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February 5th 2016-Balai Sarbini Convention Hall, Jakarta, Indonesia
Daud Yordan (34-3-0-1, 24) v Yoshitaka Kato (29-6-1, 9) Back in 2016 Indonesian hopeful Daud Yordan took on Japanese tough guy Yoshitaka Kato in what looked like a very good match up on paper.
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April 13th 2017-Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan Shuichiro Yoshino (3-0, 2) vs Yoshitaka Kato (30-7-2, 9) Earlier this month fight fans at the Korakuen Hall saw former OPBF and Japanese Lightweight champion Yoshitaka Kato [加藤 善孝] battle the fast rising Shuichiro Yoshino [吉野 修一郎] June 20th- Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan Yoshitaka Kato (29-7-1, 9) vs Brandon Ogilvie (16-1, 8) Earlier this month Japanese fight fans saw saw a thriller as Yoshitaka Kato [加藤 善孝] fought an action packed bout with world ranked Australian Brandon Ogilvie. December 6th 2014- Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan Yoshitaka Kato (28-5-1, 9) Vs Nihito Arakawa (25-4-1, 16) In 2005 Nihito Arakawa defeated Yoshitaka Kato via a very close decision, the following year Kato get revenge with his own close decision. Amazingly it took more than 8 years for the men to finally put the matter of who was best to rest and had a rubber bout. Like their first two bouts it was competitive and compelling and combined action showing off the development of both men over the last few years. (A huge thanks to 45412380 for this footage) At the time of writing the most active Japanese national champion is Lightweight champion Yoshitaka Kato who recorded his 7th title defence earlier this week with a stoppage of the hard hitting Tsukasa Saito. The fight was Kato's 9th bout since winning the Japanese title back in 2011 and was another fight that proved not only his toughness but also the excitement he can bring to the ring. From the moment this fight was announced we had expected action and that's what we got as Saito took the fight to Kato and the men stood in front of each other taking it in turns to let punches go, often to the body. For Saito the mentality seemed to be about breaking down Kato whilst the champion appeared happy to fight in the pocket and pick his openings in a fight that wouldn't have looked out of place in a phone booth. By round 3 the tide was starting to turn but the action was still almost constant with one man, or the other, on the attack. In round 4 the fight suddenly flipped with Kato dropping Saito. From then on Saito seemed to begin tiring though continued to fight his heart out before eventually being stopped by the referee in round 8. At first it looked like the stoppage was early but a few seconds later it appeared clear the referee saw something and made a perfect stoppage so a lot of credit needs giving to Katsuhiko Nakamura for stopping this when he did. Whilst the fight won't go down as a potential FOTY candidate it was still a great all action fight and the sort of thing we are coming to expect of Kato who has now won back-to-back fights following his loss of the OPBF title to Masayoshi Nakatani back in January. (Much thanks go to Mitani Yamato Gym for up loading this footage) At the time of writing the longest reigning active Japanese national champion is Lightweight ruler Yoshitaka Kato. Kato has now been the Lightweight champion for almost 3 years and made an excellent 6 title defences. The quickest of those 6 defences came in his second bout as champion as he battled first time title challenger Kota Koike. Interestingly it was the third bout between the two men who first met in 2005 with Kato taking a 4 round decision and again in 2007 when Kato took an 8 round decision. Through the 12 rounds of their first two bouts together neither man had managed to stop the other, and from looking at the scorecard neither man had even managed to score a knockdown. With their history together most fight fans expected this to go the distance surprisingly it lasted less than a round with Kato hurting his challenger early and then going for the kill, eventually forcing the referee to save Koike. Sadly for Koike this loss started his downfall in boxing and he'd fight only twice more, losing both of those bouts. For Kato however it was a win that he has built on brilliantly on. Several things worth noting about this bout are that this was only Kato's 3rd opening round stoppage, his first sine 2005. It was also the 4th stoppage loss of Koike's career though two of those previous stoppages had come to Daiki Kaneko and Shinya Iwabuchi, both of whom became national champions themselves! (Video courtesy of kadoebiebi) The first OPBF title fight of 2014 took place on January 11th as the unbeaten and much touted Masayoshi Nakatani challenged the teak tough Yoshitaka Kato for the OPBF Lightweight strap. The bout was a coming of age contest for the challenger who really was given a tough, tough test and for the champion it was a lesson in starting too late and not making the most of what tools he has. The bout was genuinely a perfect way to kick off a new year and saw both men putting the new year behind them as they exchanged some fantastic action. It was far from a fight of the year contender but it was still a very enjoyable contest between a grizzled veteran and a young upstart who appears to be on a march towards a world title. Whilst the fight really did show neither man was ready to move beyond OPBF level it will have helped both progress and become better fights and we'd certainly not mind seeing a rematch in in the next year or two. (Video courtesy of Yossy112311) |
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