We have repeatedly waxed lyrical about the current Light Flyweight scene and the talent at the top, making it the deepest division in the sport right now. What we haven't gone into as much depth about is the rising talent, the young prospects and promising hopefuls looking to rise through the ranks and make a name for themselves. This coming Monday however we see one of the talented youngsters in title action as Daiki Tomita (13-1, 5) takes on Hayato Yamaguchi (15-7-1, 2) for the WBO Asia Pacific Light Flyweight title, which was vacated by Reiya Konishi earlier in the year. For the once beaten Tomita this bout will be his second title fight, following a loss last year to the then OPBF Minimumweight champion Tsubasa Koura. The loss to Koura seems to have been made Tomita realise making that making the Minimumweight limit was getting tough for his growing body and he moved up to Light Flyweight properly in April this year. He flirted with the division a few times earlier in his career, with a couple of early career bouts there and a one off bout above the 108lbs limit against Mochamad Sholimin in 2017. As a fight Tomita showed a lot of early promise. In 2016, as a 19 year old, he had won the All Japan Rookie of the Year and was lined up to fight for the Japanese Youth title in 2018, though had that bout fall through when Kai Ishizawa suffered a training injury. Due to Ishizawa's injury Tomita got the shot as Koura and it did feel like the bout had come just a little bit too early for him. Against Koura we saw Tomita prove he was a good boxer, with solid fundamentals, nice speed and real grit, but he was easily outclassed by Koura, who was too quick, too sharp, too experienced and too smart. His first bout following Koura was at Light Flyweight and saw Tomita stop former world title challenger Jeffrey Galero in 3 rounds, becoming only the third man to stop Galero, following Koura and Pedro Taduran, the newly crowned IBF Minimumweight. Aged 30 Yamaguchi is a bit of a veteran, having made his debut way back in 2008. During his long career he has real mixed success. He lost 2 of his first 3 bouts before rebuilding and winning the 2010 All Japan Rookie of the Year. His run of form lead to a Japanese title fight in 2011, losing a close decision to Masayuki Kuroda. Another loss, to Cris Paulino, followed the Kuroda bout and at the end of 2012 Yamaguchi was 8-4-1, a short winning run followed before back to back defeats to Renan Trongco and Yu Kimura, in 2014 and 2015. Those losses saw Yamaguchi fall to 12-6-1 (2) and although he began to get his career back on track a loss in 2016 to Tetsuya Hisada, in a Japanese title eliminator, again killed any momentum he had. It then seemed like he'd retired but returned after more than 4 years away from the ring to upset Kenji Ono. In the ring Yamaguchi is feather fisted but gutsy and brave. With 3 stoppages against him he will always have question marks over his durability, but few will question his desire. Sadly his desire doesn't match up to his ability and his biggest wins have all come against lower domestic level lighters, like Kneji Ono, Hiroya Yamamoto and Seiya Fujikita. A win over Tomita wouldn't be the biggest shock, given those wins, but we would consider it an upset all the same. Prediction - UD12 Tomita
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The Japanese Youth Title bouts have been some of the under-rated highlights of recent years, and whether they do, or don't, help prospects become stars is yet to be seen, after all the titles have only been around for a few years. What they do do is give young and fast rising prospects a chance to test themselves for some notable silverware. The titles are already proving to be something youngsters in the country want, and are quickly becoming a stepping stone towards the more well established senior titles. This coming Friday we get an exceptionally good looking Japanese Youth title fight, as Rikito Shiba (3-0, 2) and Shisui Kawabata (2-0, 2) battle for the Light Flyweight title. To a fan who doesn't follow the Japanese scene this bout doesn't look like anything special, but those who do follow Japanese boxing will be really excited about this bout, between unbeaten 23 year old southpaws. Prior to turning professional both were solid amateurs, with Shiba going 38-13 and captaining a university team whilst Kawabata had around 50 amateur bouts of his own and was used as a sparring partner for Naoya Inoue last year before making his professional debut. Since turning professional neither has tasted defeat and both have looked better with every fight. Of the two men it's Shiba who has been the more impressive professional. The RK Kamata boxing gym fighter impressed on his debut, beating Hiroki Inamine over 6 rounds, then won a B Class tournament final just a few months later. He would earn a shot at the Youth title in April, when he stopped Hizuki Saso, though would sadly see a proposed fight with Tsuyoshi Sato fall through in July when Sato suffered an injury. That would have been a very special fight, though we're glad that Sato isn't needing to wait long to fight for the title with this bout against Kawabata now being set. In the ring Sato is a little genius. He's heavy handed, very highly skilled, a great judge of distance and a nasty body puncher. We've yet to see him being tested, and the truth is we think it might be a long time until that happens, which is why the Sato falling through was so disappointing. He's not an average 3-0 fighter, and is more like what British fans would expect a 16-0 type to look like, with a high IQ and a very smart, yet aggressive, approach in the ring. Kawabata made his debut back in March and was obviously expected to shine on debut given his amateur back ground and time sparring with the "Monster". Surprisingly however Kawabata was dropped by Thai fighter Natchaphon Wichaita on debut, before bouncing back to stop the Thai in the second round. What was saw in his debut was a fighter with nice speed and decent power, but not the crisp shots that we've seen from some other former amateurs who have turned professional. Despite being knockdown he showed good composure and was obviously more embarrassed than hurt. You could pick a lot of areas for him to work on, both defensively and offensively, especially in the way he often seemed to slap his shots, but there was a lot to like and he fought like a man eager to impress. In is second pro bout Kawabata took out Mongkol Kamsommat in 2 round, on the under-card of Ioka Vs Palicte. On paper this result doesn't mean a lot but it was the quickest that Mongkol had been stopped thus far in his career. He can clearly hit, with solid power, though we do wonder what that power is like against a capable opponent, like we'll see with his bout against Shiba. We feel that Kawabata will have a good career. He's shown enough in 2 fights to look like a future fixture on the regional title scene. Sadly though he's yet to show us anything to suggest he can have with Shiba, who had faced better opponents, dug deeper and just looks like the type of fighter who could go all the way. Shiba looks like a star in the making and with him we see that crisp, sharp, clean punching that other top level former amateur standouts have. We expect that clean and clear approach will be the difference maker here, and will lead him to his first title. Prediction TKO5 Shiba Internationally the Light Flyweight division is one of the very best, with a very stacked top 8 or so and a brilliant mix of champions and challengers. In recent weeks we've had the pleasure of watching Hiroto Kyoguchi, Felix Alvarado, Kenshiro, Carlos Canizales and Edwin Soto showing what they can do, in a mix of impressive performances and exciting battles. Below the world level the division continues to give compelling match ups at regional level and the rising crop of Japanese hopefuls in the division is amazing, with a handful of youngsters looking like future world champions. One of the few real veterans hanging around is Kenichi Horikawa (40-15-1, 13), the current Japanese Light Flyweight champion. The 56 fight veteran, now aged 39, has been a professional for more than 19 years, and is enjoying his second reign as the Japanese champion, having won the belt back in February. This coming Thursday he looks to make his third defense, as he takes on the much younger Ryuto Oho (12-5-1, 4), in what will be his first senior title fight. The veteran has fought fought a who's who and has really managed to build a career by battling through set backs. After a career of ups and downs he won his first title in 2015, stopping Shin Ono for the belt. He lost it in his first defense, to Kenshiro, but bounced back winning the WBO Asia Pacific title in 2017 and then becoming a 2-time Japanese champion earlier this year. This will be his 13th title bout and his experience, at least at this level, cannot be doubted. With so much experience under his belt Horikawa knows his way around the ring and inside it he's a very under-rated fighter. At heart he's a boxer-brawler, able to do either but wanting to turn bouts into brawls. A lot of his work comes from behind a good jab, he looks to back opponents up and force them into a fight. Even at 39 he has solid handspeed, good movement and an aggressive mentality with a high work rate. Technically he's not the sharpest, he's not the quickest and he lacks lights out power, but he does break fighters down and his will to win is very impressive. Aged just 24 Oho is a relative novice. He was just 5 when Horikawa made his debut, despite his youth he has actually been around for quite a while, , debuting in late 2012. The following year he went on to win the Japanese Rookie of the Year crown, at Flyweight. His Rookie triumph was supposed to be a starting point to some solid success, but instead he went 0-2-1 in 2014 as he rise hit brick wall. He would then go 3-2 over his following 5 fights, falling from 6-0 when he won the Rookie crown to 9-4-1 (2) by the summer of 2017. Thankfully for Oho he has managed to rebuild a bit from all his set backs, winning 3 of his last 4, including the Japanese Youth Light Flyweight title last year and is actually unbeaten at 108lbs. In the ring Oho is a smart, quick boxer-mover. He lacks in terms of power, despite scoring stoppages in 2 of his last 3, but does look very tidy in the ring and does a lot of pleasing things. Sadly Oho's lack of power isn't his only downfall and he also lacks in terms of durability and has been stopped twice in his 5 losses, albeit to heavy handed fighters like Seigo Yuri Akui and Masamichi Yabuki. He also has has a bit of a fragile, lightweight look to him, a look that doesn't bode well for a man fighting someone like Horikawa. With Oho being the younger man, and the faster man, there will be opportunities for him, to stick and move and make Horikawa chase shadows. Sooner or later though the experience of the champion will kick in, and he will begin to grind down the challenger. When that happens we'll really see what Oho is made of. Our guess is that he comes undone under the pressure of Horikawa in the later stages, though he certainly won't go down without giving his all. He will look to do all he can to survive, before finally succumbing to the pressure of the grizzled veteran. Prediction - Horikawa TKO10 This coming weekend is a crazy one, with 4 notable bouts involving Asian fighters taking place in the space of about 24 hours. The least interesting of those is a Japanese Light Flyweight title fight, which will pit defending champion Kenichi Horikawa (39-15-1, 13) against challenger Masashi Tada (13-5-3, 8), in what will be Horikawa's first defense, of his second reign, of the title. The 39 year old Horikawa is an oddity in Japanese boxing. He's not only a true veteran at 39 years old but also has 55 bouts, an insane amount for a fighter in Japan, and 39 wins. He's been a professional for 19 years and despite a number of ups and downs his career really has been quite remarkable. When you think of 39 year old fighters, especially in the lower weights, you tend to think of them slowing down, having less success, and doing less, but Horikawa has bloomed in his 30's, twice claiming a national title after his 35th birthday and also claiming the WBO Asia Pacific title in the later stages of his career. It's also interesting to note the competition that Horikawa has faced during his career, sharing the ring with Akira Yaegashi, Florante Condes, Edgar Sosa, Tetsuya Hisada, 3 times in fact, Ryuji Hara, Noknoi Sitthiprasert, Yu Kimura, Shin Ono and Kenshiro. He's a veteran, but he's a veteran who has shared the ring with a true who's who. Horikawa is a true battler. He's not the most skilled or smooth fighter, but he's aggressive, exciting, full of energy and really does know how to fight. He's crude, and could even be described as having a style that's a bit agricultural, but he does have some under-rated technical ability and speed. Horikawa looks to box his way inside, he looks to use his jab and footwork to get close, and that's usually where he works best with his hooks. He's crafty as well, and although he's had points deducted for it in the past, he knows how to use his head and how to wrestle on the inside. Tada is no spring chicken himself, and turns 30 just days before the fight, but he doesn't have the miles that Horikawa has. In fact he only has 21 bouts to his name, with 101 rounds. He's been a professional for just over 10 years, and unlike Horikawa hasn't really made a name for himself. He's only had 1 previous title fight, losing in a Japanese Minimumweight title fight to Go Odaira way back in 2014. He followed that loss with a 3 year break, before going 2-1-2 since returning, including an opening round blow out loss to Masamichi Yabuki in late 2017. Not exactly the form of a title challenger. Footage of Tada is relatively hard to come by, though thankfully we have his full bout with Kenji Ono from just over a year ago. The bout ended in a draw and, if we're being honest, neither man really shone. Ono seemed to still be feeling the effects from tough bouts with Jun Takigawa, Seigo Yuri Akui and Hanto Tsukada, and would lose his next bout after facing Tada. Tadda on the other hand seemed cautious, fighting with a reserved style, not wanting to take damage or risks. Tada was dragged into a war up close later in the bout, as Ono began to close the distance, and Tada struggled to really respond. It was those later rounds against Ono that probably give us the best sign of his this fight with Horikwa will go. Horikawa will press, he will get close, he will work the hooks in the pocket, he will wrestle and he will throw a lot of leather. That leather will be thrown with bad intent and Horikawa will be giving Tada a real challenge, throwing down the gauntlet to fight. We think Tada will try to fight fire with fire, but will come up short, and will be out worked through out, with his toughness being relied up in the later stage, before he finally wilts. Prediction TKO9 Horikawa The fate of a prospect can vary massively. Many get marked for the top and some of them reach the stars, become the fighters that their team, and themselves believed they could be. We've seen it recently with a who's who of Japanese youngsters like Naoya Inoue and Kosei Tanaka, among others. Sadly not all touted youngsters go on to be a star, and instead of world titles they are battling to remain relevant, to make something of their career. That, unfortunately, appears to be the case with Riku Kano (14-4-1, 7), who debuted as a very young fighter in the Philippines, and would win a regional title aged 17, in Thailand. At the age of 18 he made his Japanese debut and in August 2016 he attempted to set a Japanese record as the youngster ever Japanese world champion. Unfortunately he lost that world title bout, being beaten by veteran Katsunari Takayama by technical decision. Since losing to Takayama Kano has gone 4-2, losing the two times he has stepped up in class. This weekend Kano, at the age of just 21, is essentially fighting to get his career back on track, taking on Indonesian journeyman Mektison Marganti (5-10-1, 3) for the WBC Youth Light Flyweight title. Another setback for Kano and his hopes of ever being a major success will be hanging by a thread, whilst a win gives his career a shot in the arm, and gives him his third title following reigns as the WBA Asia and OPBF interim champion. Whilst the loss to Takayama is completely understandable, especially at the age of 18, Kano has since gone on to suffer stoppage losses to Jerry Tomogdan and Shin Ono. Whilst he was competitive, in the early parts, for both of those bouts he came undone when the pressure picked up. Tomogdan broke him with body shots, dropping him in rounds 4 and 6, whilst Ono put pressure on him, and broke him down in 8 rounds, following a headbutt that Kano never seemed to recover from. Despite not liking pressure Kano is talented, he's a skilled youngster and that skill just hasn't managed to turn into the big results that his team, headed by former OPBF champion Taisei Marumoto, would have wanted. If he can put those skills to use he can go a long way, but if he keeps crumbling under-pressure he will, saldy, be regarded as a major under-achiever. We've focused a lot on Kano for what is a preview, and part of the reason for that is the fact Marganti doesn't bring a lot to the table. In fact we suspect that most wouldn't recognise his name at all. That's despite the fact he has shared the ring with some notable fighters, such as Wanheng Menayothin and Satanmuanglek CP Freshmart, twice. Like many Indonesian fighters he has been picked to play the role of a designated loser on Thai cards, and Australian cards, with a record of 0-5 outside of Indonesia. At the age of 23 Marganti, also known as Tyson Lahagu, seems to have found a role in boxing that suits him. Travelling, losing, but making the home fighters go rounds. We expect him to continue that role here. He's not as bad as a 5-10-1 record would suggest, but he's also not a fighter who has the tools move on to the next level. That is, unless, he can get a team around him who can really build his skills, and turn him into more than someone who puts in a sparring type effort. Given how Marganti goes rounds with good fighters we're not expecting an stoppag here from Kano, but we are expecting Kano's skills to be too much for the Indonesian. We're predicting a clear decision for Kano, who will hopefully show the skills that made him such a prospect early in his career. A win could help him build his confidence here, and hopefully help him rebuild his career going forward. Prediction UD10 Kano. The Light Flyweight division is one of the most interesting, with so many amazing fighters at the top of the division. It's perhaps not got the huge amounts of attention of some other divisions, but it is a brilliant weight class, for us the best in the sport right now. At the end of 2018 Tetsuya Hisada vacated the Japanese title, to pursue a world title fight, and is expected to face Carlos Canizales later this year. With Hisada vacating, rather than face mandatory challenger Kenichi Horikawa (38-15-1, 12), we'll see Horikawa battle against Satoru Todaka (9-2-4, 3) to crown a new champion, with that bout taking place on February 14th at the Korakuen Hall. Horikawa earned his shot by winning an eliminator back in October, stopping Koji Itagaki. On paper that win over Itagaki had set up a 4th clash with Hisada, before Hisada chose to vacate and chase a world title fight, giving Horikawa a shot at the vacant title. The 38 year old Horikawa, who debuted way back in 2000, is a true veteran of the ring with 54 fights. Despite suffering 15 losses in his 54 bouts Horikawa has truly fought a who's who, including Akira Yaegashi, Florante Condes, Edgar Sosa, Ryuji Hara, Noknoi CP Freshmart, Yu Kimura, Shin Ono, Kenshiro and the aforementioned Hisada. He typically comes up short against the top tier fighters, but did stop Shin Ono, holds 2 wins over Hisada and gave hell to Kimura and Kenshiro. Despite being 38 Horikawa has a really good energy and work rate. He comes forward a lot, uses decent upper body movement to apply pressure and looks to force a fight. Despite being an offensively minded fighter Horikawa is smart with his pressure and limits his output at times, trying to draw mistakes and get inside. His jab and hook are not what they once were in terms of speed, but he does have good timing and does enjoy having a fight. If, or when, he gets inside he can make things violent and rough, and that's when he's at his best, picking up the work rate and grinding people down. Todaka is a bit more of an unknown. The 29 year old made his debut back in 2014, losing to Yukiya Hanabusa, and hasn't really scored any wins of note. What he has done however is proven very tricky to beat, with only Hikaru Ota stopping Todaka. The loss to Ota actually tells us quite a lot about Todaka, who has adjusted his style since that defeat. Against Ota we saw Totaka get into a war, standing and trading and looking to go blow for blow with a pretty underrated fighter. Those blows resulted in a nasty cut that forced the doctor to stop the bout. Although Todaka's style has changed slightly he is still, for all intents, an aggressive fighter, who comes forward and throws a pretty decent volume of shots. He's not particularly heavy handed, quick or accurate, but he's aggressive, looks strong and pressures opponents on to the back fighter behind his guard and footwork. Sadly for Todaka it looks like his style is made to order for Horikawa, who very much a better version of Todaka. Both press the action both enjoy a war up close and both let their hands in range. Sadly for Todaka we can't see how he wins a war with Horikawa, who hits harder, is more experienced in that type of bout and physically stronger. If Todaka can instead use his younger legs, move in and out more and not try to march Horikawa down he has a chance, but the reality is that we see Todaka fighting Horikawa's fight, and losing. If we're right it would see Horikawa become a 2-time national champion, and potentially put himself in the mix for a bigger bout down the line. If Todaka can however shock us, he'll have a number of domestic fighters snapping at his heels for a title shot later in the year, such as Ryuto Oho or Taku Kuwahara. On February 11th fight fans in Hiroshima will get the chance to see a popular local fighter challenger for an OPBF title, in what is a real must win for the local, and the next stepping stone in the career of the champion. The champion in question is 26 year old Filipino Edward Heno (13-0-5, 5), the current OPBF Light Flyweight champion who will be taking on 35 year old challenger Koji Itagaki (18-13-3, 7). Another loss for Itagaki almost certainly ends his career, which began in 2005, whilst a win would be his defining achievement, and a huge upset. A win for Heno however would enhance his reputation and move him one more step towards a world title fight, in one of the sports most packed divisions. Heno won the title in September 2017, travelling to Japan and stopping Seita Ogido. Prior to winning the belt he had stopped the then 12-0 Cris Ganoza and been held to a very controversial draw with Ogido, having originally been announced as the winner before a scoring error was discovered. Since winning the title he has defended it against Merlito Sabillo and Jesse Espinas. In recent years Heno has proven to be a very talented boxer, with underrated power, a lot of confidence and a willingness to travel to prove himself, having travelled for both the bouts with Ogido and the bout with Sabillo. In the ring he's an accurate, sharp puncher, with smart defense and the ability to pick some fantastic counters. There's definitely areas to improve and work, but on the whole he's a fantastic young fighter who is hungry to prove himself, before getting a world title fight. It's clear he doesn't just expect a title shot, but feels the need to earn it. Itagaki has had a number of notable chances in the last few years. In 2017 he lost to Kenichi Horikawa, in a bout for the WBO Asia Pacific Light Flyweight title, and in 2018 he lost to the then Japanese champion Tetsuya Hisada, before at the end of the year to Horikawa in a Japanese title eliminator. In fact coming into this bout he is 2-4-1 in his last 7, going back more than 3 years. Unfortunately for Itagaki his record is reflective of his career, and he is a "win some lose some" fighter, who has mixed with good fighters, losing to the likes of Horikawa, Hisada, Rey Loreto, Suguru Munraka, and Warlito Parrenas, but unfortunately come up short against almost everyone of note. Despite his failings against decent fighters Itagaki isn't actually a bad fighter. For an older fighter he's light on his feet and has good a lovely quick jab. Sadly though he's a light puncher, he has to work incredibly hard for success and struggles to get respect from opponents. He certainly has the skills to make life difficult for opponents, but if a fighter can cut the ring off, they can really get to him. Likewise against a young, talented fighter, like Heno, we suspect that Itagaki's lack of physicality will be his down fall. We rate Heno incredibly highly and we're expecting him to show why he is so well regarded in the sport. We're expecting to see him show his speed,timing and variety to neutralise the movement of Itagaki, and force a late stoppage over the veteran. Yes Itagaki will be awkward early on, but as the pressure comes from Heno he'll slow down, and eventually be broken down. We don't expect to see Heno just look win, but instead we expect him to win in a way that makes a statement and begins to open the door to potential world title fights in Japan against WBA "super" champion Hiroto Kyoguchi or WBC champion Kenshiro. By - George Delis (@Delisketo) On January 5th, 2019, Thai veteran Suriyan Satorn returns to the ring and challenges Chinese rising star Jing Xiang for the WBC Silver Light Flyweight Championship. Suriyan Satorn (59-6/40 KOs), (Ed's note - Satorn is also known as Kompayak Porpramook) has been around the sport for most of his life. Began boxing at the age of 10, he made his pro debut before even turning 18 and within a year, he won Lumpinee Stadium’s Minimumweight title. Satorn is a boxer who likes to, as they say, fight inside a phone booth. He’s at his best when he comes head to head with his opponents and starts throwing body shots, picking them apart round by round. A perfect example of this was his match with Adrian Hernandez (30-5) for the WBC Light Flyweight World Championship in 2011. In what was an action packed affair, the Thai fighter kept working on the body of Hernandez, creating openings to land heavy blows to the head. During the tenth round, he had the champion hurt and proceeded to finish him of with an overhand left/right hook combination. After 11 years of fighting, Satorn was finally a World Champion. He marked one successful title defense against WBC International Champion Jonathan Taconing (28-3) before eventually losing the belt back to Hernandez. Kompayak Porpramook (as he’s also known) became a 2 division World Champion when he beat Jean Piero Perez (21-9) for the interim WBA Flyweight title in 2013. Much like his match with Hernandez, he kept punishing the body until he got him boxed in a corner and started peppering him repeatedly, forcing the referee to jump in and stop the fight. A few often changes in gyms and managers, forced him to be less active in the past 5 years and more focused on training other fighters, like Karoon Jarupianlerd (42-8) and Wittawas Basapean (33-8), both top ranked Thai boxers. Satorn made his definite comeback this past March against Siridech Deebook (17-6), this time for the WBC Light Flyweight Asia title. Despite some ring-rust and the fact that his rival was younger and way faster, he still managed to win the match. Deebook was attacking with reckless abandon and got dropped in the tenth round with a massive right hand, much to the joy of the Thai fans in attendance. In the end, Porpramook got the split decision and the belt. In their rematch however, 3 months later, Deebook was the one that got his hand raised. Satorn gets another opportunity at championship glory, this time against an even better opponent, in Jing Xiang (15-4/3 KOs). 2018 has been a quite successful year for the Chinese star as he, not only captured the vacant WBO Intercontinental title in January, but also earned a huge victory this past September, after outclassing former WBO Minimumweight World titlist Merlito Sabillo (27-6), to become the WBC Light Flyweight Silver champion, winning a very wide decision. Xiang likes to keep his distance (unlike Satorn) while throwing bombs, making every fight into a brawl, despite his luck of KO power. This fight will probably determine the future of both men. For the 36 year old Satorn, to win the WBC Silver title means finding himself once again in the world rankings. For Xiang, to defeat a 2 division champion, means one step closer to a world title opportunity. The Thai veteran clearly has the experience on his side, as well as the power advantage (Satorn has finished 62% of his fights, while Xiang only 14% of them). What he doesn’t have anymore though is that ferocity that he used to display during his big championship matches. That belongs to Xiang now. As we saw in his bouts with Deebook, Satorn has significantly slowed down and had trouble getting his game started. If he doesn’t shake that ring-rust off, Xiang (WBO Top 10/WBC Top 15) will walk right through him. So what will be the key factor here ? Experience ? Ferocity ? Power ? Speed ? We will get our answer this Saturday in China. There are some fighters we watch because they are world class fighters and have skills that few can match. There are also fighters we watch because we know they will provide an excite contest, no matter what. One fighter from that second group is in action on December 1st in what is supposedly a world title prelude, and his first defense of the WBO Asia Pacific Light Flyweight title. That man is Reiya Konishi (16-1, 6), who faces off with Filipino foe Richard Rosales (13-7-2, 7) in a bout that we suspect will be a lot more interesting than the records of the men suggest. In fact we're expecting this to be a thrilling, fun and somewhat competitive bout between men who are likely to match each other well. So far in 2018 Konishi has been involved in a couple of great bouts. The first saw him losing in a bout for the WBA "regular" Light Flyweight title against Carlos Canizales whilst the second saw him claim his WBO regional title, stopping Orlie Silvestre in the final round. For those who haven't seen Konishi before, those bouts are well worth a watch. They show Konishi's flaws, which are that he's easy to hit, doesn't hit particularly hard and gets involved in gruelling wars, along with his strengths, which are his great work rate, high levels of stamina, great heart, and fantastic body attack. We don't see Konishi having a long career near the top, or even at the top if he can go all the way, but we do expect to always enjoy his bouts, which are fought at a thrilling intensity. They can get messy, due to head clashes and some mauling, but they are really dull and often both men know they have been in a fight, and fans know they've seen something a bit brutal. Rosales on the other hand has had a year to forget, suffering losses to Vietnam's Tran Van Thao in January and to Fahlan Sakkreerin Jr in August, both in Thailand. Those losses have sandwiched a low key win against Delfin de Asis from May. Sadly for Roales his form on the road has been poor, going 0-3 in fights outside of the Philippines, and 13-4-2 (7) at home. Whether at home or away he lacks in terms of notable wins, and has suffered losses to every notable fighter he has faced, including Fahlan, Jayr Raquinel, Kwanpichit OngsongChaigym and Jake Bornea, likely explaining why Konishi's team have brought him to Japan for this bout. At his best Rosales can be a nightmare, and he did legitimately make Fahlan and Raquinel earn their wins, but he's not a fighter who gets over the winning line against decent competition. We're expecting to see him come to fight, but lack the fire power to get Konishi's respect. Instead we think Konishi will drag Rosales into a war and come out with a clear win, likely a wide decision or late stoppage. Konishi will likely end up cut, he usually does, but will well deserving of the win. On November 19th we'll see Ryuto Oho (11-4-1, 3) make his first defense of the Japanse Youth Light Flyweight title, as he takes on once beaten challenger Yuta Nakayama (6-1-1, 3) at the Korakuen Hall. For the champion it's a chance to build on recent wins over Hideyuki Watanabe and Tetsuya Tomioka, as well as recording his first defense, whilst Nakayama will be getting his first title fight and a chance to claim his first career silverware of any kind. The 23 year old champion has been around the Japanese scene for a while already, having debuted more than 6 years ago. His early career was full of promise and in 2013 he went on to claim the Japanese Rookie of the Year crown at Flyweight, picking up impressive wins against the then 6-0 Yuji Okinori in the East Japan final and the then 5-1-1 Yukiya Hanabusa in the All Japan final. Sadly that early promise faltered in 2014 when he suffered defeats to Joe Tanooka and Katsunori Nagamine, with a draw to Shuji Hamada being sandwiched between those two losses. A string of wins in 2015 and 2016 ended when he was out pointed by Yuta Matsuo and then, in 2017, he was stopped in a round by Seigo Yuri Akui. Thankfully his career has gotten back on track with his last two bouts both being wins, including his Youth title triumph. Oho is an aggressive fighter, who comes forward, looks to attack behind his jab and moves well. Sadly when he lets his bigger shots go he looks very open and wild, dropping his left hand when he throws his looping right over the top. Although he's quick he does look easy to time and his power doesn't look like it's hugely intimidating at this level. Whilst not massively powerful his aggression is exciting and he will break fighters down, though will need to hope he doesn't get caught before they wilt to his pressure. Nakayama turns 23 just days before this fight, but he'll know that this is a great chance to make his mark on the domestic scene at such an early stage in his career. He debuted in July 201 and went 1-1-1 through his first 3 bouts, but has rebuilt brilliantly with 5 straight wins. Those wins include a decision victory over Tatsuhiro Toguchi and a stoppage victory over Filipino Powell Balaba. Not only has he reeled off a string of wins, but he has stopped 3 of those 5 opponents, suggesting that he's finding some power in his shots too, and it's likely that he's starting to develop his man strength and correct his punching technique. This is however a step up in class, and we'll have to see how he copes with a fighter as talented and as skilled as Oho. Nakayama is a good mover, who is light on his feet, protects himself well and is able to make opponents miss, and make them pay. He is a little loopy with some of his punches but they still have a crispness to them that look like they would pick holes in a defensively flawed fighter, or a fighter who falls short when attacking him. His movement is really his key strength and impressively he appears to be able to stay on his toes pretty well, even if an opponent is pressing him hard. Oho is the more well known fighter but stylistically we suspect he will be in trouble here. His pressure is made to order for Nakayama, who we suspect will pick him apart when he comes forward and will counter him regularly before forcing a stoppage in the later stages. Oho will have some real moments early on, but we see him tiring and being stopped, with Nakayama taking control as soon as Oho slows down a touch. |
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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