Although not one of Japan's deepest divisions the Light Welterweight division is slowly warming up, with a domestic scene being lead by current champion Hiroki Okada (13-0, 10), given that Keita Obara has out done the domestic picture with an OPBF reign and a world title fight. As the champion Okada has already notched 5 defenses and scored notable wins over the likes of Hayato Hokazono, Masanobu Nakazawa and Koichi Aso. On November 1st he looks to extend that reign and secure his 6th defense, as he battled veteran Valentine Hosokawa (20-5-3, 9), in what will impressively be the champion's 4th defense of 2016. Okada won the Japanese title back in March 2014, when he took a wide and clear decision win over Masayoshi Kotake. Since then his career has really been on an upward trajectory, despite a lay off in 2015 when he broke his hand in sparring Yoshitaka Kato. That rise has seen him not only record 5 defenses of the Japanese title but also break into the world rankings, with the WBO listing him in their top 15, and receive some genuine international interest. In the ring Okada isn't a hugely frightening proposition and he won't attempt to steam roll opponents, however that certainly doesn't mean he's not a good fighter. Unlike many fighters with real power Okada doesn't chase a stoppage, in fact quite often he fights as a counter puncher, with devastating shots off the backfoot, as fighters like Nakazawa and Aso can attest to. On the backfoot his uppercutt is something special. Although naturally a counter-puncher he can also fight going forward, but is very much a basic fighter going forward, using his straight punches to break down fighters. Blessed with heavy hands, a good boxing brain and nice hand speed Okada is a handful, despite being flawed and not the quickest mover in the ring. On the Japanese domestic scene he is the king but now has fighters chasing him, like Daishi Nagata, and we could be on the verge of a really exciting period at 140lbs in Japan, something we've not really had in recent years. At 35 years old the challenger will be coming into his third, and potentially final, title bout. His previous two both came back in 2013 when he was stopped in a Japanese title fight by Shinya Iwabuchi and then in OPBF title fight by Min Wook Kim, with both fights being damaging contests for Hosokawa. Since those defeats he has gone 4- (1) with a win over recent title challenger Cristiano Aoqui and a narrow loss to Noriaki Sato. At his very best Hosokawa was a really tough, solid and game fighter. He however wasn't a top fighter and lacked any really outstanding quality. He wasn't a big puncher, he wasn't the quickest and he didn't have exceptional skills. He was though a grinder, with a good engine, a fantastic will to win and a never say die attitude. His two losses in title bouts showed his flaws, and took some of his prime, but also showed that he wasn't going to ever just lie down in the ring, even when a bout looked like a lost caused. Sadly Hosokawa is several years removed from his best, he's a 10 year professional with serious mileage on the clock and we think that mileage will be added to here before he suffers his third career stoppage, likely quicker than his previous two given that he's now 3 years older than he was back then. Hopefully for Okada a win here will actually end with him dropping the title and hunting OPBF title bouts in 2017, rather than face a third bout with Aso.
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The Japanese Light Welterweight scene is one that doesn't get a lot of attention, but is interesting at the moment with several fighters starting to break through the ranks, such as Daishi Nagata Noriaki Sato and Shuichiro Yoshino whilst at the top of the tree is future world title challenger Keita Obara. One man looking to move in the same direction as Obara is current Japanese national champion Hiroki Okada (12-0, 10), who returns to the ring this coming Monday to seek the 5th defense of his title as he takes on Japanese-Brazilian Cristiano Aoqui (11-4-2, 7). Okada has slowly but surely been making a name for himself among Japanese domestic fans, and with good reason. He's an exciting, talented and heavy handed fighter who seems like he could, potentially, go a very long way. Unlike many punchers Okada isn't at his best coming forward but, instead, fighting as a counter puncher with his boxing on the back foot being his strength. Saying that however he can fight on the front foot when he needs to. The 26 year old from Tokyo has started to string together some genuinely notable wins including victories over Masayoshi Kotake, Koichi Aso, twice, Hayato Hokazono and Masanobu Nakazawa. Not only has he been putting together really good domestic wins but he has been scoring stoppages over good domestic fighters too, with Aso being stopped in 7 rounds earlier this and Nakazano lasting less than 3. At the moment he's the top guy domestically, though of course he's behind Obara who has progressed well beyond the Japanese domestic scene, however we suspect he'll be looking to move beyond the domestic scene and hunt an OPBF title in the near future and take on the top guys from the region. Whilst we have seen plenty of Okada the same cannot be said of Aoqui who has most fought at the lower levels of the Japanese scene since making his debut almost a decade ago. On paper his record isn't great however he back his career 4-2-1 (3), with both of those losses coming by stoppage, however he has since gone 7-2-1 (4) with both of those recent losses being very narrow decision defeats. Whilst he has suffered defeats, in fact losing as recently as last December, Aoqui has been scored notable wins beating Koicho Ogawa, Quaye Peter and Ryosuke Takami in the last 2 years. Although on on paper Aoqui doesn't look like a puncher the footage of him out there certainly shows a man who can whack, particularly with the uppercut which he used to devastating effect against Takafumi Yamada in a 58 second blow out win 3 years ago. The uppercut really is his danger punch though he does have heavy looking hooks and seems to be the aggressive sort of fighter than can make for an exciting type of fight. Saying that however he is flawed, technically his punches leave him open and his footwork is sloppy, and even slow at times Given the aggressive and front foot nature of Aoqui we suspect he'll play right into the hands of Okada who we think will stop him in the middle rounds with a devastating counter punch. Notably this bout will be streamed over the BoxingRaise website and for fans interested in watching that appears to be the only way of seeing the bout, unless you have a ticket to the Korakuen Hall for the show Over the last few years we have seen a lot of attention in Japanese boxing focus on the very lowest weights, and with good reason given their wealth of talent at the lower weights. The domestic scene has however been interesting in some of the heavier weights with the 140lb Light Welterweight division being a particularly interesting one. The star is, of course, Keita Obara who looks set to fight for a world title this summer. Below him however is a really fascinating division with numerous notable, exciting, talented and promising fighters, such as the promising trio of Koki Inoue, Shuichiro Yoshino and Yuki Konami, the exciting but flawed contenders like Shinya Iwabuchi and Shuhei Tsuchiya and the heavy handed Yoshimichi Matsumoto. On April 19th we see two of the most notable Japanese domestic fighters at the weight collide, for the second time, in a mandatory title defense that could, potentially, be the fight of the week. The bout in question sees unbeaten champion Hiroki Okada (11-0, 9) [岡田 博喜] defend his belt against the ultra-aggressive Koichi Aso (20-6-1, 13) [麻生 興一], with the bout being Okada's 4th defense of the title and Aso's second shot at the belt. In their first bout Okada narrowly over-came Aso, with a 10 round decision that saw all 3 judges score the bout 96-94 to the champion. Since then both fighters hack racked up a pair of stoppage wins, with Okada defending his title twice and looking like a fighter who is making great strides in his development. Aged 26 the champion really is a fighter with a lot of potential. That potential has helped him gain a WBO world ranking and score several wins of note, including his first win over Aso and recent stoppages over Hayato Nakazano and Masanobu Nakazawa. He may not have major wins on the international stage but we suspect that that's where he will be heading later in the year with an OPBF title shot likely to come in the next 12-18 months. Sadly his development was slowed last year, due to a hand injury, but he looked better than ever when he stopped Nakazawa back in January. Okada is heavy handed but appears to be a fighter who simply has heavy hands, rather than a fighter who throws with bad intentions. As a result he has shown he can box, he move and looks to be a natural counter puncher, making him even more dangerous than just his power. In Aso we have a man who really is flawed but yet has a box office style with a lot of aggression, plenty of power and a somewhat questionable chin. He has been stopped in half of his losses, including an opening round defeat to Shinya Iwabuchi though strangely suffered all 3 of those stoppages in his first 3 defeats. Since then it appears his defense, as opposed to his chin, has improved yet he is still an “in your face” fighter with an aggressive, pressure style that is incredibly fun to watch. Since the loss to Okada back in 2014 Aso hasn't been massively active, with 15 combined rounds, but at 30 years old, and with his style, the inactivity has likely helped him rather than hindered him coming in to this bout. He's not been taking damage, he's been giving his body time to relax and he's been able to plan for another big fight. Given the styles of the men we are expecting this one to be very fun. Aso will, as always, come forward and whilst we suspect he will have some success we can't help but think that Okada's clean counters, especially from his uppercutts, will take their toll on the challenger who will eventually succumb to the champion. We could see Aso grinding down Okada but we suspect Okada will retain his title in style and score a more impressive win over Aso than he did in their first meeting. The 140lb division goes by many names, including “Light Welterweight”, our preferred option, “Junior Welterweight” and “Super Lightweight”, it also has has a history of having great fights and some explosive fighters. On February 11th we potentially get another great fight in the division as the OPBF title is put on the line for a fight between Japan's exciting Shinya Iwabuchi (26-5, 22) [岩渕 真也] and Filipino banger Al Rivera (14-2, 12), who trade blows for the vacant title. For Iwabuchi it'll be his third shot an OPBF title, having previously been a Japanese national champion, whilst Rivera will be fighting in his first OPBF title bout, though has previously held the PBF 135lb title. From the records it's clear that both men can bang. Iwabuchi sports a 71% KO rate with stoppages against the likes of Romeo Jakosalem, Jimrex Jaca, Valentine Hosokawa, and Koichi Aso, who was stopped inside a round by Iwabuchi. Rivera on the other hand holds a 75% KO rate, including a notable but controversial KO win against countryman Adones Cabalquinto. Between them they have only heard the final bell on 9 occasions*. Of the two men it's fair to describe Iwabuchi as the more proven. The 30 year old Japanese southpaw has shared the ring with the likes of countryman Keita Obara and South Korean slugger Min Wook Kim, who beat beat him in OPBF title fights, as well as the stoppage victims mentioned above. Rivera however is the younger man, at just 22, and will be riding high in confidence after his win over Cabalquinto last November. Not only is Iwabuchi the more proven but he's also naturally the bigger and tougher. His only stoppage loss came to the monstrously hard hitting Obara, whilst he dug in for 12 rounds against Kim, whilst Rivera has been stopped twice, including an opening round defeat on his debut at 130lbs. Given that both men like to throw heavy shots, and can be hurt, we really don't see this one going the distance. Instead we suspect we'll see a short but exciting fight, with the visitor being the early aggressor, Iwabuchi soaking up the aggression before firing back in rounds 4 and 5 eventually stopping a tiring Rivera in the middle rounds of a thrilling fight. The exchanges will be violent and the action intense. Don't miss this one when it's shown on Fuji TV later in the month. *Iwabuchi holds a technical decision win. We're now a couple of weeks into the new year and it's only now we're looking at the first Japanese title fight of 2016, a fight that sees titles being unified with an interim title being unified with a real title, and only one man being able to claim they are the champion. Unlike the WBA the JBC only use interim titles where necessary. Last year saw one such occasion as Japanese 140lb champion Hiroki Okada (10-0, 8) suffered a serious injury in training and instead of leaving the title scene on ice the JBC put together an interim title bout between Masanobu Nakazawa and Masayoshi Kotake, with Kotake having been lined up to fight Okada before the champion's injury. Sadly for Kotake he came up short against Nakazawa (18-1-1, 7) who will be hoping to turn his interim reign into a true reign as champion. Coming in to this it will Nakazawa who is full of confidence. The 33 year old Teiken fighter has won his last 15 bouts and is unbeaten in more than 5 years, with his sole defeat being in his 5th professional bout to Shuhei Tsuchiya. Not only is he on a good run but he'll also feel that the win over Kotake, last September, has helped make him as a fighter and proven that he belongs in title bouts. In the ring Nakazawa is a tall boxer who has shown respectable power, good skills, nice movement and he seems to know how to use his 5'11” frame to great effect. He does however have question marks about his chin, due to his defeat being a 2nd round KO loss, and about how he fares against good opponents, with the win over Kotake being easily his most notable victory. At 26 years old Okada is seen as one of the more promising Japanese fighters in and around the Welterweight division. He began his career with 7 straight stoppage wins before going the distance against Kotake in a bout that saw Okada win the Japanese title. Since then he has defended the belt twice taking a hard fought decision over Koichi Aso, aka Shamgar Koichi, and a 3rd round TKO over Hayato Hokazono. That win over Hokazono was an impressive performance but came back in March 2015 and he has been out of the ring since, and has only had 23 rounds of boxing in the last 24 months. At his best Okada is really exciting, aggressive and heavy handed fighter. He takes risks and makes a fight a fight. At his best we really don't see him losing to a fighter like Nakazawa, however questions regarding his inactivity and mental state following the hand injury will be hanging over his head here, will he through the power shots or will he be afraid of re-injuring his hand, which was damaged on the head of stablemate Yoshitaka Kato. If Okada is the fighter he looked like being against Hokazono we see him taking out Nakazawa in the middle rounds. If however he lacks that little bit of sharpness and has a bit of weariness about his hand then Nakazawa could find himself extending his current winning run to 16 bouts. Boxing can be a funny sport at times. Earlier this year Japanese Light Welterweight champion Hiroki Okada was preparing for the third defense of his national title, those preparations however ended early when he damaged his hand on the shaven skull of sparring partner, and stablemate, Yoshitaka Kato. The injury to Okada has proven to be a relatively serious one and rather than await his return to fitness the JBC have allowed the man he was preparing to fight Masayoshi Kotake (9-9-2, 5) to fight for the interim title. Kotake however will not be handed the interim title, or matched easily for it, instead he will be facing the once beaten Masanobu Nakazawa (17-1-1, 7) for the belt. On paper Kotake looks like a poor contender. He has won just 45% of all his bouts and is certainly not a star in the making. It is notable however that he has mixed with some very good competition such as Okada, Shinya Iwabuchi, Akihiro Kondo and Jimrex Jaca. Sadly whilst his competition has been good it doesn't defend his form, which includes just 1 win in his last 5 bouts. Although clearly not the best fighter Kotake does have some things going his way. He's tough, and has never been stopped, he has a real grittiness to his fighting and he does hit harder than his record suggests. On paper he has a 25% KO rate but all of his wins since 2011 have come by stoppage, those wins have coincided with him being scheduled for more than 6 rounds. Another thing to note about Kotake is that he's a 28 year old Southpaw. So he's younger than his 33 year old foe, and has that tricky advantage of being a southpaw. With an impressive looking record fans will typically favour Nakazawa. He's not been beaten since his 5th professional bout and is actually on an impressive 14-0 run dating back more than 4 years. Unfortunately however his competition has been weak to say the least with his best wins coming against the likes of Tetsuya Hasunuma, who holds a win over Kotake, and Kazuya Soma. The one name fans will recognise form Nakazawa's record is Shuhei Tsuchiya, a man who actually stopped Nakazawa in the 2nd round of their meeting back in November 2010. It was a Rookie of the Year bout but one that does stand out as being Nakazawa's only notable contest so far. Whilst it may be unfair to use that bout to point out flaws it needs to be said the he didn't seem happy at his corner throwing in the towel after he easily beat the 10 count. Footage of both is fairly limited but, on the whole, Nakazawa look a better boxer. The test however is going to be whether or not he can fight for 10 rounds against a tough southpaw with under-rated power. In many ways Nakazawa, although the better man on paper, is stepping up significantly and given his age he may know that this really is a must win bout. For Kotake a loss will likely be the end of his title hopes, though we suspect he'll come into the ring full of confidence and may well look to apply the pressure from the off. We favour Nakazawa but wouldn't back him too strongly given that this really is his first test since the Tsuchiya bout almost 5 years ago. (Image courtesy of boxmob.jp) Keita Obara looks to defend OPBF title against Yuya Okazaki, but is it a foregone conclusion?3/30/2015 Boxing has a number of fearsome punchers across all levels of the sport. At the elite level we of course have Gennady Golovkin and Servey Kovalev, as well as Shinsuke Yamanaka and Keith Thurman. At the Oriental level we have the thunderously heavy handed Keita Obara (13-1, 12) who seems to destroy what he hits time and time again. On March 13th fans get the next chance to see Obara in action as he looks to make the second defence of his OPBF Light Welterweight title and over-come the relatively unknown Yuya Okazaki (11-7-1, 4), who is looking for the biggest win of his career. Obara certainly isn't the biggest name at 140lbs though he is among the biggest punchers in the division and he certainly has vicious lights out power. As well as that power he has impressive skills, movement and speed. We're not going to try and make out that Obara is a slippery and wonderful counter puncher but he's a solid boxer-puncher with a lot of variety in his shots. One thing Obara has that many of the other promising fighters in the division don't have is a loss. This was suffered on his debut when he came up short against Kazuyoshi Kumano. In that bout Obara showed his inexperience and appeared over-confident before blowing his wad and being stopped out on his feet. Since that bout however the Japanese fighter has developed significantly with his pacing and stamina. There are still flaws in what Obara does. His right hand can be rather wide at times and he does drop his left hand more than he should. With his power, movement and counter-punching ability he does punish opponents if they fail to make him pay for his mistakes. And when we say makes them pay we really mean it, as seen when he iced Shinya Iwabuchi last year with a thundering combination in the 12th round of their bout last year. Incidentally it was the bout with Iwabuchi that answered a number of questions regarding Obara's stamina. Unfortunately we don't know much about Okazaki who is, genuinely, one of the most obscure OPBF title challengers we've seen recently. His record suggests he's nothing special with 7 losses in 19 fights and unfortunately for him it's not just the numbers that suggest his limitations but also his opposition. In fact with losses to Shoji Kawase, a debuting Accel Sumiyoshi, Kazuya Maruki and, more recently a stoppage loss to Hayato Hokazono it's hard to see what Okazaki has in his locker. In fact having gone 3-5 in his last 8 we really do wonder what “qualifies” him as a challenger. Notably the 3-5 run of Okazaki in his last 8 does included his best win to date, a very close decision win over Daiki Koide. That, on paper, is a solid win though we can't imagine Koide being any threat at all to Obara so a narrow win over him tells us little about how Okazaki would cope with Obara. Even though we view him as a major under-dog there are a few interesting little details about Okazaki which are worth making a note of. Firstly he's one of the few fighters that will be taller than Obara Light Welterweight, stood at 5'11” Okazaki is a tall fighter and boasts a ½″ height advantage over Obara. He is also a southpaw which could give Obara some issues, however he won't the first southpaw to face Obara who has already faced 4 southpaws, including Iwabuchi and Jay Solmiano. Everything about this fight points towards an easy, mid-round stoppage for Obara who is too powerful, too proven and too good for Okazaki. On the other hand there is one question about the champion, how easily does he make 140lbs? We suspect this could be his last fight at the weight before he makes a permanent move to 147lbs where he will be more comfortable than he is at 140lbs. (Image courtesy of boxmob.jp) The Japanese domestic scene in Light Welterweight division isn't the strongest. In fact it's pretty weak except for a small number of notable fighters. One of those is Keita Obara, a brilliantly hard puncher with world class potential whilst another is the exciting but flawed Shinya Iwabuchi. Below those two men the division is mostly prospects and hopefuls such as current Japanese champion Hiroki Okada (9-0, 7). At the end of this week Okada attempts to make his second defence since winning the title almost a year ago to the day and attempts to over-come the more experienced though some what limited Hayato Hokazono (18-4-1, 11), a man who was twice beaten by Obara. Okada began his career in brilliant fashion stopping his first 7 opponents including the experienced Heri Andriyanto and the tough Jaypee Ignacio. His stoppage run only came to an end last year when he stepped up to title level and was take the distance by the tough Masayoshi Kotake. Although Kotake took Okada 10 rounds he couldn't over-come the unbeaten man. Okada was also taken the distance in his first defence, as he over-came Shamgar Koichi in a very competitive match up. Although Okada has gone the distance in his last 2 bouts it's clear he can punch and that the 20 of championship quality action will have helped him mature and develop as a fighter. Those bouts will have boosted his confidence and made him realise he can do 10 rounds. The 28 year old Hokazono will be fighting in his second title fight having been stopped in 4 rounds by Keita Obara in a bout for the vacant title a little less than 2 years ago. That was the second meeting between Hokazono and Obara and lasted just 4 rounds, half as long as their first meeting just 5 months earlier. The stoppages to Obara account for 2 of Hokazono's 3 stoppage losses, though the other came more than 8 years ago as he was stopped by Makoto Yoshida. Hokazono isn't a great fighter but he also isn't terrible and his stand out win is over Kazuyoshi Kumano, a solid but unspectacular fighter himself, though like the champion he does hit hard enough to make opponents respect him. What we're expecting to see is a promising champion over-coming some real adversity here to prove that he's on his way up. Hokazono isn't a fringe world class fighter, nor is he even really a contender on the oriental scene, however he is experienced enough to make life very difficult for an inexperienced young fighter like Okada, who has a lot to learn before he thinks about moving beyond the Japanese domestic scene. (Image courtesy of boxmob.jp) Sometimes we get over-excited about bouts and feel disappointed when they don't live up to our lofty expectations. This happens and we know we're to blame for expecting more of fighters and fights. Sometimes however we get a feeling that something special will happen, our expectations won't just be met but will be exceeded. What we expect will be a war will be something even more brutal and exciting that we could have dreamt of. We think that on August 11th Japanese fans may get one of those super special bouts as two huge punching, aggressively minded young fighters collide in an opportunity to prove themselves as the best 140lb fighter in the Orient and even move into, or up the, world rankings. Going in to the bout the current and defending champion will be Keita Obara (11-1, 10), a 27 year old fighter from the Misako Gym. Obara was a top amateur with 55 wins from 70 bouts and was tipped for success as soon as he turned pro. Unfortunately he was matched incredibly hard on his debut and suffered a 5th round stoppage loss to the very experienced Kazuyoshi Kumano. Since then however Obara has developed mentally to become one of the most destructive fighters on the Japanese fight scene. Since his sole loss Obara has scythed through his opponents with 10 stoppages in 11 subsequent bouts. Those stoppages haven't just come against limited foes either and have included wins over the likes of the very heavy handed Kengo Nagashima, a very tough guy, and Tetsuya Hasunuma, the only man to survive beyond 8 rounds with Obara. Those string of wins have also seen him claim the Japanese title, which he defended twice, and the OPBF title which he will be hoping to defend for the first time. Although not technically the most talented fighter, Obara's power is genuinely potent and he's a scary man to get in the ring with. He can box on the back, box on the move or take the fight straight to you and his sole loss was down to maturity as opposed to skills or a weak chin. He tired himself out against a man who brought a lot of pressure to him and crumbled. Since then he has improved remarkably. Challenging for the belt is another big puncher, Shinya Iwabuchi (23-4, 19). Iwabuchi is a 29 year old who didn't have the notable amateur success that Obara did though like Obara he too lost on debut, in fact Iwabuchi lost his first 2 professional contests. Since then however he developed into a very talented fighter and only lost twice, once to Daiki Koide in a notable step up, and once to Min Wook Kim in an OPBF title fight. Of his bouts so far it's the Kim fight that was most interesting. The two men traded shots in one of the most exciting battles of 2013. Both men, at times, looked tired but both bit down on their gum shields to take part in an amazing fight that really didn't deserve a loser. It proved both men could take shots as well as throw them and it proved what the OPBF title really meant to both men. Iwabuchi is the slightly more cautious of the two men here, at least to begin with. Iwabuchi will happily move under pressure and then strike like a cobra to take his chance to unload when an opening appears, as shown in his brilliant opening round victory against Shamgar Koichi. It was in that fight in particular, a Strongest Korakuen Final, that Iwabuchi's handspeed and combinations really stood out as he drew Koichi in then unloaded a maelstrom of punches to send his foe down after hurting him. Soon afterwards the referee had to stop the action. What we have is not just two powerful puncher but we also have contrasting styles behind their power. For Iwabuchi his power and speed in combinations is destructive though in parts of fights he can get lazy and possible draw an opponent in to him. For Obara we have a heavy handed fighter who appears to have better 1-punch power but does lack experience has question marks over his stamina due to the fact he's been blowing opponents out. We also have 2 men looking for their biggest win. For Iwabuchi this is a chance to claim an OPBF title at the second time of asking whilst for Obara his reword is a probable top 15 world ranking with the WBO and possibly also the WBC. Both guys are hungry, but guys are young and both guys know what the other brings to the ring. What we're expecting is a thriller and, unsurprisingly, we don't expect this to go the distance. It will be violent, explosive and we expect both guys will be hurt at some point. We're not sure who will win but we know the fans will enjoy this one for as long as it goes on. It really will be something very special and in fact it's likely to be one of those FOTY contenders that only the lucky few who get to see it live will really appreciate. The bout will headline Dangan 110 and we expect that it will be worth the ticket price by it's self, amazingly however it has been coupled with a brilliant Japanese Super Flyweight title fight as well. (Image courtesy of Dangan boxing) In boxing we sometimes have match ups that scream "exciting" and the upcoming Japanese Light Welterweight title fight between unbeaten champion Hiroki Okada (8-0, 7) and top ranked challenger Shamgar Koichi (18-5-1, 11) is certainly one such fight. The champion, defending his title for the first time, is a heavy handed but crude fighter. There is a lot of work to do if Okada is ever going to get beyond the domestic level but whether he wins or loses he's going to be a lot of fun to follow as he attempts to behead his opponents. Watching Okada early in his career he looked very flawed. He would often miss his opponents by a notable margin before eventually landing on them and staggering them or forcing the referee to step in mid-flurry, as was the case when he beat Jaypee Ignacio. He has managed to develop some skills to add to his power but at the moment his is still mainly a slugger though one who has gone 18 rounds in his last 2 fights. As well as slugging and throwing wild shots Okada is a come forward fighter first and foremost. It may be harsh to say this but we don't think he was ever really taught how to box on the back foot or how to fight as a counter puncher. Whilst Okada is an aggressive fighter so to is Koichi who always seems to be applying pressure, always tries to get on the inside and always tries to make the action exciting. Sometimes it works in his favour, as in his thrilling bout with Tomohiko Sakai back in 2012. Sometimes however it doesn't work and Koichi gets clipped then taken apart, as seen in his fight with Shinya Iwabuchi. Koichi's pressure isn't the most controlled or intelligent but it is persistent and he comes comes at you from the first round to the last in the hope of beating you up or being stopped himself. Like Okada his flaws are clear and although he has a decent KO rate he lacks the power to really make the most of his in your face style. It's possibly however the "relative" lack of power that makes Koichi so much fun to watch, especially in the exchanges which can pretty relentless back-and-forth action. When you get a crude but heavy handed guy and a pressure fighter in the ring together you tend to get excitement and fireworks and we're oing to be expecting both of those when the men get it on. As for a winner we need to go with the puncher. Koichi has been stopped in 3 of his 5 losses and with Okada's heavy hands we expect him to be stopped again though not before we get some really good action from both men. (Image courtesy of http://www.kadoebi.com) |
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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