The Super Featherweight division is one of the most entertaining, despite the fact that it's been a criminally over-looked and often ignored one in the west. Of course the division has had some highlight fight in the west recently, such as the brilliant Takashi Miura Vs Francisco Vargas fight and the two Roman Martinez Vs Orlando Salido bouts. Sadly those great wars haven't seen fight fans really get behind the division despite the depth currently competing at 130lbs. This coming Wednesday we see the top fight in the division in action, WBA “super” champion Takashi Uchiyama's (24-0-1, 20) [内山 高志] defending his title against the WBA's “interim” champion Jezreel Corrales (19-1-0-1, 7). For Uchiyama it's his 12th defense of the title, and sees him take a huge step towards the Japanese title defense record, of 13 defenses by Yoko Gushiken, and setting a Super Featherweight world record, whilst giving Corrales a chance to make a big statement about himself on the world stage. Of the two fighters it's Corrales who is the less known and the clear under-dog, however the Panamanian is a confident fighter who will feel he is ready for this opportunity having managed to pick up number of solid victories at home. Those solid victories have included decision wins against Rene Alvarado and Irving Berry as well as stoppages over Walter Estrada and Juan Antonio Rodriguez. They might not be top tier wins, but they do suggest that Corrales is a capable fighter who can hold his own on the fringes of world class, at the very least. In the ring Corrales looks not only a confident fighter, but also a very good one with a lot of technical ability, sharp offensive and very impressive defense. That defense is based on a shoulder roll with his speed and reactions helping him turn offense into defense and from the footage available he does, sort of, look like a young Floyd Mayweather Jr. Their is a very educated boxing brain in his head and whilst he's certainly no banger it's become clear that he can hurt fighters with his accurate and quick shots. Notably he has also been seen to be a switch hitter and appears to be a fighter who is extremely comfortable in the ring. When it comes to Uchiyama the 36 year old champion has been one of the shining stars of Japanese boxing and one of the few constants in the Super Featherweight division over the last 6 years. He was a former top Japanese amateur who turned professional and raced through the ranks, winning an OPBF title in his 8th bout and the WBA title in his 14th. Whilst he was fast tracked he has also scored notable wins stopping the likes of Nedal Hussein, Juan Carlos Salgado, Takashi Miura, Jorge Solis, Bryan Vasquez and Jomthong Chuwatana, essentially ending Chuwatana's prime as a fighter. In the ring Uchiyama can look a little bit basic, he's not flashy or anything like that. What he is however is excellently well school, technically he's fantastic and uses a brilliant jab to set off almost all of his attacks. He's gifted with some of the heaviest handed, pound for pound, in the sport and every shot he lands takes a toll on an opponent, with many being beaten down as fights go on. When he feels like he's in with a good opponent we see the best from Uchiyama, who has amazingly fought much of his career with serious injuries which have reportedly been sorted in recent years, suggesting that at 36 we're only just starting to see Uchiyama at his best physically. Coming in to this one we're expecting to see Uchiyama given a genuine stylistic test. Corrales has the style to really frustrate the champion with his brilliant defense and speed. Despite being a frustrating opponent we do suspect that Uchiyama will mark out his territory with the jab, and eventually grind down Corrales, for a late stoppage. However we do imagine that Corrales will come again in the future and could turn out to be a very good win on reflection for Uchiyama. If Uchiyama is, as we suspect, successful then he'll be looking to make a US debut later in the year whilst also tying Gushiken's record. Hopefully that would see him finally receiving the international plaudits that he has, so far, lacked.
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December 31st features a 5 world title fights in Japan, spread across 3 different cities. The bouts all see Japanese champions defending their titles against foreign fighters and all are being televised across various platforms. The most distinguished of those champions is the unbeaten Takashi Uchiyama (23-0-1, 19) who looks to record his 11th defense of the WBA Super Featherweight title, or more exactly the second defense of the “Super” version of the title. In the opposite corner to the heavy handed “KO Dynamite” will be a man looking to make a mark on the world scene, the little known Oliver Flores (27-1-2, 17). The 36 year old champion is one of the longest reigning champions in the sport. He won his title in way back in January 2010, when he stopped Juan Carlos Salgado, and has since defended it against both top contenders and relative nobodies. Whilst wins over Roy Mukhlis and Angel Granados will be easily forgotten wins over the likes of Takashi Miura, Jorge Solis, Bryan Vasquez and Jomthong Chuwatana are likely to stand the test of time. In the ring Uchiyama is a very special fighter and despite his age still looks like a youthful fighter who does have time on his side. He's a monstrous puncher, with real venom in both hands, he's technically very solid with a smart boxing mind and works off a heavy jab with ease. Not only is he talented and heavy handed but he's also tough, defensively sound and and has an excellent understanding of pacing, which has seen him speed up and slow down bouts almost at will. If he does have flaws in his boxing it's really his speed, which is unexceptional, though that is less of an issue given his timing and control. Whilst Uchiyama has already sealed his place among the modern Japanese greats he does still have some targets. One of those is to set the Japanese record for most defenses, a record that currently stands at 13 successful defenses. For him a win over Flores is just he next step towards that record. He also hopes to score a big win in the US and make a name for himself internationally. It's thought that if he sees off Flores a deal is in place for him to face Nicholas Walters next year, however could that deal see him taking his eyes off the task at hand? Whilst Uchiyama is well known, especially by knowledgeable fans who have followed his championship reign, it's fair to say that Flores is a bit of an unknown quantity. The 24 year old is a southpaw from Leon, Nicaragua. Despite being Nicaraguan he actually began making a name for himself in Costa Rica, where he debuted at a prodigious 15 years old and has fought 20 of his career bouts. As well Costa Rica fans have been able to see Flores fight in Mexico, Nicaragua and, most recently Panama. Sadly however the amount of notable opponents that he's faced are limited with the only real stand out name being Miguel Berchelt, who stopped Flores in 2 rounds back in November 2012. Since that loss, more than 3 years ago, Flores has fought just 4 times, all in Nicaraguan, beating very poor opposition. On paper there is little for Uchiyama to worry about, however Flores has perhaps one or two things of note to think about. Firstly he's experienced, obviously, secondly he's a southpaw and thirdly he's got experience at a higher weight than Uchiyama, in fact his last 3 bouts have come at Lightweight or above. From footage he has a lot of upper body movement and a relatively sharp jab, but there is little weight behind his shots and he does make a bunch of mistakes, often leaning in too much and leaning over his front foot which will be punished by a fighter like Uchiyama. From what we've seen of Flores he looks likely to pose absolutely no threat to Uchiyama and despite being a southpaw he's not a fighter who is likely to even pose a question in terms of his stance. His defensive is wide open and given Uchiyama's thunderous power this could be very short. In fact we suspect we ends when Uchiyama chooses to end it, which may well be very early given that he'll want to make a statement ahead of a US bout in 2016. Every so often a fight comes along that has fight fans feeling like it's Christmas. They know they are in for a treat. One such fight comes on November 21st when Japanese explosive Takashi Miura (29-2-2, 22) defends his WBC Super Featherweight title against unbeaten Mexican challenger Francisco Vargas (22-0-1, 16). To some fans this bout is the supporting bout to Miguel Cotto's WBC Middleweight world title defense against Saul Alvarez, to others however it's the hidden gem that will likely provide a better fight and more action than the supposed main event. For those who haven't seen the two men in action they really are in for a treat. For those who have seen the men, they will know what to expect when the “Bomber” meets “Bandido”. The champion is one of the sports heaviest handed champions. On paper his KO% is just 67% but that number really is misleading, and he has dropped almost everyone he has fought, including fellow champion Takashi Uchiyama, and former champions Billy Dib and Gamaliel Diaz, as well as top contenders like Sergio Thompson. In fact one of the thing that has dragged down Miura's KO% is his bouts at Lightweight, where he had to look to find opponents capable of taking his frightening power. Miura is a 31 year old Southpaw who has really come in to his own in the last few years. To many his break out performance was his contest with Uchiyama, which he lost via 8th round TKO when his face was badly swollen. The loss was a blessing in disguise however and following it he moved over to the Teiken gym, having impressed members of the illustrious gym. It's been under Teiken that he's flourished and he's since gone 9-0 (7), claimed the WBC title and ran up 4 defenses, 3 by stoppage. Aggressive, intelligent, hard working and of course powerful, Miura is a nightmare to fight. At times he can look wild, maybe a little predictable looking to land his left hand, but he is so devastating, so tough and so dangerous that his reputation can scare opponents. His win over Dante Jardon, another powerful puncher, seemed to prove that perfectly as Jardon fought scared and got battered in 9 one sided rounds as a result. To beat Miura you need to move, boxer and make sure he can't land the left or over-whelm you. It sounds simple but it really isn't. Whilst Miura is a puncher the same can also be said for Vargas, though he's less of a raw power puncher and more of a calculating combination puncher who lets his hands go, uses smart footwork to cut opponents off and looks to land a lot of solid shots. Although a solid puncher he has also shown he can box and in recent years has racked up a nice string of wins, beating the likes of Jerry Belmontes, Abner Cotto, Juan Manuel Lopez and Will Tomlinson. Aged 30 Vargas is a man who has established himself in recent years and now looks to move on to becoming a world champion in one of the sports most under-rated divisions. Un fortunately for him he is stepping, though has looked comfortable fighting on the fringes of world class and his style is one that is always fun to watch, with a lot of punches being thrown. In term of work rate not many will match him, and better yet he's often accurate and intelligent with his output, showing some world class traits in his fights so far. Watching Vargas, the best trait to have to beat him is to have the power and physical strength to fight him off. That however is much easier said than done and when fighters have tried that with out the power they have typically fared badly, as Lopez and Tomlinson will attest to. Miura however does have that strength and power and will likely be happy to go toe-to-toe with Vargas, which could bring out the boxer in the Mexican, if it does then Vargas will have to hope his plan B works. He can box, but the question would be can he do so against the aggression and power of Miura? What we're expecting, or at least hoping for, is an all out war. A battle of machismo. A violent, brutal and exciting combat that gives fans a chance to really get lost in the contest. We're also expecting Miura to come out on top with his power eventually wearing away at Vargas after 9 rounds of brutal, exciting and relentless action. If however Vargas can box against Miura we could well see the title changing hands in what would be an enjoyable, but disappointing contest There are many divisions in boxing that get over-looked due to a lack of fighters from a particular country or region. Today one such division is the Super Featherweight division which has a lot of exciting fighters in it, a huge ranged of talented individuals ranging from exciting warriors making their names in the sport, such as Takashi Miura and Francisco Vargas, to veteran's whose time looks to be coming to and end but yet they won't go away quietly, such as Roman Martinez and Orlando Salido, who put on a recent FOTY contender together. On May 6th we get to see a bout between two of the division's top unbeaten fighters who both combine a high level of skill with heavy hands, spiteful straight punches and are technically very impressive. Neither man is a brawler but rarely is either involved in a dull bout, and given the power and skills of both they are both must watch fighters. One of those unbeaten men is WBA “super” champion Takashi Uchiyama (22-0-1, 18). For those unaware he's a 35 year old fighter who has been at the top of the division for more than 5 years. He's already recorded an excellent reign of terror including 9 world title defenses with wins over the likes of Takashi Miura, Jorge Solis, Bryan Vasquez and Daiki Kaneko as well as his excellent title winning effort against Juan Carlos Salgado. What those wins have shown is that Uchiyama has an educated understanding of the ring, a thunderous right hand and a nasty, hurtful jab. At his best Uchiyama is the consummate boxer-puncher. He's powerful, tough, strong and skilled with very few chinks in his armour. It's fair to say he's not the quickest but his timing makes up for that more often than not. The one thing that does stand out about Uchiyama, at least in recent times, is inactivity and by the time he steps in the ring for his upcoming defense he'll have fought just 21 rounds in 2 years, with those rounds coming in just 2 fights. Whilst some of that activity is due to issues with opponents, several of which turned him down last year, another part is injuries to one of his hands. Given his age the inactivity and injuries certainly leave a lot of questions regarding how long Uchiyama can continue at the top level. The other man is Thailand's brilliant Jomthong Chuwatana (9-0, 4). On paper Jomthong is “inexperienced” but in reality the Thai is more experienced than many would imagine with a legendary Muay Thai career that has been the founding of his success as a boxer. Not only is Jomthong a true “fighter” but he's a brilliant technical fighter with a razor like southpaw jab and a spiteful straight that many fighters don't see coming. More impressively when it comes to Jomthong is his ability to control distance with incredibly smart movement. Aged 25 Jomthong is a relative youngster in the division. With more than 200 Muay Thai fights under his belt Jomthong “should” have copious amounts of wear and tear however given his defense nous, movement and toughness he's certainly not been showing much of that damage and instead the Thai looks as tough as ever. Like Uchiyama he's a boxer puncher though he's not got the inactivity or age to really worry about and he's a faster fighter than the defending champion, with both his hands and feet. He's also the bigger fighter, about 1½″ taller and naturally bigger at the weight, with a lot of draining done to make 130lbs. One of the few points where he is behind Uchiyama is his competition, but for a 9 fight “novice” that competition has already included wins over Dong-Hyuk Kim, Ronald Pontillas and, most recently Daiki Kaneko, a trio of very good wins. In the ring we suspect this will be incredibly high level boxing between two very similar fighters. Uchiyama is the hard puncher and the man who will have the crowd behind him however he'll also learn that Jomthong's counters are quick and sharp. The speed difference between the two is genuinely noticeable and with Uchiyama getting older he's also getting slower, possibly leading to his timing being slightly off. Jomthong also won't be intimidated either by the crowd or by Uchiyama's reputation. Although the fight will be high level boxing we suspect that it will warm up and move from top tier boxing into an educated and highly skilled fight with Uchiyama needing to adapt to the speed, skills and movement of Jomthong. This won't be an all out brawl but will feature a lot of pressure from Uchiyama and Jomthong answering back in short sequences that will have the crowd on their feet and the commentators going wild. When we get to those sequences we'll really find out about both men and how much they want to win. Whilst the both men are exceptional fighters we see them as being parts of different generations. The 10 year age gap between them is what we view as the biggest difference and Uchiyama is certainly coming to the end of his career whilst Jomthong is just beginning his, at least at world level. That, to us, is the deciding part of this fight and why Jomthong will shake up the division in a huge way and claim a career defining victory. The speed, and youth will see Jomthong through to the win, despite some struggles with the more experienced champion. Note-Fight fans wanting to watch this can see it in Japan on TV Tokyo or in Thailand, on Channel 3SD. (Image courtesy of http://www.watanabegym.com) It's fair to say that everyone who follows boxing is looking forward to May 2nd and the long awaited mega-fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Before then however we are set to get a lot of other action, with the first title fight of the month coming on the Friday prior in Japan where the exciting Takashi Miura (28-2-2, 21) gets to defend his WBC Super Featherweight title against Australian challenger Billy Dib (39-3, 23). Coming in to the bout Miura is a fighter seeking a win to “break out”. At the moment he's a world champion but one who is often seen as being in the shadows of the popular Takashi Uchiyama. He's scored himself notable wins already, including a 2013 FOTY contender against Sergio Thompson, but hasn't been able to really capture fans like his WBA title holding compatriot. As for Dib he's a man needing a win of note to just remain relevant in the world of professional boxing. Internationally the more well known of the two men is Dib. He first made his name at home in Australia, where he fought many of his earliest fights, before going to the US to challenge the then WBO Featherweight champion Steve Luevano in 2008. Although Dib came up short against Luevano it wasn't long until he got another world title fight and over-came Jorge Lacierva for the IBF Featherweight title. Unfortunately for Dib his reign came to an end just 20 months after winning the title as he was beaten by the then unheralded Evgeny Gradovich in the US. It was a bout that saw Dib losing his biggest drawing factor internationally and worst of all, frustrating fans with a performance that was ugly to say the least. Since that loss Dib has failed to really reignite his career and struggled past Mike Oliver before being stopped in a rematch with Gradovich, on the Macau card headlined by Manny Pacquiao's bout with Brandon Rios. For many fans they expected Dib's loss to Gradovich to be the end of him at world level. The Australian boxer-mover was only 28 but already looking like a fighter who was done. He has however picked up 3 low level wins and got himself back into contention. In the ring Dibb is a spoiler. He's fast and has got some real skill but seems to be happy to make things ugly and frustrate his opponents. At his best he's a fantastic fighter but his best days appear to be behind him and appear to have come against relatively poor opponents, opponents who were unable to cope with his speed, power or style. At the world levels he's never quite looked like fitting in and his IBF Featherweight title reign was disappointing to say the least with defenses against the little known Alberto Servidei, a little known Italian who was finished inside a round form a body shot, and Eduardo Escobedo, a Mexican who retired after 6 rounds of a messy and foul filled bout. Whilst less well known internationally Miura is a man who is carving his way through the Super Featherweight division and taking no prisoners. He was first noted as a puncher in the amateur ranks where ran up an impressive record of 34-6 (22). Since turning professional in 2003 he has shown that same power and went 12-0-1 (10) before suffering his first loss, in a Japanese title fight to Yusuke Kobori. Despite his power it wasn't until his third Japanese title shot that he finally won and at one point it seemed like that was going to be where his power “topped out” with a number of distance bouts occurring when he faced the top Japanese contenders of the late 00's. In 2011 we finally saw Miura fighting at the top level as he took on the WBA champion Takashi Uchiyama in a world title fight. Miura did come up short, with a badly swollen face forcing his retirement in that bout, be he had impressed, dropping Uchiyama hard in round 3 and showing his heart through several painful rounds. It was a loss but one with an upside as it saw Teiken taking an interesting in Miura and signing him up, where he has been ever since. Not only has Miura signed with Teiken but he has flourished having won all 8 bouts since the Uchiyama contest. Those bouts have included his world title victory against Gamaliel Diaz, his enthralling war with the tough Sergio Thompson, his 1-sided destruction of the horrible over-matched Dante Jardon and a beat down of the heavy handed but limited Edgar Puerta. Wins over 4 successive Mexicans has seen Miura become a new “Mexicutioner” though in all honesty we suspect that he's going to have the beating of almost anyone in the Super Featherweight division. He has the style, power, aggressiveness and toughness to give everyone and anyone a tough bout and although he is flawed and he can be hurt he's a very hard man to beat, especially now that he's began to fulfil his potential. When the two men get in the ring we're expecting to see a number of differences between the two men. Firstly we expect Dib will be quicker, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Dib land the first punch of note, or in fact the first few punches of note. On the other side Miura will be the much stronger, bigger and tougher man in the ring and we suspect when Dib tries to get dirty he will be brushed aside, the hugging and holding will be punished by powerful short shots. At the end of round 4 or 5 Dib will be getting bullied around the ring whilst Miura will be looking to land his potent left hand and within 8 rounds he'll have stopped Dib who we expect will look a beaten and broken man. We might be wrong but really do see this as a mismatch with Miura having almost all the advantages and Dib being the sacrificial lamb to the champion who deserves a lot more attention than he's been getting from western fans. Hopefully, if we're right, we'll see Miura in a super fight later in the year against the winner of the upcoming WBA “super” title fight between Takashi Uchiyama and Jomthong Chuwatana. That bout promises to be a lot more competitive than this one and if the winners were to collide it really would be the best fight to be made in the division. (Image courtesy of boxmob.jp) For some fighters 2014 has been amazing. Fighters like Kosei Tanaka and Shohei Omori have had tremendous years with both men breaking out and making a name for themselves. Others however have had disappointing years, with Takashi Uchiyama (21-0-1, 17) probably having the most disappointing year of any active world champion. Yes Uchiyama is still the unbeaten WBA Super Featherweight king but he's a man who has lost a year of his career due to the fact opponents haven't wanted to fight him. What should have been a year of greats fights for Uchiyama has instead been plagued with inactivity, opponents avoiding him and various other problems. Thankfully the year won't be a total write off for the popular “KO Dynamite” and Uchiyama will fight this year, on December 31st. The bout comes exactly a year after his Uchiyama's last defense, a hard fought decision win over Daiki Kaneko, and sadly it sees the Japanese knockout artist fighting a relatively obscure opponent, Israel Hector Enrique Perez (27-2-1, 16). We consider ourselves hardcore fans outside of just the Asian scene, though Perez is a fighter that, when the bout was announced, we genuinely knew next to nothing about. What we knew was that he was a 35 year old Argentinian who had scored only a single win of note, a stoppage over veteran Francisco Lorenzo. Having known so little about Perez we have made an effort to get a read on him by watching footage of him in action. Unsurprisingly the footage doesn't impress us, in the slightest. He looks basic and predictable, there is little that actually stands out about him and although he seems to have power it's far from world class and seems more grinding than destructive. Possibly his best quality is his punch variety, though nothing appears to be particularly stunning. A notable issue of Perez's is activity. He has fought just once in the last 12 months, just twice in the last 24 months and, amazingly, just 4 times in the last 4 years. At 35 years old that simply isn't active enough and it's certainly not the activity that should be rewarded with a world title fight. Interestingly however he is 28-0-1 in his last 29 fights date back more than 4 years. His level of competition has helped that unbeaten run though it's still impressive, at least on paper. It's going to sound incredibly harsh but we're not sure that Perez would be able to crack the top 5 in Japan. He's certainly going to be an under-dog against both Uchiyama and Takashi Miura, it's hard to see him really testing Daiki Kaneko, Rikki Naito, Masayuki Ito or Shingo Eto. Interestingly, at the time of writing, Boxrec.com woulr rate Perez at #15 in Japan, if he were Japanese of course. Whilst Perez is unknown we cannot say the same about Uchiyama who is one of the sports biggest punchers, most exciting fighters and most destructive. At his best Uchiyama is probably the best Super Featherweight on the planet. He combines incredibly heavy hands with great technical ability, intelligent defence, surprising handspeed and freakish natural strength. Through his 22 career bouts only one man has been able to stand up physically to Uchiyama and that was compatriot Daiki Kaneko, who is one amazing physical specimen. Aged 35 and coming in off a long lay off Uchiyama does leave us with some questions. What will his timing be like? Will he be sharp? And most importantly how much has he slid? He didn't look great against Kaneko and a year on we're unsure he would actually beat Kaneko if they were to have a rematch. We're also unsure if we'd pick Uchiyama in a rematch with Miura, who he beat back in 2011. What we're trying to say is Miura isn't in his prime any more. When he was in his pomp we'd have made him a clear favourite over anyone in the division now however we have apprehensions about him against two of his compatriots, and former victims. If Uchiyama can recapture his form he likely stops Perez very early in this bout. If, however, Uchiyama isn't what he once was we suspect he'll win but not look impressive doing so, possibly stopping Perez in the later rounds. The only thing we can't see happening is Perez winning. The Argentinian has nothing that will make Uchiyama worried and if anything this is the perfect bout to see what Uchiyama has left and to let him vent his frustrations at the year he has had. Sadly we suspect that if Uchiyama is less than impressive then he may actually retire from the sport. It'd be a shame but he deserves to go out unbeaten rather than suffer a late career defeat well after his prime, like he probably would if he's slipped further from how we last saw him. (Image courtesy of Watanabe) We all hate proliferation of "world titles" under the guise of "interim" or "Super" titles. In theory however we can fully understand the concept for an interim champion. If a fighter is unable to fight for some reason then we have no problem with an interim title fight, as long as the fighter is unable to fight for a reason that is out of their hands, for example a serious injury. The current WBO Super Featherweight champion Mikey Garcia isn't currently on the sideline for an injury. Nor is he unavailable to fight for some really legitimate and serious reason. Instead Garcia is on the sideline due to a dispute with his promoter. In our eyes that isn't a reason for an organisation to allow an interim title fight, instead they should force the mandatory on the champion, in this case Garcia, and if the promoter and fighter cannot agree terms then send the bout to purse bids and allow other promoters to make the fight. Despite our dislike out pointless interim title fights we do end up with some really interesting bouts for interim title belts and the next one of those that concerns us will see the WBO crown a Super Featherweight interim champion as Terdsak Kokietgym (53-4-1, 33) battles Orlando Salido (41-12-2-1, 28) whilst current champion Mikey Garcia attempts to sort out his promotional issues. Terdsak, an experienced Thai, will be fighting his second interim world title fight having previously been bested by Juan Manuel Marquez in a bout for the WBO interim Featherweight title. That bout saw Terdsak suffer his only stoppage loss so far though showed he was below world class. Despite that loss however Terdsak has remained on the fringes and only lost to world class fighters, including Joan Guzman, Steve Luevano and most recently Takahiro Ao. Those bouts showed that whilst not the best in the world, Terdsak isn't a bad fighter. He's tough, experienced and fundamentally solid though has, like many Thai's, fought a lot of weaker fighters. It's those bouts with weaker fighters that have had 2 effects on Terdsak's career. Firstly they have clearly padded his record helping him to over 50 wins. Secondly they have made him look less talented than he is and watching him it often seems like he is going through the motions happy to just do what's needed to get the win rather than look impressive doing it. In many ways that's an issue with the Thai system of having talented guys fight no hopers on a regular basis though on the other hand it does keep fighters busy and getting paid, something that can help a fighter in terms of their out of the ring life. Whilst Terdsak is talented some will question whether or not he is truly world class or not. We'd suggest not, and in all honesty we're not sure he'd make the top 10 Super Featherweights in the Orient. That's despite his long and very interesting career. Whilst Terdsak is experienced in terms of fights it's fair to say that Salido is the truly experienced fighter here. The Mexican, who will be fighting at home, has had marginally few bouts though has fought at a higher level more consistently, in fact Salido's opponent list reads like an international who's who of boxing. That includes Juan Manuel Marquez, Robert Guerrero, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Juan Manuel Lopez, Mikey Garica and Vasyl Lomachenko. What makes it even more impressive is that a lot of Salido's secondary wins have come against guys who would be amongst the better opponents on Terdsak's record, guys like Japan's Kenichi Yamaguchi or the limited but fun to watch Rogers Mtagwa. Salido has made a long and successful career out of being a warrior. He's not the most skilled, he's not the biggest punchers, he's not the fastest and he's not going to impressive in terms of visually exciting qualities. What he does really well however is fight. He's a fighter fighters, he's a man who will get in the ring and happily take a shot to land his own, he will bore into an opponent in order to have a fight and unless a fighter is smart enough or quick enough to avoid him Salido will usually beat them up though sheer determination and will to win. That is what makes him such a fantastic fighter to watch and one of the most entertaining men in boxing. Sadly for Terdsak we can only see one outcome here. A win for Salido. Due to the styles of the two men we don't just imagine a win for Salido but also a stoppage as the Mexican grinds down Terdsak in the middle and later rounds to force the referee to wave off the bout. The styles and level of competition simply favour Salido so much more over Terdsak and although Salido has taken damage in the course of his career he is still a very good fighter as he'll look to prove again here. (Image courtesy of notifight.com) When we talk about the most destructive men in boxing one name that cannot be forgotten is Japan's fearsomely big hitting Takashi Uchiyama (20-0-1, 17). Uchiyama, who sports an 80.95% KO rate is powerful, hard hitting and arguably the #1 fighter in the Super Featherweight division. Aged 34 Uchiyama has been a man that is truly feared. His skills are exceptional, his speed may not be great but he's explosive and every shot hurts, be it to the head as he showed against Jorge Solis or the body as he showed against Jaider Parra earlier this year. As well as being explosive in single shots he's also devastating in combinations, as he showed showed against Brian Vasquez. There really is no proven way of deal with an Uchiyama assault. In fact the only man who has come close was Takashi Miura who dropped Uchiyama before being stopped himself. The unbeaten Uchiyama, the WBA Super Featherweight champion will be hunting the 8th defense of his title on New Years Eve as he takes on fellow Japanese fighter Daiki Kaneko (19-2-3, 12) in a bout that should set pulses rushing through out Japan. Kaneko, taking part in his first world title fight enters having been the Japanese champion for 18 months. As the Japanese champion Kaneko defended his title 4 times, all by stoppage. Although they were at a lower level than Uchiyama's fights the 25 year old does seem to be coming in to his own at last. Although Kaneko's record, with 2 losses and 3 draws, does look somewhat poor for a man facing Uchiyama it's worth noting that he hasn't lost in 6 almost years. He has gone 13-0-3 (10) in that time and grown from a teenager with promise to a genuinely talented, hard hitting and highly skilled individual. The names on Kaneko's record such as Seiichi Okada, Ryota Kajiki and Kyohei Tamakoshi may not be on par with Solis, Salgado, Miura or Vasquez but they are credible wins and have helped Kaneko climb into the WBA and WBC top 10. Although the names aren't there and the record isn't as good Kaneko does have advantages over Uchiyama. Firstly Kaneko is a lot younger, he's only 25 years old and hasn't got the wear and tear or natural slowing of Uchiyama. Of course this leads us to points 2 and 3, Kaneko is faster and appears to a more consistent work rate. Don't get us wrong's not as clean or as effective work but there is more of it than you'd see from Uchiyama. The final advantage Kaneko has is the lack of pressure on his shoulders. He's not expected to win. Uchiyama is expected to stop Kaneko and then go on to a rematch with Miura. We'll admit we'd love to see that, but maybe that will help Kaneko here. When it comes to the bout it's self we expect Kaneko to put up a good fight. We expect to see Kaneko starting fast, putting Uchiyama under pressure and letting his hands go. Unfortunately for Kaneko Uchiyama is defensively sound and should see out the fast start before landing his own heavy artillery from 3 or 4 onwards before Kaneko finally get stopped. For some this is a total mismatch, for us we only expect one winner, but it's not a total mismatch. It's probably the 5th or 6th best bout you could make at 130 involving Uchiyama. Sure we'd rather see Uchiyama in with Miura, Mikey Garcia, Argenis Mendez, Juan Carlos Burgos or Roman Martinez but that really is it and this really should be interesting for as long as it lasts. A note for Japanese fans. This fight, along with Takashi Miura v Dante Jordan will be televised on Tokyo TV on New Years Eve. For international fans however it appears no one is showing this in Europe or the US which is a real shame considering how good Uchiyama really is.
Courtesy of Boxrec.com
Not all Asian born fighters fight in Asia and one such case is the Afghan born Canadian Arash Usmanee (20-1, 10). Although Usmanee was born in in the war torn country of Afghanistan in the west of Asia he and his family would move to Canada when he was just a child. It was in Canada that Usmanee would become a fighter and his talent was obvious as he won 5 national titles. Usmanee now looks to become the first Afghan born fighter to claim a professional boxing world title* as he takes on talented Dominican Argenis Mendez (21-2, 11) for the IBF Super Featherweight title. Although this is a big step up for Usmanee he's a fighter than many feel should have an unbeaten record and be viewed as a genuine contender. His run of recent bouts have been against a string of fringe contenders and his most recent contest, albeit a controversial loss, with Rances Barthelemy was a performance that showed Usmanee to be a fighter capable of fighting at the highest level. So far in his career Usmanee has, aside from the Barthelemy fight, been a bit under-the radar. Despite this he's proven to be a tough, determined fighter, and although not a huge hitter he is technically sound and able to switch from head to body very easily. In fact it's fair to say his body attack is one of his most notable qualities. The twice beaten Mendez is widely regarded as one of the world's premier Super Featherweights with most independent rankings rating him as the #2 guy in the division with only Takashi Uchiyama ahead of him. Mendez is a technically gifted fighter who, at his best, looks like a very special boxer. He poses quick hands which have more sting on them than his record would indicate and of course he's very well schooled. The schooling of Mendez has been a long and arduous task . He was, prior to turning professional in 2006, a stand out amateur with a reported 250 contests under his belt, including bouts at the Olympics, World Amateur Championships and Pan American championships. Although he often came up short, his losses were, on the whole, to tremendous fighters like Guillermo Rigondeaux, Aleksei Tishchenko and Juan Manuel Lopez. Since turning professional Mendez has blown a bit hot and cold. At his best he'd give Japanese fighter Uchiyama a very hard night, at his worst he struggles over gatekeepers like Martin Honorio. Although Mendez has got 2 losses on his record both were controversial. The first came via split decision to Jaime Sandoval in a bout where Mendez was certainly not at his best and the second came to Juan Carlos Salgado in Mexico, a man he has since stopped in very impressive fashion. If Mendez looks like the fighter who stopped Salgado in 4 rounds back in March this is going to be a very hard contest for Usmanee. If Mendez blows cold and over-looks Usmanee then the Afghan born fighter could well score the upset and become the first man born in Afghanistan to claim a recognised world title. With the fight being in Mendez's adoptive state of New York we expect him to have on his game face and put on a show. Unfortunately this doesn't bode well for Usmanee who will have to find an extra gear if he's to hold his own with an "on form" Mendez. *Hamid Rahimi won lightly regarded the World Boxing Union interim Middleweight title in February 2012. It's fair however to ignore the WBU from being a "genuine world title". For many the top Super Featherweight on the planet is Takashi Uchiyama, the WBA champion. For those that follow the Japanese scene it's fair to say that Uchiyama is an exceptional fighter who hits like a mule, takes a shot well and knows how to defend himself. Despite the defense and toughness of Uchiyama he has been down once, at the hands of the monstrously hard hitting Takashi Miura (25-2-2, 19). Although Uchiyama did get up and defeat Miura, it was fair to say that Uchiyama had never felt a shot like the one Miura had landed on him. In fact it was more a shock that Uchiyama got up from the shot than that he was sent to the canvas in the first place. Since the loss to Uchiyama, Miura has made a genuine name for himself thanks to a run of 5 victories, including a destructive victory over Gamaliel Diaz for the WBC Super Featherweight title. Miura makes the first defense of his title as he takes on the exciting and dangerous Mexican Sergio Thompson (27-2, 25) on August 17th, in a fight we'd happily ear-mark as a "must watch" contest. For those who haven't seen Miura he'll not blow you away in terms of skills. In fact with out trying to sound harsh he's actually very basic. What he does do though is bang, and we mean bang. As mentioned in the opening of this, he dropped Uchiyama which is a genuinely impressive feat and had the same shot landed on any other Super Featherweight they'd have stayed down. As well as possessing a lethal left hand Miura is teak tough and although he was stopped by Uchiyama that was down to serious swelling around his face more than anything else. When you combine a tough Japanese fighting spirit with dynamite power you know that you any fight they are in could, potentially, be a fight of the year. When you have Sergio Thompson in the opposite corner then you boost the chances of something special ten fold. Thompson is a fighter who "burst" on to the world stage back in 2012 when he defeated Jorge Linares, of course a fighter who has been under the Teiken banner in the past. The victory over Linares, via 2nd round TKO, was a result that really shook the boxing world with many, ourselves included, really rating Linares highly. Prior to the Linares win there was very little to really say about Thompson. He had lost in his most notable bout, a split decision at home, to Alisher Rahimov and really had little else of note on his record. Since the victory over Linares, Thompson has defeated several C level opponents but hasn't managed to get another notable name in the ring. He has, for all intents and purposes, become a member of the "who needs him?" club. Dangerous, very hard hitting, very offensive and very difficult to beat. He was almost cast aside waiting for an opportunity that at one point never looked like it was going happen. Thanks to Mexican backers however Thompson has managed to get his well earned shot at a WBC title and lured Miura away from Japan. With Miura being a fun to watch fighter, with power a flawed but offensive style and genuine toughness he's facing a fighter who is actually a bit like himself. However Thompson does seem to have a bit more to his game than Miura inside the ring, he certainly looks more willing to let his hands go for example and looks like a fighter able to wear people down as well as blast them out. Stylistically the style match up seems to favour the busier Thompson who appears to hit just as hard as Miura but throws more. Saying that though, Miura is more tested having faced Uchiyama, Diaz and a number of Japanese fighters. Yes, the win over Linares is the biggest win between the two men though the quantity of good wins is with Miura who maybe defending his title for the first time but is fighting in his 3rd would title bout. Going in to this fight we need to admit we do favour Thompson. Fighting away from Japan for the first time won't do Miura any favour and although he's tough and hard hitting he will probably get out worked here and unfortunately ground down. It'll be a great fight as long as it lasts, don't get us wrong there, but we tend to think that Miura gets stopped in the middle rounds after hurting Thompson at least once. |
World Title Previews
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