|
We love following prospects, there is something a little bit special about following a fighter from their formative fights all the way to their title winning efforts several years later. Of course every prospect begins with their debut and here we've included the debut of Hikaru Marugame who debuted against Makoto Kato back on 29th July 2013. For those who are unaware of Hikaru Marugame he was actually a stand out amateur and competed at the 2009 World Amateur Championships. We're unsure why it took him so long to turn professional but that's exactly what he did last year, aged 23, and we were genuinely impressed when we got the chance to see him. He's not a once in a generation prospect, like Naoya Inoue, but he's very talented, throws wonderful combinations, had love ly body shots and, although some nerves were on show, he does look pretty composed. We know it's early but we really like this kid. As for Kato he had been stopped twice before this bout and is, in honesty, not the best of fighters. Despite that few would have expected him to be taken a part like he was in the second round of the contest. (Video courtesy of Yoshito Akimoto)
0 Comments
A lot can happen in the boxing world in the space of a few years. One great example is just looking at the fights from the Kokugikan on October 24th 2010. Although less than 4 years ago that card really was a notable one. The main event saw the now retired Toshiaki Nishioka defeating Britain's Rendall Munroe in a WBC Super Bantamweight title fight. The co-feature on the same saw Roman Gonzalez wipe out Francisco Rosas in a battle for the interim WBA World Light Flyweight title, Jorge Linares defeat Jesus Chavez on the same show and the then little known Shinsuke Yamanaka defeated Jose Silveria in a bout that was sandwiched between Yamanaka winning the Japanese Bantamweight title and making his first defence of the belt. On the same show there was also a contest between the heavy handed, though relatively untested, Yoshihiro Kamegai and former world title holder Jose Alfaro. Alfaro was a former Lightweight champion who had serious power, questionable toughess and the ability to hurt opponents when he landed clean. Likewise Kamegai, who was untested at this point, was also a banger with 14 stoppages in 16 fights. The fight wasn't expected to go the distance and despite some very fun back and forth early on the bout slowly became a case of Kamegai taking over with his power eventually forcing Alfaro to take a knee in round 6. Although he was back to his feet before the referee finished his 10 count it did seem a little like Alfaro had had enough, though had the bout been allowed to continue we doubt anyone would have complained and we also doubt Alfaro would have survived much longer. At the time it was obvious that Kamegai was going to be fun to watch, though we'll admit we weren't sure just how much fun. Of course from those other fighters on the same show, that Shinsuke Yamanaka has done surprisingly well, hasn't he? (Video courtesy of BoxeoProdesa) With just over a day to go until we get to see Yoshihiro Kamegai battle against Robert Guerrero in the US we've decided to watch some of Kamegai's recent fights, one of which was his fight with South Korea's Jung Hoon Yang. This fight, which took place on April 5th 2014 was Kamegai's most recent bout and saw him defending his OPBF Welterweight title for the first time. It was viewed as a mismatch from the second it was announced and proved to be very every bit of a mismatch with Kamegai having nothing to fear from the South Korean, who tried to fight back but was simply out gunned and eventually stopped. It wasn't the most impressive of performance by Kamegai, there was nothing especially great about it, but he dealt with an over-matched title challenger like a champion is supposed to and stopped him with a solid body shot that simply destroyed what was left of Yang's fighting spirit. If you've seen much of Kamegai ahead of his fight this weekend this is worth a watch just to get some eyes on him but is far from Kamegai at his best. (Video courtesy of yopiikamen) Japanese fighters rarely win titles in multiple weight classes though one of the few who has won world title in more than 1 division is Takahiro Ao who has previously held titles in both the Featherweight and Super Featherweight divisions. Ao is, and has been for a while, on the hunt for a Lightweight title. This video is from the early stages of his move to Lightweight, in fact it was actually his second successive bout about the 130lb Super Featherweight limit and saw him taking on the completely over-matched Edgar Alejandro Lomeli in a bout that was little more than a stay busy fight for the Japanese fighter. Fought on November 10th 2013 the bout came less than 13 months after Ao's loss to Gamaliel Diaz,a loss that saw Ao losing his WBC Super Featherweight title. Ao however looked like a man ready to go at world level once more and seemed to treat Lomeli with contempt as if the suggest the two men were in totally different leagues. (Video courtesy of BoxeoProdesa) When many people think about Ryosuke Iwasa they immediately think of his all action war with Shinsuke Yamanaka. Iwasa, of course, lost that fight but seemed to develop from the loss and just 8 months later he won the Japanese Bantamweight crown with a very good decision victory over Jerope Mercado. On March 3rd 2012 Iwasa made the first defence of the Japanese Bantamweight title as he took on the tough and under-rated Yuki Murai. At the time Murai had a disappointing record though was in the form of his life with 7 wins in his previous 9 and only 2 controversial losses. As well as being in form Mukai had never been stopped despite being in the ring with fighters like Chatchai Sasakul, Somsak Sithchatchawal and Pichit Chor Siriwat. The fact Murai had never been stopped din't prevent Iwasa from taking him out inside a round with a single left hand. The finish is eye catching from Iwasa though is genuinely comical from Murai who tries to ready himself before toppling over for a second time. Oddly this is the only video on the Celes Gym channel. It's a shame Celes don't upload more of their footage as they have plenty available from the likes of Iwasa and Tetsuma Hayashi as well as the promising, though very inexperienced, Koki Koshikawa. (Video courtesy of Celes Gym) February 3rd 2007 was a pretty solid day for the boxing world in the US with fight fans getting the chance to see Tomasz Adamek losing his WBC Light Heavyweight title to the then very promising Chad Dawson. It wasn't just in the US however that fans got to see some notable action because on the very same day in the Philippines fight fans got to see the debut of the hard hitting and amazingly fun to watch Jonathan Taconing who, as a 19 year old, took on fellow debutant Tinglo Perez. Few watching this fight at the time would have expected Taconing to go on to fight for a world title, which he did when he lost controversially to Kompayak Porpramook, now would they have expected to see him winning an OPBF title. The fight wasn't one of the best fights, despite being very much an action fight. What it was however was the first showing of Taconing who, whilst still crude and limited, looked exciting with his all aggression mentality. Sadly he failed to score an eye catching and clean KO, due to the referee stepping in a bit too early, but it was still an exciting debut for a man who has gone on to have a very solid over-looked career. (This video is courtesy of Jerome Naldoza, the excellent Filipino fight film collector who we admire greatly for his wonderful collection of rare fights. Controversies in boxing are nothing new, especially where they favour the home fighter or the bigger name man. For many that is exactly what happened when controversy allowed Kompayak Porpramook, the then WBC Light Flyweight champion, to retain his title in his fight with Filipino challenger Jonathan Taconing. This fight, which took place back on May 3rd 2012 could easily have changed the face of boxing had it gone the other way. Had the bout been scored fairly or the fight ending cut judged to have come from a punch and not an accidental foul we may not have seen Naoya Inoue claiming a world title in his 6th fight or instead we might have seen Inoue fight against Taconing in what would have been a special contest. Taconing, a rough, hard hitting slugger and Kompayak, a Thai war horse, both traded bombs through out but the controversy over the ending and the judging will always leave fans split over who should have won the bout. Unfortunately though no rematch was ever fought and instead the Thai would lose his title to Adrian Hernandez in his next fight and the rest, as they say, is history. Interestingly that history has seen both men involved in some thrillers. Notably Kompayak's fight with Koki Eto, which can be watched here whilst Taconing has recently won the OPBF Light Flyweight title, which we are hoping to get a video for one day. (Video courtesy of ไทยเรค ชุมชนคนมวยโลก) This video section of this site hasn't just been put up to watch some great fighters and some fantastic action. It is also on here to see the development of fighters over time, to see how the develop both their skills and their physical traits, often growing from boys to men, from contenders to champions. One fighter that we love is Sho Ishida who has become one of Japanese boxing's top prospects in recent fights. Had you first saw him in this fight from May 2013 you may actually be surprised by his serious development in recent fights. This bout saw Ishida fighting against Thailand's little known Tawanrung Eausampan. Tawanrung had been blasted out in 2 rounds in his previous fight by rising Filipino star Albert Pagara and many had expected Ishida to do the same. Instead Ishida got 8 very good rounds from Tawanrung, actually losing some of the rounds on one of the scorecards. It seems that the bout did a lot to help Ishida find his strengths and weaknesses and he's gone from strength to strength after the bout. Interesting for Tawanrung his very next fight saw him going 10 rounds with Filipino Froilan Saludar. Having gone the distance with both Saludar and Ishida you may be wondering how Pagara stopped him, but having seen that fight we would say it was a somewhat premature stoppage and Tawanrung was looking full in control of himself when the referee waved off the bout following a mandatory 8 count. (Video courtesy of Yossy112311) Japan's Takahiro Yamamoto isn't a big name in boxing, in fact unless you follow the shows of Ioka Gym carefully you'll likely never have heard of him or seen him in action. Despite his relative obscurity there is real belief that he has the potential to claim titles in the near future. Part of Yamamoto's rise has been courtesy of him stringing together an excellent 7 fight winning streak which has included 5 stoppages. One of the few times Yamamoto has been taken the distance in recent fights was against Ngaotawan Sithsaithong back on May 8th 2013. Although on paper it looks bad for Yamamoto to have been taken the 8 round schedule by the Thai the Japanese fighter has improved markedly since this bout. As we love to see the development of fighters we've decided to include this bout for those wanting to see how Yamamoto was back in 2013. (Video courtesy of Yossy112311) Not many Japanese domestic fights get major international attention but one bout this year did, and we mean major attention. That bout was the Heavyweight clash between Japanese Heavyweight champion Kyotaro Fujimoto and former WBA interim Light Middleweight champion Nobuhiro Ishida. The bout got the attention it did in the US due to Ishida, a fighter who is well known outside of Japan for his fights with the likes of James Kirkland, Paul Williams, Gennady Golovkin and Dmitry Pirog. He may not be a bonafide world level fighter but he was certainly accepted as a solid world level contender following his victory over Kirkland that really made him a name in the US and throughout Europe. Whilst Ishida himself gets attention for just fighting the idea of seeing him blow up to become a Heavyweight simply intensified that interest and the bout became more important to some American fans than numerous world title fights that take place in Japan. It was an interesting story going in to the bout and turned out to be just as interesting in the bout as Ishida seemed to prove that he was a very capable fighter at the higher weight. If you've not yet got around to watching this one we recommend that you take the time to watch it now as it really was an intriguing contest from the first bell to the last. (Video courtesy of マンタグ) |
VideosHere we include some of the best, most interesting, most exciting or most eye catching videos from around the Asian boxing world. Archives
April 2024
|