away from the desire of the two fighters involved in the bout, who will both be looking to claim their first world title. Although Lee is fighting in her first world title bout she has got title experience. The 32 year old has held, and defended, the WBO Asia Pacific female Flyweight title. Of course this bout is at 108lbs and not 112lbs however the loss of those 4lbs shouldn't be much of a problem for the Korean who has also held the South Korean Light Flyweight title. Sadly, though not unexpectedly, footage of Lee is hard to come by. What we do have is her bout with Rathsada Sor Worasin. In that bout she looked rather well schooled with nice hand speed, sharp combinations and, more notably, she looked huge at the weight. At times Rathsada forced her back but more often than not the Korean looked in control, even on the back foot. Although she did seem a good boxer-mover she also showed an ability to trade when she had to and was able to better Rathsada in every facet of the bout. Interestingly boxrec list her at 5' 4½” which is rather tall for a fighter at 112lbs. Interestingly we've since seen Rathsada in action and she actually managed to give Japan's Tomomi Takano, a very tall Super Flyweight, a tougher bout than she gave Lee. Coming in to the bout the Thai is more experienced fighter with 18 boxing contests under her belt. She's also the much younger fighter, having turned 21 late last year. Sadly however she's also the fighter who appears to have been more “exposed” than the Korean. So far in her career she has been stopped 3 times, from her 5 losses, and has shown a lack of power with just a single stoppage win, albeit a stoppage she scored last time out. Again footage of Ploynapa wasn't that widely available, though we did manage to come across one of her very early bouts. The bout in question was her 2011 bout with Yeon-Hee Kim, which was Ploynapa's first bout in Korea. In that bout the then 17 year old Thai looked like a promising novice but Kim seemed so much sharper and more technically capable than the Thai. To her credit the youngster acquitted herself well against her more capable foe and showed a genuine toughness, especially late on when Kim really went hunting a stoppage. Since that bout Ployanapa has, understandably, developed as a fighter and as a woman. Sadly however she has yet to score a win over a fighter with a winning record, at least according to boxrec.com who are admittedly not 100% accurate with their Thai records. Whilst the footage of each fighter is scarce it does give us a decent read on how we suspect the fight will go. We suspect that Ploynapa will try and get close to Lee who will use her size and reach to land sharp shots at range. Up close, where Ploynapa should have the advantage, we'll see things being more competitive however we can't see Ploynapa having the strength or power to really trouble the Korean, even when the action is being fought on inside. Our prediction is a clear win for Lee, probably by a wide decision, though a possible late stoppage shouldn't be ruled out. On February 19th Japanese fans get to see two of their female world champions defending their titles. One of those bouts is a revolting mismatch for the WBC Atomweight title as the brilliant Momo Koseki defends her belt against Aisah Alico. Thankfully however the other bout is a much more interesting contest as IBF female Light Flyweight champion Naoko Shibata (13-3, 4) defends her belt for the 3rd time and battles against fellow Japanese fighter Saemi Hanagata (9-5-2, 4). We won't pretend this is an amazing match up however it's an intriguing one against a weak but improving champion and an under-rated challenger who is much better than her records suggests. The 33 year old Shibata has been mixing with top fighters for much of her career. Early on she beat both Yuko Kuroki and Ayaka Miyao, both current world champion, and although she did collect some losses they all came to top tier fighter in the form of Naoko Fujioka, Etsuko Tada and Ibeth Zamora Silva. Despite being in her 30's Shibata has gotten better as she's gotten older and right now she seems to be in her prime as she's developed not only her boxing but also her confidence. That's really all come together since she won the IBF world title back in November 2013 when she beat Alondra Garcia in a very competitive test. In her first defence she easily over-came the tough but limited Guadalupe Martinez and most recent she stopped Ana Arrazola in a genuinely outstanding result. Aged 30 Hanagata will be fighting in her first world title bout however she is better than her record indicates and has faced top tied competition thus far. Among her former opponents are Momo Koseki, the current WBC Atomweight champion, Kumiko Seeser Ikehara, the WBA female Minimumweight champion and Yuko Kuroki, the current WBC Minimumweight champion. As well as her tough match ups Hanagata is also a former OPBF Minimumweight champion and a fighter moving up in weight, shaking off the shackles of the 105lb division in the hope of becoming a better 3lbs north of where she has been competing so far. It could well be that that additional 3lbs allows Hanagata to hit harder or to fight at a higher pace. Coming into the bout Shibata has to be the favourite. She has the edge in experience, level of experience and also the champions advantage which bring her into the bout full of confidence. Hanagata however will not be a walk over. She will feel this is her big opportunity, her chance to shine and her chance to become a world champion. With that said we're expecting a battle of wills here with a lot of leather being exchanged. The differences between two women however are stylistic and Shibata is certainly the better pure boxer which we suspect will allow her to disrupt and and eventually out point Hanagata, who we think will start fast but fall away down the stretch to lose a very competitive decision. (Image courtesy of http://boxmob.jp) When we talk about misleading records in boxing we, as a site, tend to look at the Filipino's who are thrown in hard early in their careers. The same too could be said about Mexicans who can often be thrown in deep whilst only teenagers and although some top Mexicans have a lot of losses they do tend to use those early career defeats as a building block towards their future. One such Mexican is Ibeth Zamora Silva (19-5, 8) who has a record befitting of a fringe contender on paper though in reality she is one of the truly elite Light Flyweights and a very deserving WBC champion at 108lbs. The reason Zamora Silva has such an mediocre looking record is because she has fought everyone of note in and around her division. Going through her 24 fight record resembles going through a who's who of who and features fighters such as Esmeralda Moreno, Jessica Chavez, Anabel Ortiz, Yesiva Yolanda Bopp, Etsuko Tada, Irma Garcia, Naoko Shibata and Ava Knight. The fact Zamora Silva has lost just 5 times is a testament to her skill and not many fighters would have managed to beat half the fighters she has beaten as she's grown in to one of the best fighters in her division. This coming Saturday sees Thailand's Hongfah Tor Buamas (17-5, 2) attempting to dethrone the Mexican great and claim one of the biggest upsets of the year. Unfortunate for Hongfah she has the deck well and truly stacked against her. Firstly she will have to go over to Mexico for the fight, a country she has fought in once, losing to Ava Knight via 10th round TKO, secondly she lacks power and thirdly she really does have the track record of proven skills needed to defeat a fighter like Zamora Silver. Aged 20 Hongfah is already a ring veteran with 22 fights to her name though unfortunately she has been unable to really score a notable victory. She has mixed in good company fighting not just Ava Knight but also Kanittha Kokietgym though both have beaten Hongfah who has been shown to be shy of world level though she is very good as a domestic fighter. Against a fighter like Zamora Silva you need to be genuine world class, strong, tough and with either lights out power or an amazing work rate. Whilst Hongfah is tough she lacks the skill, power and energy to stand any chance of a victory here sadly. We imagine she'll be game through out though never really capable of putting a dent in the very talented Mexican youngster. (Photo courtesy of boxrec.com) |
PreviewsHere we preview the key female title bouts involving an Asian fighter. Archives
October 2022
Categories
All
|