December 1st and 2nd are incredibly busy for Japanese fight fans, with notable shows in Tokyo, Osaka and Hyogo. The action however flows over the weekend and on to Monday as OPBF Featherweight champion Satoshi Shimizu (7-0, 7) defends his belt against fellow unbeaten Takuya Uehara (16-0, 10), in what will be Shimizu's 4th defense and Uehara's first bout at this level. On paper it's a mouth watering match up between two unbeaten fighters, facing off for the most prestigious title in the regional. Not only is the belt up for grabs, but also a potential world title fight, with Shimizu holding a #3 IBF ranking at the moment. There is a lot to play for here, and the bout can open up a lot of doors for the winner. With a perfect KO record Shimizu, on paper, looks brilliant. He's a 2-time Olympian, won an Olympic bronze medal at the London 2012 games, won around 150 amateur fights and is now 7-0 (7) as a professional. On paper the one gripe is his age, and at 32 we do how long he's going to remain in the sport. Sadly for Shimizu paper only tells half the story, and he comes up worryingly badly when we do the "eye test". Although clearly talented Shimizu doesn't have the flowing skills we tend to see in such established amateurs, in fact his boxing style represents a video game character who has a strong chin, vicious power and very limited movement. He can jab and box but he tends to stand his ground too much, slug his shots and fight with a very wide loopy style. He's not a fighter who has many traits of being a very accomplished amateur boxer. Although technically very crude Shimizu does have really frightening power. His KO of Carlo Demecillo in late 2013 was scary and the way he simply broke Shingo Kawamura up this past August, despite being on the back foot for stretches of the fight, was impressive as his heavy hands just bust up Kawamura. It's clear that having a war with Shimizu is a bad idea. He's awkward, a tall and rangy southpaw and he throws from some very weird angles. Boxing with him however could be a smart idea, and he does make mistakes that fighters can certainly take advantage of. Whilst Shimizu is a man believed to be going places fast the 23 year old Uehara has been really going about things quietly, whilst fighting out of the Apollo gym. He has spent much of his career away from the main boxing venues of Japan, frequenting the Yodogawa Ward Center and the Mielparque Hall in Osaka rather the EDION Arena and has only fought once at the Koarkuen Hall, but that has allowed him to develop rather carefully, away from the eyes of critics and harsh fan comments. He made his debut at the age of 19 and has slowly made his mark, claiming his best win in December 2016 when he beat Markquil Salvana for the WBC Youth Featherweight title. Footage of Uehara show him to be a very confident young man, with a lovely technical boxing style. He has a fleet feet, a very sharp jab, which he's busy with, he spots opening well, and moves brilliantly whilst putting punches together. Defensively there are questions to be had about his guard, especially when he's letting his own shots go. One of the few issues that is clear from watching him is that he's not a lights out fighter, his stoppages come from accumulation, and that can be an issue as he steps up in class. We're also unsure how good his chin is, and how he'll take a shot. If both men were equal, in terms of power, strength and chin, it would be hard to go against Uehara, who has looked like a classy prospect. Unfortunately however power is a big difference maker here, and Shimizu's power really is a game change, and we suspect that Uehara will find out the hard way just how powerful Shimizu's punches are. We wouldn't be surprised to see Uehara have a good start, but like Shimizu's previous opponents they'll taste his power and be broken down, likely in the middle rounds. A win here for Uehara would genuinely send shockwaves through the Japanese scene. However a win for Shimizu is expected and will move him one step closer to a world title fight in 2019.
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Every so often there's a bout with no title and no status attached to it that just stands out as a special type of bout. On December 3rd we get one of those as two youngsters clash in a truly excellent match up. That bout sees the highly regarded Hinata Maruta (7-1-1, 6) take on the hard hitting Tsuyoshi Tameda (18-3-2, 16) in a 10 round Featherweight clash, in what is nothing short of an amazing bout on paper. Maruta was the highly regarded wunderkind, who was supposed to put the Morioka boxing gym on the map. He looked sensational early on, beating Jason Canoy on debut and winning the WBC Youth Bantamweight title in his third bout. There was touches of genius in his early performances, but he would come up short as he took on the then OPBF Super Bantamweight champion Hidenori Otake, losing a clear but competitive decision to the veteran. He bounced back from his sole loss with a couple of easy wins before being held to a controversial split decision draw in the Philippines against Ben Mananquil, in a bout that Maruta deserved to get the win from. In the ring Maruta is a natural talent. He may not have had the recent big wins his talent deserves but he is a special fighter to watch. Everything he does in the ring looks fluid, natural and smooth. He's quick, he moves well, he takes a shot well, he has under-rated stamina and a really high boxing IQ. Sometimes however he can be seen to be lazy, waiting too long to strike, and hoping that an opponent makes a mistake, rather than forcing the fight. That's doubled by the fact that when he does force things he can look clumsy, and it doesn't seem like he's as sharp when he's the aggressor as he is when he's the one fighting on the counter. He also, maybe, lacks in terms of experience and maturity, and despite an incredible talent, hasn't quite put things together yet to put on an amazing performance on a regular basis. Whilst Maruta is a boxer-puncher we would describe Tameda as being more a pure puncher. The Ohashi gym fighter was one of the last notable men from the Yonekura gym, before it closed in 2017, and whilst there he proved himself a really heavy handed boxer-puncher, scoring notable wins over the likes of Takenori Ohashi, Mark Bernaldez and Retsu Kosaka. He's also got an early career draw with Masayuki Ito, from the 2011 Rookie of the Year. With 3 losses to his name it'd be easier to cast him aside but those losses include a narrow Rookie of the Year loss, a defeat to Simpiwe Vetyeka and one to Reiya Abe, who is the only man to stop Tameda. As well as being heavy handed he's also tough, with the Abe stoppage coming from accumulation. Those losses really show the level he can fight out, but since being Kosaka for a Japanese Youth title he has been matched very softly. Although blessed with power Tameda is actually a solid boxer. He's a tad slow, defensively a little open but other wise technically pretty solid. He has shown a problem when up against a fighter who gives him angles, a sharp jab and movement, but if a fighter stands in front of him he is incredible dangerous. He's also got a good engine and can mentally break fighters, if they give him half a chance to just apply constant pressure. If a fighter feels they can out box him they will have to do for a prolonged period, and not just a few rounds. That is where he could be at his most dangerous here, if Maruta slows down at some point in the second half of the fight. We have a puncher against an incredibly slick fighter. If Maruta fights to his potential he should take the win here, possibly even by breaking down Tameda in the later rounds, but he will have to box smartly for 10 rounds and avoid being caught by one of Tameda's bombs. We suspect Maruta can, and will, come out on top, but he will have to be smart and really make Tameda pay for his mistakes. This coming Sunday in Hyogo fans will see both of the Matsuoka twins fighting for Japanese Youth titles. One bout will see Arata Matsuoka for the Japanese Youth Flyweight title against Hikaru Ota whilst his brother, Hikaru Matsuoka (14-4-3, 2) fights for the Japanese Youth Featherweight title, in a relatively interesting look match against Noboru Osato (10-6-4, 2). Of the two bouts it's certainly the Featherweight one that looks the most interesting and the one where the winner has actually got real upside, as the Flyweight bout is pitting two limited fighters against each other. Hikaru Matsuoka debuted at the age of 17, at just over the Super Flyweight limit. Since then his frame has filled out and he has moved up in weight to naturally become a Featherweight. Early in his career he struggled to really build momentum, drawing 2 of his first 3 bouts and moving to 3-1-3 after 7 contests. That hard start seemed to build a resolve in Matsuoka who would then go on a good run to move to 8-1-3, with a notable win over Richard Pumicpic. Sadly such a big win was followed by back to back stoppage losses to Yuki Strong Kobayashi and Seizo Kono, with his chin instantly becoming an issue. The chin issues would again be seen in his most recent loss, another stoppage loss to Tenmei Serizawa in 2016. That loss was followed by over a year out of the ring but since returning he has picked up a couple of low key wins on the domestic scene. Sadly footage of Matsuoka is hard to find, though from what we have seen he is a sharp boxer, who has good stamina, good movement, and crisp counter punching. Sadly though whilst he is a very good fighter to watch his complete lack of fire power is a major issue and he will struggle to get respect of fighters who come forward and hunt him down. He will be a hard one to hunt down, but if you can trap him he appears to lack the power to make a good fighter back off. Interestingly Osato is also 23, and made his debut at the age of 17 and his career also struggled early on with Osato going 2-2-3 after his first 7 bouts. Sadly Osato has never really managed to build his forum up, never managing to spring up more than 2 wins before being held to a draw or losing. Whilst that sounds terrible he has actually fought really stiff competition, earning a draw with Yuki Iriguchi in 2016 and losing to the touted Takuya Mizuno and Yuki Strong Kobayashi the following year. Sadly it does seem like Ota can't get over the line when he needs to, and despite being competitive again most of his foes he falls just a tad short when he needs to put it together. Osato looks like an intelligent fighter, he uses a good jab and remains on his toes, using a lot of movement. Sadly though he looks like his body hasn't yet filled out and that he hasn't yet developed his man strength or power. He did survive 8 rounds with Yuki Strong Kobayashi, and was competitive, but fought like a man who knew not to get involved or stand still too much. It was a tactic that almost earned him a win, but one that showed he's not confident in his power or physicality. Whilst footage of both was hard to come by we were more impressed by Matsuoka, though both looked very talented boxer-movers, both looked smooth in the ring and both had the same flaw, a lack of power. That should make for an interesting contest, and should give us some really good technical boxing. We suspect Matsuoka will do enough to earn the win, but this will certainly be a very competitive and compelling contest. We love fighters misleading records, and we love fighters who want to be fast tracked and chase glory earlier in their career. This coming Sunday we see those two things clash, as Richard Pumicpic (21-8-2, 6) defends his WBO Asia Pacific Featherweight title against unbeaten 18 year old Musashi Mori (7-0, 5) at Aioi Hall in Kariya. Pumicpic boasts one of the most misleading records in the sport today whilst Mori is looking to punch himself into the fringes of the world rankings in a bout that looks nothing short of brilliant on paper. The 28 year old champion seems like he's been around for an eternity, having debuted back in March 2008 as a fresh faced 17 year old. He would lose on his debut and would pick up quite a few early career set backs, falling to 9-5-1 (3) after 16 bouts on the Filipino domestic scene. Since then however he has gone 12-2-1 (3) and proven to be a total nightmare on the regional scene with a draw against Yohei Tobe, a razor thin loss to Ryosuke Iwasa, a win over Joe Noynay, a competitive loss to Cesar Juarez, and recent wins over Hisashi Amagasa and Yoshimitsu Kimura. The win over Amagasa, in 2017 saw Pumicpic claim the title and send Amagasa into retirement, whilst his win over Kimura saw him notch his first defense of the title. In the ring Pumicpic has made a reputation for being a nightmare to fight. He's aggressive, tough, surprisingly intelligent in terms of his defense, brings a lot of smart pressure and although not a puncher he hits hard enough to get the respect of his opponents. He finds a way to make his lack of stature, he's 5'4", work for well for him and there's very few fighters who will enjoy getting in the ring with him, even if he's not likely to knock people out. The exciting Mori began his career in late 2016, stopping Kazuya Fukai in just 41 seconds. The follow year he rose to prominence by winning the All Japan Rookie of the Year at Super Featherweight, stopping all of his opponents on route to the final, before taking a decision win over fellow puncher Zirolian Riku in the final in December. So far in 2018 he has faced two international opponents, stopping a Thai novice inside a round in April before stepping up in class and taking a narrow decision win over Filipino Allan Vallespin, back in July. The struggles with Vallespin seemed to show that Mori was a work in prospect, and perhaps also not a natural Super Featherweight, hence him dropping down in weight for this bout with Pumicpic. When you watch Mori it's easy to forget he's an 18 year old who debuted back in late 2016. He looks composed, quick, sharp and really confident in the ring. Fighting out of the southpaw stance he's quick with his jab, gets in and out of range well and has a nice variety of shots. From his career so far however it does seem like he has questionable stamina, and against Vallespin he spend the last few rounds looking worn out and tired. He showed maturity, in spoiling, holding and making life difficult in the later rounds, whilst he tried to get his second wind. We do think that Mori has a really bright future ahead of, sadly though we suspect this will be too much too soon and he'll come up short against Pumicpic. The Filipino will apply pressure through out and will prove to be too active, too aggressive and too experienced for the Japanese youngster. A loss at this point however is not the end of Mori and we'd expect to see the talented Southpaw comeback in the future. For Pumicpic a win here is expected and will continue his run in Japan, potentially leading to more good bouts on the road. For example a potential WBO Asia Pacific / OPBF unification bout with Satoshi Shimizu would certainly be a great bout and a world title eliminator, and we'd love to see that in the new year. This coming Thursday Japanese fight fans at the Korakuen Hall will see 2012 Olympic Bronze medal winner Satoshi Shimizu (6-0, 6) make his third defense of the OPBF Featherweight title, as he takes on fellow Japanese southpaw Shingo Kawamura (16-3-1, 8). Interestingly this will be Shimizu's second professional bout against a domestic foe, with his last being a 109 second blow out win against Takuya Yamamoto in May 2017. Coming in to this there is a lot of expectation on the champion who not only rides high as an Olympic medal winner or as the OPBF champion but also as a man tipped for huge success and a fighter with a perfect record. He's also entering the bout as a world ranked fighter and someone who is on the fast track to a world title fight, and given he's now 32 he can ill afford a set back if he wishes to fight at the top level of the professional ranks. Despite being a top level amateur fighter Shimizu has a rather unique and unorthodox fighting style which sees him really rely on his freakish amateur traits. He's a 5'10” southpaw fighting at Featherweight, not many fighters at 126lbs have ever been his size and he uses his height and reach to get away with a pretty free swinging fighting style. Although he has got a jab he does seem much happier to go bombs away and look to head hunt with wide arching hooks at range. It's a style that doesn't look like it should be effective but it is, and he's looked totally dominant so far, having barely if ever lost a round since he made his professional debut in September 2016. Blessed with not only size but also freakish power, impressive stamina and the team at the Ohashi gym behind him Shimizyu is a real nightmare to fight against. Kawamura on the other hand has got the amateur pedigree, the world ranking, the regional title or the hype of Shimizu. Instead the 28 year old Osakan has got 6 years of professional experience behind him, the development of a hard career and the experience of needing to build himself up from the ground. He actually lost by stoppage on his debut in side the opening round, much like current world champion Sho Kimura, but has bounced back from that loss. He bounced hack so impressively that the following year he was the Rookie of the Year at Featherweight sadly for Kawamura his rise through the ranks was slowed in 2014 when he suffered a surprise loss to Thai visitor Attanon Kunlawong / Kongthara KKP. Despite a loss on the road in 2016, to Mike Tawatchai, we've seen a real surge of success from Kawamura over the last 24 months with 5 straight wins including a massive one over Tae Il Atsumi last December, slowing the Japanese based Korean's ascent to a title fight. With his experience and confidence it's clear that he will be coming into this bout riding a bit of a high and he appears to be wary of Shimizu's low guard and his own advantages. Saying that however this is a massive step up in class for the challenger who will be looking to negate the reach and size advantages of Shimizu to land his straight left hand. We know Shimizu is flawed, very flawed, but there is something about his awkward style that seems to leave opponents both dumb founded and on the canvas. We expect the same unorthodox approach to work well here and for him to stop Kawamura, who has been taken out inside the distance in 2 of his 3 losses. Kawamura might be confident going into the bout, and see it as a fun experience, but the reality is that this is a very different test to what he's used to. By - George Delis (@Delisketo) On the undercard of the upcoming Obara x Lagumbay “Revenge Fight”, Taiki Minamoto defends his Japanese Featherweight championship against Tatsuya Otsubo. Taiki Minamoto (15-5/12 KOs) began his pro-career in 2011, just 2 weeks after turning 20. Unlike most fighters who face opponents with losing records, in order to gain experience in their early years, Minamoto’s road was different, a path that led to a few losses, including one to future world champion Masayuki Ito. However, these encounters only made him more determined to come back stronger and defeat well-versed boxers like Eita Kikuchi (14-3*) and Seizo Kono (14-5*), even earning an opportunity at the Japanese Super Bantamweight champion and future IBF world title holder Yukinori Oguni (14-1*), a match that went the distance. Since then, Minamoto is on a 5 fight winning streak, with wins over the likes of Ryota Kajiki (28-9*) and Dai Iwai (21-4*) as well as Takenori Ohashi (15-4*), who he TKOed in order to become the Japanese Featherweight champion for the first time. https://twitter.com/Delisketo/status/1024980999405547520 Tatsuya Otsubo (12-8/4 KOs) will be Minamoto’s inaugural title defense. Otsubo, despite struggling through out his 11-year career, has won all of his last 4 bouts, since resurfacing from his hiatus in 2015, including victories over Ryuto Araya (twice) and Indonesian champion Musa Andy Letding. It’s worth mentioning that Otsubo holds a win over Akihiko Katagiri, the man who knocked Minamoto out on his 9th pro fight. On paper, Minamoto is the favourite to leave Korakuen Hall with the strap, as he’s currently ranked the #1 featherweight in Japan and has bested better fighters than his opponent. On the other hand, Otsubo seems to have turned a new page of his career and has vastly improved over the course of these last 2 years, so it wouldn’t be unthinkable if he can pull off the upset once again, this time with the gold on the line. *Fighter’s record before the fight. One of the most bizarre endings to a bout last year saw Takenori Ohashi (15-4-2, 10) score a 5th round KO against Kosuke Saka to claim the Japanese Featherweight title. The finish to that bout came as Saka misheard the 10 second clacker, dropped his hands and turned away, giving Ohashi the chance to finish his man off, which he took. This coming Saturday Ohashi returns to the ring to make his first defense of the title, as he takes on mandatory challenger Taiki Minamoto (15-4, 11) in a really good bout on paper, between evenly matched but flawed fighters who can both bang and can both be hurt. Like many fighters in Japan Ohashi began his career in 4 rounds and would move into competing in the Rookie of the Year, fighting in the East Japan Rookie of the year in 2010. It was in the Rookie competition that he suffered his first loss, being stopped in the East Japan semi-final by Coach Hiroto inside a round. The loss slowed Ohashi's rise but he bounced back and scored 3 straight wins before suffering back to back losses, including a defeat to Tatsuya Takahashi. Since then however he has gone 7-1-2 (4), with his only loss during that 10 fight run coming to the big punching Tsuyoshi Tameda. In the ring Ohashi is pretty crude, but is very heavy handed, and he has stopped 3 of his last 4 foes. He can certainly be out boxed, out moved and blown away, as Tameda did just over 3 years ago, but if you let him get going he's a nightmare who will bring heavy hard hitting pressure, and be pretty unrelenting unless you can some how get his respect. Which isn't as easy as it sounds, and even the hard hitting Saka failed to get much respect from Ohashi before his mental lapse and subsequent stoppage loss. The 27 year old challenger will be getting his second Japanese title fight, having previously challenged for the Japanese Super Bantamweight title where he came up short against Yukinori Oguni. His career has been very frustrating as he's really struggled to generate any career moment. He won his first 4 bouts, before losing inside a round to Yuki Iwasaki, a 3 fight winning run was then stopped by a pair of losses and he then struggled to string together any wins. That was until 2016, and he's now riding a 4 fight winning streak, the equal longest of his career. Not only is Minamoto enjoying a winning run but he's also notched his 2 biggest wins recent, out pointing both Ryota Kajiki and Dai Iwai, with the win over Iwai earning him this title fight. Those wins showed he can do 8 rounds and win a decision, something he had never previously done. He's certainly showing signs of development, turning from a pure puncher to a more rounded boxer-puncher and adapting well. He will still have question marks over his chin, but recent results are really promising for the challenger.. Coming in to this both men are beatable, both men have questionable chins but both men are in good form. We're expecting a really explosive contest here and we can't imagine it going the distance, both men hit too hard and too questionable to last 10 rounds together. The edge in power and experience sides with Ohashi,but Minamoto looks to be the better boxer and the man with the slightly better durability. In bouts like this it's not always about who hits harder, but who sets their shots up better, and with that in mind we're going with Minamoto, who we suspect will create the distance counter more effectively than Ohashi,eventually stopping the champion to claim the title, and continue his good run of recent results. In 2012 Japan's Satoshi Shimizu (5-0, 5) claimed Japan's first boxing Olympic medal in 44 years as he took a bronze medal at Bantamweight. After missing out on a place in the Japanese Olympic team for the 2016 Olympics Shimizu turned professional and raced away to the OPBF Featherweight title, claiming the regional title in his 4th bout, having been a professional for less than 13 months. This coming Monday he'll be making his second defense of that title, as he takes on little known Korean challenger Kyung Min Kwon (6-3, 3) at the Korakuen Hall. The champion has been raced through the ranks, though turning professional at 30 years old he really didn't have the option of taking things slowly. He debuted in a 6 rounder, immediately moved up to 8 rounders then in just his 4th bout won his first title, stopping Sa Myung Noh in 5 rounds last October. Although Shimizu has a very strong amateur background, with a reported 150-20 (70) record and is a 2-time Olympian, his style doesn't match that of an accomplished amateur. In fact his style is incredibly unique yet rudimentary. He makes for a pretty stationary fighter who throws wild, looping shots with venom on them. He can box and move but often often holds his feet and relies on his freakish power and size. Given he's a 5′ 10½″ southpaw fighting at Featherweight he really does pose some very unique nightmares in terms of size, stance and angles. Watching Shimizu, he looks easy to out box, he looks slow, wild and sloppy. It's a very awkward style but one that has been effective. Despite his flaws Shimizu has hardly lost a round through his career so far and he has stopped his first 5 foes in a combined 21 rounds. His longest bout to date has gone 7 rounds and he looked very comfortable in terms of stamina in that bout, suggesting he could do longer, if an opponent can survive his power. As we've managed to see most of Shimizu's bouts to date, and know of his amateur background, there is a lot that we do know about the champion. The same cannot be said of the challenger, who debuted more than 7 years ago but has been, like many Koreans, struggling with consistent activity and in getting bouts against name opponents. He debuted back in December 2010, losing, and was out of the ring for over 6 years, before suffering a second loss on his ring return. A 3 fight stoppage run followed as he reeled 5 straight wins, before coming up short against Sung Min Cha last September. A rematch with Cha saw Kwon take a majority decision to avenge his most recent loss. There is very little footage of Kwon available, and we've yet to come across a full fight of his. Given that we don't recall seeing much of him it's hard for us to know what he fights like, however from his record, and the little bit of footage out there, we can deduce a few things. Firstly he's not a big puncher. Whilst 50% of his wins are by stoppage they have come against very limited domestic level novices, and all of them have come in rounds 3 or 4. His stamina is to be questioned, given he has never been scheduled in a bout longer than 8 rounds. From the little footage that is out there he looks, like many Koreans, to be an aggressively minded fighter looking to have a tear up on the inside. He will be giving away size, power, reach, speed and skills to Shimizu and will really struggle with the variety and unorthodox angles that Shimizu finds. Whilst the Korean has never previously been stopped he has spent much of his career at Super Bantamweight, and on the Rookie circuit in Korea. This is a massive step up in class and it's very hard to imagine him taking Shimizu's looping bombs for long, before becoming the Japanese fighter's 6th straight stoppage victim. Kwon might put up a gutsy fight, but from what we know of the two men it won't be a competitive one, as Shimizu continues to march towards a potential world title fight. The Featherweight division right now is a very interesting one, with a mix of contenders, champions, prospects and others. In Asia the division is also an interesting one with a host of notable names in the mix for world title fights, and the leader among those is OPBF champion Satoshi Shimizu (4-0, 4), who appears to be the latest Japanese fighter on the fast track to the top. Shimizu won the OPBF title back in October, claiming his first professional title following a very successful amateur career. This coming Saturday he'll be looking for his first defense, as he takes on Filipino challenger Eduardo Mancito (15-7-2, 9), and looks to make a statement on route to a potential world title fight. The 31 year old Japanese fighter had major success in the unpaid ranks before turning professional with Ohashi in 2016, debuting in September. His first 3 bouts were impressive stoppages but it wasn't until October's win over Sa Myung Noh that fans really began to sit up and take notice, with Shimizu battering the the tough but outclassed Korea. In the ring Shimizu is a bit of an enigma. As an amateur he was a well schooled fighter, and those skills have been seen at times in his short professional career. Despite those skills Shimizu often looks like a weirdly uncoordinated, long and lanky fighter, with arms that look too long for his body and as a result has a very peculiar style where his shots come from really unusual angles. Although watching him doesn't suggest he's a big puncher he really does appear to bang and is a great finisher at this level, as Noh found out. He has power, speed, determination and the ability to adapt, though does have questions left to answer about his stamina, durability and defense, which will hopefully be answered here. Filipino fighter Mancito looks like an over-matched challenger on paper,but for a first defense, on a relatively short turn around, he's not a terrible foe. He's 25 year old and has only been stopped once in his 24 fight career, with that stoppage coming to the world class Tomas Rojas. He certainly looks durable, and did go 10 rounds against Rey Vargas, but there is question marks as to how much his hard bouts have taken from him. In the ring Mancito is a decent level of fighter. He was dominated by Rey Vargas but was competitive with the likes of Alberto Guevara, Jelbirt Gomera, Thong Sithluangphophun and Vergil Puton and has shown he comes to fight, even when he is out classed. His aggression will allow him to have some success against most fighters, but we suspect it will be his downfall here. Mancito will come to fight, but against someone as heavy handed and skilled as Shimizu that aggression will be used against him. Mancito will be giving up significant height and reach and will be picked off, being worn down and stopped, likely in the first half of the fight, by the very talented Shimizu. It's fair to suggest that December is set to be an incredibly busy and action packed month for Japanese fight fans, with a huge amount of notable fights right across the month. The month is littered with title fights, right through to the end of the year, the first of which is a domestic title bout takes place this coming Friday at the Korakuen Hall and sees Featherweight champion Kosuke Saka (16-3, 13) make his first defense of the title, as he takes on first time challenger Takenori Ohashi (14-4-2, 9). The heavy handed champion won the title earlier this year, when he blasted through Shota Hayashi in 3 rounds. Sadly though he has been inactive since that win, which came all the way back in April, he has been out of the ring and not managed to really build on that win. Although the momentum has cooled a little it should be noted that the win over Hayashi was Saka's 8th straight stoppage and continued a run that also included wins over Ryuto Kyoguchi, Burning Ishii and Takafumi Nakajima. That run has seen Saka go from 8-3 (5) to 16-3 (13) and break into the world rankings as well as become the Japanese champion. Technically Saka is a bit “rough around the edges” as much pure punchers are, but his brute power is a real threat to everyone on the domestic scene, as his win over Hayashi showed. He's aggressive from the word go and looks to take opponents out early, with 10 stoppage in the first 3 rounds. In bouts that have gone beyond 3 he is 6-3 (3) and arguably the biggest question mark about him is his stamina, thanks in part to a 9th round TKO loss to Hiroshige Osawa. Whilst Saka has been in great form and genuinely impressed with recent results the same can't really be said of Ohashi, who is a bit of an unknown with mixed results and no out and out standout win. He stated his career with 5 straight wins before being blown out in a round by Coach Hiroto in 2010 A second short winning run was ended by another stoppage, as Tatsuya Takahashi stopped him in 3 rounds in 2012. Since the start of 2013 Ohashi has gone 5-1-2 (3) but suffered his third stoppage loss, to Tsuyoshi Tameda, and draws with Yosuke Kawano and Mikihito Seto, two fights some distance removed from a domestic title fight. In the ring Ohashi is a rather basic fighter, he's slow and clumsy and looks like a fighter who lacks any form of snap. He must have naturally heavy hands, but there is little to really be impressed by. Despite 3 stoppages he can take a decent shot, at least at the lower domestic level, and there is a bit of an awkwardness about him, but the reality is that he's a weak challenger for Saka. Given Saka's break from the ring it was clear he wasn't going to be tossed in with a really good fighter, but the reality is that this should be little more than another blow out win for one of Japanese boxing most exciting domestic champions. |
Previews
Having canned the old "Full Schedule" of Asianboxing we have instead decided to concentrate more on the major bouts. This section, the "Preview" section will look at major bouts involving OPBF and national titles. Hopefully leading to a more informative style for, you the reader. Archives
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