Miura blows away Dib, Murata stops Ataide, Yaegashi blows away Thai but Ao gets stopped in the US5/2/2015 Tokyo, Japan The first show involving Asian fighters this month came from the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo where fans get a genuine treat that combined a a trio of notable main bouts as well as some early blow outs on the under-card. We won't pretend it was the most competitive card of all time but the local fans certainly enjoyed what they saw, as did fans watching tape-delayed footage on Fuji TV. The show began with a series of 4 rounders, from those bouts only one went the distance as Seiyu Gunji (1-0-1, 1) fought to a majority draw with Shinya Ito (3-1-1). The other 3 bouts over the shorter distance ended in clear fashion. The shortest saw Kazuto Nakane (3-2, 3) scoring a 2nd round KO against Chikashi Takahashi (0-2), whilst Yuichi Kiyama (3-1-1, 3) scored a 3rd round KO against Raiki Kameyama (3-3, 2) and Mao Kawanishi (2-1, 1) scored his first stoppage, also with a 3rd round KO, against Takahiro Onjuku (2-4, 1). In the sole 6 round on the card fans saw the 2014 Bantamweight Rookie of the Year Ryohei Takahashi (6-1-1) easily out point Hokuto Sakata (5-5-1, 3) with a dominant 1-sided decision. Despite the early career stoppage loss on his record we've been impressed with Takahashi and hope to see him step up through the ranks this year as it's clear he has talent, even if he does lack power. The first notable name in action was former WBC Minimumweight and former WBC Flyweight champion Akira Yaegashi (21-5, 11) who made the move up to Super Flyweight following a less than successful campaign at Light Flyweight last year. The extra weight didn't seem to slow down Yaegashi who made very light work of Thai foe Songsaenglek Phosuwangym (18-12, 5)*. The Thai was dropped hard at the end of the opening round before being knocked out part way through the 2nd round as Yaegashi scored a high-light real finish. This was a clear mismatch but we can forgive Yaegashi for taking an easy fight following the past few years which has seen him fight a relative murder's row. The second major bout saw WBC Super Featherweight champion Takashi Miura (29-2-2, 22) score one of his most impressive victories and record the 4th defense of his world title. Miura was fighting former IBF Featherweight champion Billy Dib (39-4-0-1, 23) and managed to really make an impression with a 3rd round TKO that left many fans realising just how good Miura is. The fight started slowly but ended in spectacular fashion with Miura dropping Dib in high-light reel fashion. To his credit Dib did recover to his feet but was rightfully stopped and ruled unfit to continue as he stumbled across the ring. In the main event of the show we saw Japanese Olympic gold medal winner Ryota Murata (7-0, 5) score a sensational 5th round TKO victory over world ranked Brazilian Douglas Damiao Ataide (13-2-1, 6). We thought this had the potential to be a banana skin for Murata but the Japanese fighter bided his time, applied intelligent pressure for 4 rounds and then suddenly went through the gears at the start of round 5, dropping Ataide in the opening seconds and then flooring him again before he recovered his senses. The referee then stopped the bout to give Murata one of his most noteworthy wins to date. Las Vegas, USA Sadly things ended badly for Teiken fighters with Takahiro Ao (27-4-1, 12) suffering his first stoppage defeat courtesy of Mexican fighter Raymundo Beltran (30-7-1, 18). Ao, fighting for the WBO Lightweight title, looked under-sized from the opening bell and it showed in the second round when Beltran dropped him hard. Ao should his heart by getting back up and continuing but Beltran smelled blood and went for the kill, eventually forcing the referee to save Ao who was out on his feet and taking bombs. Sadly the belt remains vacant due to the fact Beltran failed to make weight for the bout. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) *Boxrec 's record is incomplete.
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Shinsuke Yamanaka retains world title whilst Takahiro Ao takes a huge step towards another10/22/2014 Tokyo, Japan We've got to admit that we love big mid-week fights. There is something unique about waking up on a Wednesday or Thursday morning and looking forwards to grown men trading punches in the search of title glory and when it's a world title bout between two world class fighters. That's exactly what we had earlier today when WBC Bantamweight champion Shinsuke Yamanaka (22-0-2, 16) took a hard fought but relatively clear decision win over Thailand's teak tough Suriyan Sor Rungvisai (37-6-1, 16), a former WBC Super Flyweight champion himself. Suriyan came in to the bout as a huge under-dog with betting firms though was the mandatory challenger and came in with real determination to win by bullying and applying constant pressure on Yamanaka. At times it worked wonderfully for the Thai though at the end of the day the power differential between Yamanaka, one of the sports premier punchers pound-for-pound, and Suriyan, a former world title challenger at Flyweight proved the difference with Yamanaka scoring knockdowns in rounds 7,8 and 9 to ease his way over the finishing line. Although Yamanaka did have a serious test he was never close to losing though will have a new found respect for the Thai. In the co-feature we saw another collision of world class fighters as former 2-weight world champion Takahiro Ao (27-3-1, 12) claimed a tough decision win over former 2-time Super Featherweight champion Juan Carlos Salgado (26-4-1-1, 16). The bout was widely viewed as an unofficial world title eliminator and it's fair to say that Ao will be weighing up his options to fight a world champion at 135lbs, or fight in an official eliminator, in 2015. For Ao this was his 4th win since he lost the WBC Super Featherweight title to Gamaliel Diaz back in 2012, almost 2 years ago to the day. As for Salgado this now sees him falling to 1-2 in Japan following a shock win over Jorge Linares back 2009 and a subsequent loss to Takashi Uchiyama in 2010. Whilst the show's top 2 bouts when the distance the chief support bout didn't as the very heavy handed Kenichi Ogawa (13-1, 11) took care of Ribo Takahata (10-5-1, 2) in the 7th round of their scheduled 8 rounder. Ogawa has now won 5 successive bouts since his sole defeat a little more than 2 years ago whilst Takahata has continued on his win one-lose one pattern that goes back 10 fights! The only 6 rounder on the show was the closest bout on the score cards saw Kenta Yamada (7-4) taking a 6 round majority decision over Takushige Sato (5-6-1, 2) in a very competitive contest that saw the judges scoring the bout 58-57, twice, and 57-57 As with most shows the bulk of this card was 4 rounders, in fact there was a trio of them though combined they lasted just 8 rounds. Only one of the 4 rounders went the distance saw Masayoshi Yamasaki (1-1) scoring his first win as he over-came the still win-less Katsuaki Kinoshita (0-5) in a very 1-sided 4 rounder scored 40-35 by all of the judges. A second of the early bouts ended in the 3rd round as Masato Nunotani (1-1, 1) saw off the previously unbeaten Kohei Isozaki (1-1) whilst it took Yutaka Motoyoshi (4-8, 4) just 32 seconds to finish Tatsushi Kagawa (4-8-1, 1). (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Osaka, Japan Not many days this year were as highly anticipated as Wednesday 23rd April and the world title double header at the Castle Hall in Osaka. The show was one that seemed to have boxing fans around the world excited and whether you were American, British, Belgian, Spanish, Mexican, Irish, Japanese or Thai you almost certainly had some interest in what happened. What ended up happening split emotion like very, very few shows ever will. We had pure sadness felt by everyone in the arena and we had the joy of one of Japanese boxing's current elite fighters. The sadness was that felt for former WBC Bantamweight and Featherweight champion Hozumi Hasegawa (33-5, 15) who was stopped in his attempt to become a 3-weight world champion. Hasegawa, fighting against Spain's IBF Super Bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez (31-4, 23), looked only like a shadow of the man who had once dominated the Bantamweight division. Although as game and as fast as ever Hasegawa simply didn't have the legs or energy to hold off the marauding Spaniard who scored a knockdown in round 2 that seemed to worry the fans. Less than 30 minutes later the crowd were shocked in to a silence that said it all, as Hasegawa was stopped in the 7th round. For those who had seen the recent WWE Wrestlemania the crowd had that same shocked silence and tearful look as they had had when Brock Lesnar had beaten The Undertaker. Just like the WWE show this seemed to be the end of an era, the end of a man's career and the end of a fan favourite. Whilst Hasegawa hasn't actually announced his retirement the fight and the crowd said it all. Hasegawa isn't the fighter he once was and the crowd really want this to be it for him. We hope he takes a night or two to think about his future then decides it's best to retire with his health. His legacy is already secure and he will go down as one of Japan's most popular fighters in history. Thankfully for all those in attendance the sadness turned into happiness and after giving Hasegawa a standing ovation they got to see the immensely skilled Shinsuke Yamanaka (21-0-2, 16) successfully defend his WBC Bantamweight title with a 9th round KO against Stephane Jamoye (25-5, 15). Yamanaka, who was defending a title held not only by Hasegawa but also by his idol Joichiro Tatsuyoshi who is in he picture, managed to cheer the crowd up with a one sided and relatively pain free beat down of Jamoye who was dropped 4 times before the referee waved the contest off. Whilst Yamanaka is arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter currently plying his trade in Asia it was actually Jamoye who did much to keep this bout interesting. Sadly for the challenger it was interesting as he was being used as a willing punch bag who was being tagged with powerful straight lefts both upstairs and downstairs as Yamanaka recorded his 6th defence overall and his 5th successive by stoppage. Amazing to think Yamanaka started his career 6-0-2 (2) and has since reeled off 15 wins with 14 by T/KO! Talking about men who have just began their career this show also featured a selection of novices in action. The most notable of those was Sho Nakazawa (3-0, 3) who made very light work of Thailand's Petchnakulua Sornattasak (0-1). Nakazawa is regarded very highly as a prospect and his 63 second victory over the Thai showed enough to be excited about him. Although Nakazawa is a few fights in to his career the show did feature one Japanese prospect just beginning his career, Ryo Kakutani (1-0) who clearly out pointed fellow debutant Sho Hasegawa (0-1). Kakutani wasn't the only man scoring his first win as the previously win-less Takaichi Tsujimoto (1-4, 1) stopped the still win-less Kimiharu Oura (0-6) inside a round. Although Hasegawa and Yamanaka were the main events they weren't the only world class fighters in action and fans in attendance also got the chance to see former 2-weight world champion Takahiro Ao (26-3-1, 12) . Unfortunately Ao failed to really impress and although he over-came Mexican visitor Marco Lopez (23-4, 14) he really did little to remind fans that he is a world class fighter, in fact his struggle here represented less a "world class" talent and more a man who is already looking at the end of the line. Ao is supposedly looking for a Lightweight title though on this performance he doesn't even look like a top 15 fighter at 135lbs. (Photos courtesy of boxingnews.jp) |
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