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One fighter we've tried to follow pretty closely is Naoto Uebayashi, an unbeaten Japanese prospect who was a former amateur standout. Tipped for stardom Uebayashi stumbled somewhat early in his career and was surprisingly dropped in just his second bout, by Thailand's Imron Lookkhlongtan, and held to a draw by the then 22 year old Yasaku Kuga, who also dropped him. Just 3 months after the Kuga fight Uebayashi took on his most experienced, at least up to that point in time, Filipino Marjohn Yap. Yap, for those who aren't aware, is a sturdy and durable fighter who had shared the ring with some excellent fighters like Ryosuke Iwasa and had scored some notable upsets including a stoppage over Pramuansak Posuwan. For Uebayashi this was a clear test and, for the first time in his career, he was scheduled to go 8 rounds. As we all know some fighters respond well to being moved up a level and given what they view as a real test as opposed to a bout they go into complacent and feel they can win one handed. For Uebayashi this test seemed to bring out the best in him as he showed off the skills that helped him become such a highly regarded prospect. He combined his skills to a cautious pressure based game plan, he forced Yap against the ropes and forced Yap to lead and made him pay. From Yap's perspective he wasn't shown up and he'll be back in Japan in late 2014 to fight against Hirofumi Mukai. On this performance he has the ability to make life difficult for Mukai. For us however the performance from Uebayashi saw him winning rounds against a competitive Yap to take the win and build on his reputation as one of Japan's more over-looked prospects. (Video courtesy of Akkie4410)
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To be a very good prospect a fighter to be more than just skilled. Sure the "skills pay the bills" but if the fighter is lacking mentally, has a poor chin or has another obvious flaw then all that skill could go to waste. One man who appears to have the skills but has left us with question marks is Japan's talented Naoto Uebayashi who, despite having a 5-0-1 at the time of writing, has left some with major question marks due to performances in several of his early fights. One of those those, in fact the most telling in many ways, was his second professional bout as Uebayashi took on Thailand's Imron Lookkhlongtan and mentally switched off for just a moment. Uebayashi looked in complete control but made a mistake and was forced to pay with the Thai tagging him with a very crisp and heavy right hand that sent Uebayashi down about 2:40 into the opening round. Much to his credit the Japanese fighter did get back to his feet, recovered and went on to win the fight with a sensational knockout in round 5 but the warning signs for Uebayashi need to be heeded, especially when you consider he was dropped again just 2 fights later by Yusaku Kuga. There is talent here with Uebayashi but he certainly needs to work out a few issues before he's moved into title fights or else he will lose a fight that he has the ability to win. (Video courtesy of Akkie4410) Not every fighter is blessed with dynamite power that breaks defences, renders opponents unconscious and instils fear into all opponents. Even with out dynamite fists a fighter can score stoppages, especially when they have speed, timing and great shot selection. Those 3 traits were on show early in the career of Masayuki Ito. Ito scored his first stoppage when he was fighting in his third and stopped Shunshuke Takatsu inside a round. The stoppage, not one of the best we've seen from a referee, came after Ito scored a beautiful and hard knockdown with a stunning and quick right hand. Unfortunately for Takatsu his stumble on his way to the corner following the knockdown allowed the referee to halt the fight even if the fighter himself did seem to be fine. Whilst certainly still not a puncher Ito has become a very good boxer and has actually stopped his last 3 opponents, including Jeffrey Arienza in a bout that saw Ito winning the WBC Youth Lightweight. The stoppage over Arienza came with Ito just unloading on the Filipino until the referee stepped in. Again a lack of power was on show but his volume amongst other things made up for it. As we write this we're looking forward to Ito's fight with the big punching Masao Nakamura. The fight with Takatsu is unlikely to bear any relevance on the Nakamura fight but was one of the few full fight videos we could find of Ito in action. When we talk about interesting fighters we seem to also think of world famous famous fighters as opposed to the less known but equally interesting fighters. One such fighter is Hayato Kimura, AKA Joon-In Yoo, Big Joon and Hayato Chuwatana. Kimura, despite being Japanese began his career aged 16 in Thailand before carving out an interesting part of his career in South Korea and then, finally, making a mark on the Japanese domestic scene. Not only was Kimura's early career an interesting one due to where he was fighting but it was also interesting for two other reasons. Firstly he was the first ever Japanese fighter to claim a South Korean title, a feat he achieved when he beat Kyung-Jin Son for the South Korean Super Flyweight title, and secondly he was also the interim WBO Asia Pacific Super Flyweight champion, winning a title that the JBC didn't recognise. He got to do both of those because he was fighting in South Korea under a South Korean license as opposed to a Japanese license. The video below is of Kimura's fight for the interim WBO Asia Pacific Super Flyweight title, a fight that saw him stopping Indonesia's Little Roseman. Roseman at this point had had more than double the amount of fights Kimura had had but the Japanese born fighter looked bigger, stronger and simply much better than his Indonesian rival . Although Kimura has improved since this fight, almost 6 years ago, it's still impressive to see him going to body with such a determined gut busting attack, something that we really liked when we saw this fight. (Video courtesy of Novaboxing) Some of the best things about Japanese boxing happen when a fighter is a novice. Not only is there the Rookie of the Year competition for real rookies, but there are also B Class tournaments for former top amateur fighters and fighters with a bit more experience and there are also some great tests for youngsters who want to prove their talented. Of course not everyone is super prospect like Naoya Inoue or Kosei Tanaka but yet we can almost always see a Japanese prospect tested in their first few fights. We saw two such fighters testing their credentials at one of the B class tournament finals last year when then unbeaten Naoto Uebayashi, a former amateur star, battled the 22 year old Yusaku Kuga. Kuga, who came into the bout with a loss and a draw from his previous 8 bouts knew he was up against it but also showed true self belief and refused to be intimidated by the amateur credentials and hype that Uebayashi had gotten. As a result we got a fantastic fight between two very good and promising fighters. The fight was a very competitive one that showed off what both fighters were capable of at time. Since then however both appear to have developed their skills notably and we'd not be shocked if one, or the other, manages to claim at least a national title at some point in their career. (Video courtesy of Akimoto Righteous) Generally you can recognise a good prospect from their amateur credentials. Its true not all good amateurs become good professionals but a good amateur background does tend to help a fighter when they turn professional. Likewise in Japan it's also worth noting what sort of license they fight with when they turn professional with many of the better prospects fighting under a B class license on their debut, they might not all go on to be stars but they are always worth following early in their career. Those two things made Naoto Uebayashi someone to make a note of when he began his career back in late 2012. He was a 6 time amateur champion and had competed at various international competitions, including the World Amateur Champions in 2009. After his amateur career he turned professional under a B license and looked like a very promising young prospect with the potential to be one to watch. In Uebayashi's third fight he fought he entered a B class tournament and faced Atsuki Hayashi. Hayashi was fighting in his 9th fight and had only lost 1 of his previous 8, it was a considerable test for the much touted Uebayashi who showed his potential with a very solid performance that showed off many of the traits that saw him being so hotly tipped. As one would suspect from a novice in their 3rd pro bout this wasn't punch perfect but it was a very comfortable victory for the unbeaten youngster who was taken the distance for the first time in his career. Not only was he taken the distance but he was pushed hard in the final few rounds as his stamina was given a serious test. (Video courtesy of Akimoto Righteous) When it comes to the most important year in the career of Masao Nakamura many would point to either 2010, when he won the OPBF title stopping Allan Tanada, or 2011 when he lost the OPBF title to Ronald Pontillas. A third contender would be 2013, a year in which Nakamura fought 4 times making it the busiest year of his career so far. The fights, all wins by T/KO included Nakamura's first fight with a Filipino since he was stopped by Pontillas. Unfortunately for Raymond Sermona he was the Filipino and Nakamura was boxing to impress. From the opening bell we saw a sharp Nakamura who used his under-rated boxing skills to slowly break down Sermona. Although the Filipino tried to fight back, firing off round house rights in an attempt to discourage Nakamura he lacked the power to get the Japanese fighters respect and instead of discourage Nakamura all Sermona did was leaving openings for Nakamura who really went to work in the 3rd round. As with most fighters Sermona couldn't cope with the power of Nakamura and was eventually counted out after some vicious shots from the Japanese fighter who seemed, in many ways, to expel the ghosts of the Pontillas fight. In 2010 the hard hitting Masao Nakamura was moved into his first 10 round bout as he took on Thailand's Dinpun Chuwatana. Going in to the bout Chuwatana had never been stopped, had proven to hit hard and had been a former Thai Super Bantamweight champion The hope, it seems, was to try and extend Nakamura a few rounds before he moved towards title fights. Unfortunately for Chuwatana, and those expecting to see Nakamura given a test, this was over just as quickly as some other Nakamura bouts, and that was despite the heavy handed Japanese fighter actually boxing on his toes for much of the opening round. Chuwatana managed to see out the first round but failed to see out the second round as Nakamura stepped up his offence and detonated with a number of hard shots including a devastating uppercut that almost ripped the Thai's head off his shoulders. This was, amazingly, Nakamura's 10th KO in just 16 rounds! Unfortunately for him however we soon found out he couldn't take a show as well as he could land one and just 3 fights later he was stopped by Ronald Pontillas. When a fighter is naturally heavy handed he can do untold damage to his opponents without needing to land the perfect shot. That appeared to be the case when Masao Nakamura defeated Indonesia's Budi Risky inside a round. Nakamura, who entered the bout with a record of 13-1 (13), was viewed as one of the hardest punchers pound-for-pound in not Japanese or Asian boxing but in world boxing and that power showed as he seemed to do real damage to his opponent's face. Risky, who went down in agony, turned away from the referee holding his face after he got up. Sadly we're unsure on the specific damage though have speculated that Risky ended up with a broken nose. From his reaction it's certainly a believe assumption. When you think of hard hitting Japanese Super Featherweights the first name that springs to mind is Takashi Uchiyama, a man so destructive as a puncher that he is dubbed "KO Dynamite". Your second would probably then be WBC champion Takashi Miura, another vicious puncher who attacks with a nasty mentality. There is also a third massive punching Japanese Super Featherweight, Masao Nakamura. Nakamura, known as the "KO King" ran up 12 straight KO's before being upset by Ronald Pontillas in 2011. Since then however he has bounced back with 6 successive KO's including an opening round blow out of Thailand's experienced Fahsai Sakkreerin who lasted just 100 seconds with Nakamura. In fact Nakamura's ring walk and introduction lasted longer than the bout. Despite lasting less than 2 minutes we did get to see plenty of action, including 3 knockdowns of Sakkreerin who simply couldn't stand up to the power of Nakamura. This was the second stoppage loss in 3 fights for Sakkreerin who had been stopped 2 fights earlier in 2 rounds by Rances Barthelemy. At the time of writing Barthelmy is the IBF Super Featherweight champion and is being targeted by Michael Farenas. For Nakamura this win has helped boost him towards a world title fight though before that he will need to get past Masayuki Ito in a very interesting contest to close out July 2014. |
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