We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect Filipino prospect Jade Bornea...and former Japanese amateur standout Eiji Morioka Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-The talented Jade Bornea was a former amateur standout, and in March 2013 he claimed the gold medal at the Asian Youth Championships in Subic Bay, Philippines. In the final Bornea took a razor thin decision over Japan's Kosei Tanaka. 2-Japan's 3-weight world Japan Kosei Tanaka has been a real star Chubu, where he has become the local face of boxing, and helped to re-establish a scene had really been lead in the early 1990's by his promoter Kiyoshi Hatanaka. 3-Although not amazingly well remembered now Kiyoshi Hatanaka was a really key figure in boxing in Chubu, despite only fighting 24 times in a career that lasted about 7 years. His career was highlighted by 3 fights in particular, his loss to Gilberto Roman in 1988, his 1991 win over Pedro Decima and his 1991 loss to Daniel Zaragoza. The win over Decima was the win the defines his career, and saw him claim the WBC Super Bantamweight title. 4-Another Japanese fighter to win the WBC Super Bantamweight title was the legendary Kazuo "Royal" Kobayashi. 5-"Royal" Kobayashi may only have had a short reign, holding the belt for 46 days, but he had already made a name for himself before even turning professional. He had made a mark on the amateurs ranks, reaching the quarter-finals of the 1972 Olympics at 57KG's. Another fighter who fought at 57KG's in the 1972 Olympics was Philip Waruinge, who won the Silver medal. 6-Philip Waruinge, who fought in Japan as Waruinge Nakayama, Didn't just fight at the 1972 Olympics , in fact that was actually Waruinge's second Olympics, after also competing at, and winning a medal at, the 1968 games in Mexico City. Another man who claimed a medal at the 1968 Olympics was Eiji Morioka! In fact Morioka and Waruinge both claimed bronze medals at the 1968 Olympic games! Morioka's career in the ring wasn't the best, with the Japanese fighter going 6-4 (3) though his impact has been felt, and still, thanks to the Morioka Gym that he set up in 1978.
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Japanese boxing is currently going through a real golden generation with a lot of amazingly talented fighters making their mark on the sport. The generation of fighters we have now will likely go down as being the best, so far, in terms of talent, potential and achievement. It is however worth noting that in the 1990's there was another generation of Japanese fighters who were headed by some incredibly popular fighters. There is, of course, Joichiro Tatsuyoshi, who was the nation's biggest boxing enigma, and the massively well liked Katsuya Onizuka.
Onizuka, known as "Spanky K" was the WBA Super Flyweight champion from April 1992 to September 1994, and piled up an excellent 24-1 (17) record as a professional. Whilst he was well liked in Japan, Western fans likely don't know much about him, so here are 10 facts you probably didn't know about...Katsuya Onizuka. 1-As a child Onizuka suffered from asthma and reportedly began boxing to build up his physical strength. He has publicly stated that he "wanted to be strong" during that time of his life. 2-As an amateur Onizuka went 38-5 (20), with 1 of his 5 losses coming to future WBC Super Flyweight champion Hiroshi Kawashima. His amateur credentials included being crowned the 1986 High School champion at Light Flyweight. 3- In his 13th professional bout Onizuka faced OPBF Super Flyweight champion Tatsuya Sugi, and stopped Sugi in the 7th round. This however wasn't a title fight, despite both men making the 115lbs limit. 4-In 1992 Khaosai Galaxy announced his retirement, Onizuka was the WBA #1 contender and would have been the mandatory for the Thai great. 5-As a teenager Onizuka went to Thailand to train, and watched a bout of future foe Thanomsak Sithbaobay, a man who Onizuka twice scraped close decision wins against. Onizuka seemingly regarded Thanomsak very highly after watching him in the flesh, years before they met in the ring. 6-Despite only losing once as a professional Onizuka retired following his sole defeat. The reason for the retirement wasn't solely the loss though, and instead it was down to suffering a retinal detachment which forced him to hang up the gloves as an active fighter. He did however remain involved in the sport and set up the Spanky K sacred Boxing hall in Fukuoka 7-Onizuka's name and likeness was used in a Super Famicom boxing game, "Onizuka Katsuya Super Virtual Boxing", which was played from a 1st person perspective. 8-After retiring from boxing Onizuka looked for a second career and, began working at a Kindergarten, did commentary for TBS and was involved in fashion design, continuing the reputation he had crafted as a boxer with style from his in ring career. 9-In 1998 Onizuka featured in a full length Japanese movie, "The Revenge of the Wolves". This was seemingly his acting debut, and was a violent movie that (sadly whilst this was on youtube when we first scheduled the article to be posted it has since been removed from the site) 10-Also following his retirement from the ring Onizuka has had success as a artist, and has held exhibitions with his paintings on show. His artwork has been genuinely successful, and it's has been shown across Japan. He's a particularly accomplished painter. Last weekend we saw Mongolian fighter Tuguldur Byambatsogt (2-0) score an impressive win over Japanese based Dominican puncher Vladimir Baez, in the Knock Out Dynamite tournament final at 65KG. The win was a very solid performance for such a novice professional and proved that Byambatsogt's debut win over Shusaku Fujinaka was no fluke, or win of circumstance.
With a couple of solid wins behind him, it seems an ideal time to give Byambatsogt the "Five For" treatment, and look at 5 opponents that he could be matched up with next. Unlike most fighters mentioned in this series we're certainly not discussing a big name, or big potential fights, but we do have some interesting bouts that could help the Mongolian really make a name for himself by the end of the year. 1-Akihiro Kondo (32-9-1, 18) The biggest bout that we could see Byambatsogt in some time soon would be a bout with former world title challenger Akihiro Kondo. On paper this would be a mismatch, but Byambatsogt has shown the type of style that could see him really torment the older, slower, Kondo. Over a 6, or even 8 round, distance we could see Byambatsogt taking a decision over Kondo in a similar fashion to Andy Hiraoka's win over the Japanese fighter last year. This would be a tough ask, and it would take some brave match making, but we genuinely see this as being a possibility for Byambatsogt. 2-Alvin Lagumbay (11-5-1, 10) We've seen Byambatsogt taking on heavy handed fighters already, and making them pay for their crudeness. With that in mind we don't think his team are afraid of punchers, and that could be a good reason for him to take on Filipino slugger Alvin Lagumbay. Whilst it's unclear whether Byambatsogt will be looking to card out his career in Japan or not, it is worth noting that Lagumbay is known in Japan. In fact Lagumbay is known further afield for his double knockdown against Keita Obara, and that could help Byambatsogt's profile growing. Beating the guy involved in that memorable incident. 3-Terry Tzouramanis (23-4-3, 3) Stepping away from punchers we'd like to see Byambatsogt face off with different styles of fighters and Australian Terry Tzouramanis would certainly ask a lot of different questions of the Mongolian. At 34 years old Tzouramanis is certainly on the slide, but a win over him still means something, especially after his recent win over Brandon Ogilvie. This could potentially see Byambatsogt getting some experience "down under" or continue his development in Japan and would let us see him up against something who thinks about what he does, and goes to work without looking for a knockout. Over 8 rounds, again, this would be a genuinely good test for the Mongolian. 4-Marlon Paniamogan (10-2-1, 5) Filipino fighter fighter Marlon Paniamogan might have lost 2 of his last 3, coming up short against Kuntae Lee and Lei Wang, but asked questions of both men and could also ask questions of Byambatsogt. This is one where we feel 8 rounds would be perfect for Byambatsogt to answer any possible questions regarding his stamina. Paniamogan is a decent enough fighter to asked questions, but a safe enough one for Byambatsogt to beat without too many problems. 5-Roberto Ortiz (35-5-2, 26) Whilst we've assumed that Byambatsogt would remain in Asia going forward it wouldn't be a surprise to see him actually turning up in the West at some point, especially due to the TMT link up that Knock Out Dynamite Tournament had. If he's to hit the West then we not look at facing a Mexican veteran to help announce himself to a new audience? On paper a bout with Mexican veteran Roberto Ortiz looks seriously tough, but the 34 year old Ortiz has lost his last 4, is win-less in his last 5, and has been stopped in 3 of his last 4. It would still be a really tough test, but would see Byambatsogt taking on someone of some name value, who has faced other notables fighters and fought on US TV. Going forward we're going to really look forward to seeing where Byambatsogt goes, and really hope the Mongolian builds on his really impressive start to professional boxing. We'd ideally love to see him continue fight on Dangan shows, but in reality the 140lb fighter probably has limited options, long term, if he does remain in Japan. We suspect it won't be long until he begins to fight outside of Asia. One of the most unique things about Japanese boxing is the sheer number of tournaments the country holds. They aren't always the most amazing of tournaments, but tournament boxing is well and truly alive in Japan. Be it the Rookie of the Year, the B Class Dangan tournaments, tournaments to crown Youth Champions and more recently the God's Left, Knock Out Dynamite and Hajime No Ippo 30th anniversary tournaments the Japanese scene has been packed with them. Today we take a look at a rarely remembered 4 man tournament from 1997, called the "Rising Sun Cup" which was a 4 man Heavyweight tournament held in Tokyo featuring 4 international Heavyweights. Not one of the fighters was a particularly big name, and the tournament is hard to get concrete detail on. Despite how hard it is to find details about the thought process behind the tournament all 3 bouts were aired on Japan TV. The tournament kicked off on July 14th with the semi-finals. One of those semi-final bouts saw 6'7" American giant Anthony Green (6-1) take on inexperienced American foe Derrick Johnson (1-0). If the aim was to shore the Japanese fans about how skilled Heavyweights could be, this wasn't the bout to do that job. Although Green looked an odd site with his dyed hair, his skill level, poor to say the least. Johnson however was even worse rarely throwing a punch before being stopped in the dying seconds of the opening round. This win saw Green progress to the final. The other semi final saw the tragic Calvin Lampkin (8-2, 6) take on South African foe Anton Nel (6-3-2, 3), in a more even looking bout on paper. Lampkin, known as "Cowboy" was seen as genuine talent and his record coming into this bout had only seen him losing the talented Ike Ibeabuchi. Nel on the other hand wasn't regarded very well, and when he retired in 2016 his career record stood at 20-13-3. Although limited Nel could could punch, and 80% of his career wins were by stoppage. Sadly for Nell Lampkin could could also punch, and the South African was stopped after being dropped twice in just over a minute. Less than two months after their semi final bouts the winners clashed, with Anthony Green (7-1, 1) taking on Calvin Lampkin (9-2, 7) in the final of the tournament on September 8th. With both men blowing out their semi-final opponents the expectations wouldn't have been for the final to be a slow, trudging affair, with Lampkin looking slower than he had in his first bout, and Green effectively using his size. Sadly this final ended up being a bit of a stinker, as fans got a very slow bout from two men who really didn't manage to put their foot on the gas for more than a few seconds at a time. Although the final was a dull bout it was still notable for ending what was a very peculiar tournament, even for Japanese boxing. After the tournament none of the 4 men really had great success.
Johnson ended his career in 2003 with a 2-6-1 record and as mentioned Nel ended his career 20-13-3 (16), though did notch a win over Danie Venter, and shared the ring with Henry Akinwande, Sebastiaan Rothmann and Danny Williams. Green fought on until 1999, compiling a 10-6 (2) record, and scored notable wins over Bert cooper and Carl Williams, before suffering 4 straight stoppages to end his career, including a defeat to Joe Mesi in what was Green's final bout As for Lampkin, the most talented of the 4 fighters by some distance, his career was interesting to say the least. He was forced to retire in 2000 due to hepatitis, with a record of 19-3 (11), losing his final bout in 1999 to Olympic silver medal winner Paea Wolfgramm. Sadly Lampkin died of complications from cancer in 2001. This odd tournament from Japanese boxing wasn't a great success, sadly, and it was seemingly never replicated. It was an interesting idea, but with the final being as enjoyable as a colonoscopy we can understand why these 4 man Heavyweight tournaments never really caught on with the Japanese audiences. The JBC Minimumweight title has been in existence since the mid 1980's and has been an interesting title. It's been held by 29 fighters since it's inception, and has been held by a number of world champions. It may not be the most prestigious of titles, but it's certainly an interesting one with a solid list of former champions.
With that in mind we thought it was a great idea to cover the belt in our latest "Did you know..." -Kenji Ono was the first champion but not only fought in the first ever Japanese Minimumweight title fight, beating Missile Kudo for the belt, but less than 3 months later he was also involved in the first ever OPBF Minimumweigjht title bout, losing to Samuth Sithnaruepol. -Missile Kudo, who lost to Kenji Ono in the inaugural bout for the title, would win the belt at the third time of asking but lost in his first defense. Incidentally his career record was 10-12-2 (3), meaning he had more losses than wins -A staggering 4 men held the title in 1988! These were Kenji Yokozawa, who began the year as the champion before vacating early in the year, Yasuo Yogi, who held the title from February 25th to June 27th, Missile Kudo, who held the belt from June 27th to November 13th, and Hisashi Tokushima, who was the last champion of the year. This is even more peculiar when you consider there wasn't a single bout for the title in 1989! -Kusuo Eguchi and Katsuaki Eguchi, who fought for the vacant title in June 1993, were brothers! This is the only time a Japanese title has been fought for by brothers! -The most defenses of the title is a record jointly held by Rocky Lin and Satoshi Kogumazaka, who both defended the title 7 times -Makoto Suzuki is the only fighter to have had multiple reigns, holding the belt twice. His first reign ran from June 1999 to January 2001, when he lost to future world champion Yutaka Niida, whilst his second reign ran from September 2001 to September 2002, when it was ended by previous interim champion Hiroyuki Abe -Hiroyuki Abe's interim title reign is the only time the title has been held as an interim belt, and that only lasted from June to September 2002. -World champions who have held this title are Hiroki Ioka, Keitaro Hoshino, Yutaka Niida, Katsunari Takayama, Akira Yaegashi and Tatsuya Fukuhara -Having just mentioned Katsunari Takayama it's interesting to note that he won a world title, then the Japanese title, then went back to world level, claiming more world titles as he completed his "Grandslam" of world belts. We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect Kazakhstan's first world champion Vasily Jirov....and Filipino great Manny Pacquiao. 1-As the IBF Cruiserweight champion Vasily Jirov was the first Kazakh to win a world title, but he isn't the only world champion from Kazakhstan, another is Middleweight great Gennady Golovkin. 2-On April 25th 2009 Gennady Golovkin recorded his 16th professional win, stopping Anthony Greenidge in 5 rounds. The main event of that card saw Felix Sturm retain the WBA Middleweight title as he stopped Japanese challenger Koji Sato, who had entered the bout 14-0 (13) 3-Not many Japanese fighters fighters make their debut in the US, though Koji Sato did actually did begin on US soil when he made his debut in 2005, stopping Francisco Valdez in Las Vegas on his debut. Another Japanese fighter who debuted on US soil was Yasutsune Uehara, who debuted in Honolulu in 1972, in fact his first 5 professional bouts were all fought at the Honolulu International Center. 4-In 1980 Yasutsune Uehara claimed the WBA Super Featherweight title for Japan by defeating Samuel Serrano with a 6th round KO win in Detroit. The win was the Ring Magazine Upset of the Year for 1980 5-Another Ring Magazine Upset of the Year saw a then unbeaten Vic Darchinyan being stopped in 5 rounds by a then unknown Nonito Donaire, who put himself on the map with this win, in a big way, and claimed the 2007 Upset of the Year. 6-Nonito's Donaire's win over Darchinyan wasn't just the Upset of the Year, in the eyes of Ring Magazine, but also KO of the year. With that KO Donaire become the second Filipino to win the KO of the Year award, following on from Morris East who win it in 1992 when he stopped Akinobu Hiranaka. The only other Filipino to hold the award is the legendary Manny Pacquiao taking us all the way through to the iconic Pacman. As an aside Pacquiao has been on both sides of the of KO of the Year. His KO over Ricky Hatton saw Pacquiao win the KO of the Year award, whilst his loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in their fourth bout saw him on the receiving end of the KO of the Year. In recent year's Korean boxing has been a mess, with political wrangling and ego's preventing the once excellent Korean boxing scene from being what it could be. For many newer fans they may never have even seen a Korean world champion. The latest of those was more than a decade ago, when legendary tough guy In Jin Chi had his second world title reign.
Whilst fans of the sport perhaps are aware of Chi, and his fights against the likes of Erik Morales and Michael Brodie, there are lots that is unknown about Chi. With that in mind we bring you 10 facts you probably didn't know about...In Jin Chi. 1-Chi first began boxing in first grade, and made his debut as a teenager due to the fact he needed to make money. 2-Chi, like Bernard Hopkins, Alexis Arguello, Rafael Marquez, Kohei Kono and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, lost on his debut before later going on to win a world title. Chi's debut loss was a decision to fellow debutant Tae Sun Park in 1991, in what is Park's only recorded bout. According to reports in Korea he was actually dropped twice in this bout. 3-Aside from his debut loss, the only other marks on his record came at world level. These were his 2001 loss to Erik Morales, his 2003 draw with Michael Brodie and his 2006 loss to Takashi Koshimoto. All 3 of these results occurred outside of Korea. 4-Chi reportedly kept the equivalent of $10,000 from his bout with Rodolfo Lopez, with his team taking around the same from him. This later lead to him describing his career as being like that of a "modern slave" before he retired. 5-Staying on the subject of money, which was an issue throughout Chi's career, he was working part time when he was a Korean champion and worked on a construction site in the mid 1990's, after winning the OPBF title. Sadly Chi never got to defend the OPBF Bantamweight title and cash in on that success. 6-When Chi regained the WBC Featherweight title, with his win over Lopez, he dedicated his win to his daughter. At the time he had one daughter and one son. 7-In 2004 there was talk in the Korean press of Chi facing Juan Manuel Marquez, in what would have been an IBF/WBA/WBC Featherweight unification bout. Donga.com reported that there could be up to $500,000 as a purse for Chi for that bout. Sadly for Chi that bout never came off. 8-At the time of writing Chi is the last Korean male world champion, last holding a title more than a decade ago. He has however been followed by several female world champions, including Hyun Mi Choi who won her first world title on her debut. 9-After finishing his boxing career Chi turned to K-1 and beat Ryuji Kajiwara in his kickboxing debut in Japan. 10- Following the end of his combat sport career Chi has gone on to run a boxing club, and still plays a role in Korean boxing, though obviously the sport is a long, long way from where it once was in the country. His club was responsible for the development of female fighter Su Yun Hong, who also went on to win a world title. Interestingly he has also enjoyed golfing since his retirement from being an active fighter. The month of December was an incredibly busy one, with things like the Rookie of the Year, the New Year's Eve show, the Fuji show on the 23rd, and a host of other cards giving us a truly crazy month. It was also a month that Boxing Raise actually didn't shine, with just 6 tape delay cards, and nothing live. It did however have some interesting, intriguing and exciting bouts hidden away on the service. And now we'll have a look at some of the highlights the services provided during the month. Before we start however we will just make everyone aware that we are totally ignoring the Kadebi promoted "Slugfest 12" card. The reason for this is that the content featured on that show isn't exclusive to Boxing Raise, it's been uploaded to youtube by Kadoebi themselves giving all fans a chance to see all the action from the card without the need of a Boxing Raise subscription. As with our previous "Best of Boxing Raise" article all the fights featured here can be accessed by subscribers by logging into Boxing Raise and adding the "movie/####" to "https://boxingraise.com/". Compelling more than excelling - Musashi Mori (10-0, 6) vs Takuya Mizuno (17-1-1, 14) [movie/7134/] The WBO Asia Pacific Featherweight title bout between the unbeaten champion Musashi Mori and the heavy handed Takuya Mizuno never really caught fire in the way we had hoped, but in terms of being compelling this was always interesting. Just sadly lacking true drama. Mori, who is just 20, was fighting for the second time under Ismael Salas and it's clear he is developing with every fight, but sadly the styles never really worked here. Still if you want to see one of the brightest Japanese youngsters you could do a lot worse than giving this a watch and getting a head up on Mori before he lands a big international fight. The youngster, is talking about moving into world title level later this year and he's certainly one to be aware of. Boom goes the Dynamite - Mammoth Kazunori (5-2-1, 5) vs Lerdchai Chaiyawed (2-4, 1) [/movie/7188/] We had a lot of brilliant knockouts in 2019 and one of the final ones came in mid-December, tucked away on a Japanese under-card bout. The fight saw big punching Japanese hopeful Mammoth Kazunori take on Thai tough guy Lerdchai Chaiyawed and, well, lets just say this ended in spectacular fashion. The bout hadn't been the most thrilling, but the ending makes it worth a watch. A seriously eye-catching KO! A prospect to watch - Ryosuke Nishida (1-0, 1) vs Pablito Canada (7-17-4, 1) [movie/7219/] The December 22nd show from Muto gym was a bad idea from the off, putting it on the same day as the All Japan Rookie of the Year, and having one of their brightest beaten in a round. Thankfully though it wasn't all bad news and it was a good chance to see what the hype was regarding Ryosuke Nishida. And in fairness to the 23 year old, he looked damned good. He was the less hyped of 3 Muto prospect and yet was the only one who really shined. If you get the chance give this a watch and keep a close eye on Nishida A change in tactic proves vital - Yusuke Mine (2-0, 1) vs Ardin Diale (35-15-4, 17) [/movie/7221/] Whilst we seriously think Muto will want to forget about their December 22nd show we suspect they will also be proud of the promising Yusuke Mine who showed a lot, both good and bad, in his third professional bout. Taking on Filipino veteran Ardin Diale we saw Mine being dropped in rounds 1 and 3, raising real questions about his chin, balance and durability. Then he bit down on his gum shield and pressured, in an attempt to turn the bout around. His change of tactics, and desire are real positives, but being dropped twice will be a worry. A very interesting bout that had genuine drama. A debut to view - Kantaro Juri (0-0) Vs Makruf Bambali (0-4-1) [/movie/7233/] Although many debuts are a mismatch they do give us a chance to see what a fighter can do, and we were genuinely impressed by what Kantaro Juri shows in his debut, against the horribly over-matched Makruf Bambali of Indonesia. Juri, who is a bit of a hidden gem, looked a natural in the ring with a very sharp jab, some nice picking and very fast hands. It'll be an interesting journey to follow with him, but we liked him a lot and the Nakazato gym might have someone a little bit special on their hands here. Polish needs to be done, but they have a genuine diamond in the rough. Wild and even eliminator - Hiroyuki Kudaka (26-18-3, 11) vs Yuta Matsuo (15-4-1, 8) [/movie/7206/] A Japanese title eliminator at Super Flyweight matched together Hiroyuki Kudaka and Yuta Matsuo in what proved to be, unsurprisingly, a really good fight. These two let their shots fly through out and provided plenty of action in a fun 8 rounder. With the men involved we always expected something special could be on the cards, and whilst this wasn't truly spectacular it was a very fun back and forth battle with some truly brilliant moments. The final round of this was truly excellent, as the two tired men put it on the line. IBF eliminator provides action - Sho Ishida (28-1, 15) vs Israel Gonzalez (24-3, 11) [/movie/7242/] The final bout of the month for the service was the best, as Sho Ishida and Israel Gonzalez battled in an IBF Super Flyweight world title eliminator. This was actually fantastic to watch, and it was most down to Gonzalez, who brought so much action and pressure through out. He let his hands go, he forced the fight and it wasn't until late on that Ishida managed to find a foot hold in what was a real gem. It's a shame this wasn't given some form of TV coverage in Osaka as it should have had a bigger viewing audience than it got, but still a very good fight and one that Boxing Raise subscribers should make an effort to watch whilst we're still lumbering through a quiet month of fights. (Images courtesy of boxmob, and Boxingraise) One of the world champions who defended their world title at the very end of 2019 was WBO Flyweight champion Kosei Tanaka (15-0, 9). The man from Chukyo made his third defense of the title in impressive fashion, putting on a near punch perfect display against Chinese challenger Wulan Tuolehazi, before clinically closing the showing with some sensational uppercuts.
With 3 defenses behind him and a potentially massive 2020 ahead of him it seems we're now at an ideal time to give Kosei Tanaka the "Five For" treatment, and look at five potential match ups for the "KO Dream Boy". Here are 5 options he, and manager Kiyoshi Hatanaka, should be looking at if they want to have a huge year! 1-Moruti Mthalane (39-2, 26) A bout between Tanaka and South African Moruti Mthalane would be a sensational match up between two men who are incredibly talented and smart in the ring, but go about things very differently. Mthalane, the current IBF champion, is a defensively sound fighter, with clean punches and a willingness to press forward behind a tight guard to force mistakes and open up counter opportunities. Tanaka on the other hand is a speedy fighter who likes to let his hands go, and will involve himself in a war far too easily. This could end up being a brilliantly exciting, yet high skill, war, though with Mthalane now in his late 30's we'd want this sooner rather than later. 2-Kazuto Ioka (25-2, 14) Leading into the end of year show to close out 2019 it seemed TBS and the WBO were both building to a potential all Japanese show down between Tanaka and WBO Super Flyweight champion Kazuto Ioka. The bout would see Tanaka leaving the Flyweight division, just as it seems to be heating up, but for a bout against a Japanese icon like Ioka, with a 4th divisional title on the line it'd have been hard to fault Tanaka for going this route. Sadly since the show on New Year's Eve this bout has began to seem unlikely, at least for now. It seems both are on different paths, and if they do cross, it could well be 2 or 3 years from now. 3-Julio Cesar Martinez (15-1, 12) Although it seems WBC champion Julio Cesar Martinez won't be available until the middle of the year, given he's pencilled into defend his title in late February, this is still a match up that genuinely intrigues us. On one hand you'd have Tanaka, a lightning quick boxer-puncher, blessed blink and you miss it speed. On the other hand you have "El Rey", a destructive freak of nature, who walks through opponents, with intense pressure and brutal power. Speed against power is always fun to see, and we can't help but view this as a super competitive bout between men with very different abilities, but abilities that would gel well. Oh and it'd be a unification bout! 4-Artem Dalakian (19-0, 14) Another unification bout, and another we'd have to wait until summer for, would be a clash between Tanaka and WBA champion Artem Dalakian. Tanaka might not yet have truly shined as a Flyweight, though has beaten decent competition in his defenses, but Dalakian has completely wasted the good will of his title win. Despite being an excellent fighter Dalakian has done little of note since winning the belt in the US against Brian Viloria. Dalakian set to make his 4th defense in February, against Josber Perez, and that should be his final easy bout. With Dalakian turning 33 in August he needs big bouts, and he needs them soon, what better than facing Tanaka, in a unification bout in summer? 5-Sho Kimura (18-3-2, 11) II The dark horse bout, though it really shouldn't be, would see Tanaka take on former foe Sho Kimura in a rematch of their 2018 Fight of the Year. Their first bout was a sensational war that helped put Tanaka on the map, and for him to give Kimura a chance to reclaim his title would be the right thing to do. If we ended up with a rematch half as good as their first contest then we wouldn't be complaining at all! We do imagine Tanaka would win a rematch easier than he won their first bout, but we'd still absolutely love to see these two share the ring one more time! The name Hiroto Ogushi isn't one that will be familiar to fans outside of Japan, in fact many newer fans in Japan are unlikely to recognise his name. Yet one summer day in 2001 he did something truly remarkable, something so odd that fight fans really do need to know about Ogushi, and the the incident that saw him getting an indefinite suspension by the JBC.
So what was the Ogushi incident? To begin with we need to take you back almost 20 years, to July 16th 2001 in Tokyo. The main event of a show at Korakuen Hall that day saw Takefumi Sakata retaining the Japanese Flyweight title with a highly controversial draw against Daisuke Naito. Many of those in attendance felt that Naito had done enough to deserve the decision but was denied, in a botu scored a majority decision, a decision that saw both men keep their unbeaten records intact. What followed was the Ogushi incident, however before we get on to that lets just explain who Hiroto Ogushi was. Ogushi was a promising fighter from the same gym, the Miyata Gym, as Naito. At the time he was 24 years old, a close friend of Naito's and had a record of 15-4 (11). He was, for all intents, a talented young Super Featherweight puncher who had won the All Japan Rookie of the Year, and despite suffering a string of setbacks was beginning to find his groove again. He had sparred with several notable Japanese fighters of the time, and his left hook was regarded as a monstrous punch. Sadly Ogushi wasn't the most pragmatic of young men, or the type of fighter who trained, trained and trained. After watching his friend seemingly get robbed of the Japanese title Ogushi rushed the ring, along with Naito's corner man. Whilst that's not too unusual, the issue was that Ogushi appeared to be holding a knife, whilst also appearing rather intoxicated. And he wasn't just in the ring loudly talking, in fact he appeared to be on the verge of physically attacking people. He was furious, and his anger really refused to die down. Even when he was ushered into the corridors near the changing rooms, in an attempt to calm him down, the anger was spewing from the hard hitter. Ogushi's anger saw him ranting outside the referees room. Then go into the officials room, and continue to berate them. The Miyata Gym Chairman and Ogushi would be punished by the JBC just days later, with Ogushi having his licenses suspended indefinitely, being the first boxing in Japan to receive that punishment without having committed some form of serious criminal act. Ogushi was actually given a chance to apologise for actions, but foolishly turned them down, stating that his reason for not not seeing the JBC was that he "didn't have a suit to wear at the time". A petulant response to say the least. The Aftermath In a rather odd twist to the whole story both Naito and Sakata would go on to win world titles, holding them at the same time in fact. Naito would claim the WBC Flyweight title and Sakata the WBA title, though no rematch ever occurred, even with the history of the two men that would have made it a massive event. Despite a clear, and long term rivalry, the two men were pictured together in 2008 at the annual boxing awards, and they appeared to be able to share a joke, even if they weren't best buddies. As for Ogushi, he did talk about a comeback, but nothing ever materalised, and his career was essentially over after his night of madness. |
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