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It seems that in the west we question fighters who take their power up through the weight divisions and seem happy to accuse them of illegal activity. If Tadashi Yuba was fighting in the west we dare say he would come under scrutiny for his rise through the divisions. Yuba claimed his first national title at 135lbs and later became a national champion at Middleweight following his win over Carlos Linares in a thriller. Prior to getting his hands on Linares however Yuba had to earn the opportunity to compete for the Japanese Middleweight crown, he did this by defeating Tomohiro Ebisu, one of the true heavy hitters on the Japanese domestic scene. Going in to the fight Ebisu had a record of 8-1 (8) and at 23 years old he was seen a rising young force in the Middleweight division. Yuba was 34, an old man with 47 bouts under his record including 7 losses, in fact Yuba had lost 2 of his previous 3. Those stats didn't help Ebisu who in many ways over-looked Yuba and was made to pay for his mistakes by eating hard southpaw left hands. Early in round 3 the warning scene were on show as Ebisu was rocked. The youngster fought back hard but was dropped soon afterwards from a very sharp left hook. He got to his feet but a follow attack saw off the dangerous youngster who had the referee save him before he ended up going down again.
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When we think of hard luck stories in Japanese boxing we do have to feel a little bit sorry for Takuya Kogawa. In his first world title fight he travelled to Thailand and lost to the great Pongsaklek Wonjongkam in a major step up. That bout came when Wonjongkam was still in his pomp and came 4 months before Wonjongkam defeated the dangerous Edgar Sosa. In his second world title fight Kogawa was jobbed in an atrocious decision against Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep, a decision that really was one of the worst of 2014. Another of Japan's hard luck stories is former Kogawa opponent Tetsuma Hayashi who really gave Kogawa a very tough bout and, with slightly different judges, could actually be unbeaten and a Japanese Flyweight champion. Kogawa and Hayashi met in April 2012 and put on a great showing between them that saw the men being very hard to split as they each seemed to give as good as they got in a highly competitive and genuinely enthralling 10 round battle that featured a high amount of action though perhas lacked a bit of drama due to the lack of power both men possess. We won't pretend this was a 2012 FOTY contender, especially not when compared to the Daud Cino Yordan/Lorenzo Villanueva bout, but it is highly entertaining action fight that shows just what a Japanese title can mean to two young fighters each hoping to prove their quality. When we talk about our favourite fighters we are very open in talking about out admiration of Japan's Katsunari Takayama, a man we are massive fans of for his mentality to fight tough foes on a regular basis. Of course when you fight tough opponents regularly you don't always look great and that was certainly true when Takayama took on fellow Japanese fighter Shin Ono on May 7th 2014. In fact if anything Takayama looked frustrated at times, seemed to miss an awful lot and appeared to struggle a bit with the size, movement and southpaw stance of Ono, though did come out on top with a clear decision win. Ono may be unknown to many fight fans though is a capable fighter and a former OPBF Light Flyweight champion. This was his first world title bout though he had proven his ability somewhat by taking wins over Yu Kimura, Xiong Zhao Zhong and Omari Kimweri. From this performance we wouldn't be shocked to see Ono competing at the world level again somewhere down the line and with his tricky style and long arms he really could be a handful for many fighters in the 105lb or 108lb divisions. The one he perhaps lacks however is world class experience, something he gained here in a big way. Interesting the next fight of Ono's comes just a couple of days before Takayama fights in a world title unification bout. On this performance Takayama will struggle with his upcoming bout, though we don't think this was the best of Takayama. Foe one reason or another we've generally struggled to get Japanese TV recordings. This video however is a treat and is the recording of the Sky A Sports broadcast of the Japanese Bantamweight title fight from earlier this year between Kentaro Masuda and Yu Kawaguchi. Sadly despite the amazing footage it wasn't the great of fights, though was still a very good fight. Please note that due to the video being from the TV broadcast there is some build up for both men, meaning the actual fight doesn't started until about 14 minutes in. We felt that keep the broadcast "as was" was preferable though we are sorry to those who just want to get down to action. Heading into the bout Kawguchi was getting his first ever title opportunity. He had been a professional for around 6 years and had had 25 previous bouts. For Masuda it was a second title opportunity having been stopped in a battle for the same title, in 2012, by Ryosuke Iwasa. It was, on paper, a very competitive bout though not one between the best Bantamweights in Japan, who were clearly Shinsuke Yamanaka and Tomoki Kameda, both of whom we were champions. In fact what it was what was advertised, a domestic title fight with two experienced domestic level fighters both looking to secure their biggest and most important win. We won't ruin the action but we will say it was a very solid bout with both men giving it their all. It's well worth a watch if you want to see two men fighting their heart out in a bout they feel they must win. In 2011 Ryosuke Iwasa took the first step towards proving his class as he, at the second time of asking, claimed the Japanese Bantamweight title courtesy of a very solid win over the more experienced Jerope Mercado. At the time the expectation on Iwasa seemed to be that of a potential star and so much more than just a domestic champion. The following year Iwasa made 2 defence of his national title. The first came against the tough but limited Yuki Murai, an opening round stoppage and the second saw Iwasa defeating the very under-rated Kentaro Masuda in a win that looks better now than it did at the time. Iwasa did what he needed to, often striking as a sharp puncher when Masude left gaps, he took advantage of the flaws of the challenger very well despite some messy moments when Masuda managed to make things rough. Unfortunately for Masuda the shots of Iwasa began to take control of the bout and by the end of round 5 you could see the referee keeping a close eye on the challenger who was saved, on his feet, as Iwasa began to find the target with ease. Whilst Iwasa was viewed as a future world champion going in to this bout Masuda was seen as nothing special. He had lost 5 of his previous 19 bouts and although he was "only" 29 was seen as a man who had reached his highest point in boxing. In 2014 however Masuda, in his second Japanese title fight, managed to win the title with a very good technical decision victory over Yu Kawaguchi. As seen in this bout, despite the loss, Masuda is better than his record indicates and courtesy of his toughness he could be a handful for many domestic fighters. Iwasa however is clearly above domestic level and many still tip him to claim a world title some day down the line. The problem with a lot of Thai's is that we don't really know how good they are until the fight someone notable. Sometimes it turns out that they are pretty good, such as Amnat Ruenroeng who impressed against Rocky Fuentes, whilst other times they have hyper-inflated records based on their activity domestically as opposed to their actual ability. One man we're feeling could be as good as advertised is PABA Super Flyweight Super champion Norasingh Kokietgym, who scored one of his more notable victories last November when he stopped the usually testing Indonesian fighter Heri Amol. Amol isn't a mind blowing fighter but he's the sort of guy who has made a name for himself on the Asian scene by being a journeyman who can test fighters and give then an occasional scare, as he did when he dropped Kazuto Ioka. Sadly for Amol this fight proved 2 things. Firstly he's not a Super Flyweight and secondly that Norasingh is a pretty solid fighter. Interestingly Amol has been selected as the debut opponent for Japanese youngster Ken Shiro and we're expecting to see Amol give Ken Shiro a very good test. For that fight Amol will be fighting at 108lbs his more natural division, and he should give a more solid performance than he did here. Back in 2013 there was a Thai destroying everyone he seemed to get in the ring with. Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. The Thai was the then WBC Super Flyweight champion who was mowing through opponents, of various levels, in double quick fashion. Heavy handed, aggressive and tough Srisaket was becoming a real force to be reckoned with. Despite being incredibly active Srisaket only managed 1 defence of his world title. An amazing stat when you consider he fought 8 times whilst in possession of the world title. That one defence came against Japan's Hirofumi Mukai, a talented though very light hitting fighter who had previously fought a 1 round technical draw with Pongsaklek Wonjongkam. This bout, like the Wonjongkam one saw Mukai going over to Thailand though unfortunately it was another painful visit for Mukai who showed his bravery and toughness though was bludgeon by Srisaket until the corner eventually threw in the towel to save Mukai from what could have been a career altering beating. Following this fight Srisakat took part in a non-title bout, stopping Joel Kwong before sadly losing his world title to Carlos Cuadras. (Note, the Japanese anthem has been removed due to copyright, we're sorry for the few moments of silence) When we talk about modern day Thai legends few, if any, rival former WBC Flyweight kingpin Pongsaklek Wonjongkam. We know the Thai gets some hate from specific corners of the western boxing world but his record speaks for it's self. He's had 90 wins, more than 20 world title defences and more notable wins than many modern day fighter who get significantly more praise than he does. In fact Wonjongkam's string of victories over the likes of Malcolm Tunacao, Luis Alberto Lazarte, Daisuke Naito, Gilberto Keb Baas, Tomonobu Shimizu, Julio Cesar Mirando, Koki Kameda, Suriyan Sor Rungvisai and Edgar Sosa should be enough to secure him a place in the Hall of Fame. Sadly for Wonjongkam his last successful defence was one of the most disappointing as he secured a 47 second technical draw with Japanese novice Hirofumi Mukai. Prior to the early ending we appeared to be on the way to having a high paced boxing contest but a head clash ruined the hope of the very quickly and left Mukai bleeding profusely forcing the bout to be immediately halted. With less than a minute gone there wasn't even a reason to go to the score cards leasing to a very disappointing ending to what was promising to be a good bout. After this bout Wonjongkam would lose his title in a massive upset to Sonny Boy Jaro. Mukai, who is still only a youngster, later managed to secure a fight with the then reigning WBC Super Flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai though suffered a painful loss in that bout and it seems likely that his world title dreams will end if he suffers any more setbacks. They say that boxing is about levels and it's fair to say that that was shown to be true on July 21st 2014 when South Korea's very good Jaesung Lee found out he was a good level behind Japan's Shingo Wake. Wake went into this bout as the defending OPBF Super Bantamweight champion, a man on the verge of a world title fight and as a man who was proving to be a very talented, slippery and somewhat under-rated boxer with more power than his record indicated. Lee on the other hand was the #1 contender to Wake's throne and a man who had a good record against Japanese fighters, in fact Lee had beaten Takuya Watanabe just a few months earlier in a genuine bloodbath. The fight saw the champion proving his trickery early in and in the opening round Lee had clear problems laying a glove on Wake. In fact Lee's most notable connect was with his head late in the round. In the second round another clash of heads occurred though by then Wake was getting into his groove landing sharp combinations and making Lee miss, often wildly. Again Lee's most notable success was a headclash very late in the round which appeared to bother Wake, from then on Wake seemed intent on punishing Lee. As the fight went on Wake became more and more spiteful with his shots whilst Lee was tiring notable thou continued to show his Korean spirit by coming forward and often being forced to eat hard shots including a flurry in round 9 that sent the Korean through the ropes. To Lee's credit he continued though not for long and he was stopped the following round. After the fight Wake indicated he would be chasing a world title in his very next contest, though those comments don't appear on this video, sadly. (The footage is courtesy of aka0113) Before we say anything on this fight we would like to apologise. Sometimes perfect footage isn't available. It's just simply outside of our capabilities. That's been the case here with the second fight between Nihito Arakawa and Akihiro Kondo. The footage lacks the opening round and also lacks the "correct" sound, in fact we would advise that you mute the sound for the video because it is irritating. We are sorry for both of those issues and we do hope that a better version of this fight does surface, though for now this appears to be as good as there is out there. So on to the fight it was the second bout between Nihito Arakawa, a man infamous for his battle with Omar Figueroa, and Akihiro Kondo. The men had met back in 2010 when Arakawa took a close decision over Kondo to take the Japanese Lightweight title. Although their was no title on the line this time around both men were looking to score a win they each felt they needed. Arakwa had gone more than a year with out a win and had lost 3 of his previous 4. For Kondo he was returning from retirement and knew that a win here could re-announce him on the boxing world. We won't ruin what happens but the fight is a solid contest and one we think you will enjoy, even with the issues that the video has. |
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March 2024
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