To end 2016 we'll see WBA Light Flyweight champion Ryoichi Taguchi (25-2-1, 11) return to the ring as he looks for his 6th title defense, and takes on the unbeaten Venezuelan puncher Carlos Canizales (16-0, 13). On paper it looks like a great match up and a fantastic test for the champion but the reality is that we know next to nothing about Canizales, and really can't explain his top #3 ranking with the WBA. On paper Canizales does look good. Unbeaten in 16, with an 83% stoppage rate, a catchy nickname “CCC”, similar to Golovkin in both respects, and at 23 presumably has a lot of potential and the belief of his team. Sadly though that potential and belief hasn't been backed up by his match making so far, in fact he has only faced 2 opponents with “winning records”, according to boxrec.com, and the most proven of those is Robert Barrera who was 12-0 (7) as the time and has since reeled off 4 more wins to sit at 16-1 (10). There isn't a lot of great footage of Canizales but what is available makes him look to be an aggressive fighter who likes to throw powerful shots, including a wild roundhouse right hand. He's not the most accurate, or the quickest but he has serious belief in his power and is a fighter who looks like he could become a decent fighter one day. Sadly his open offense is partnered with an open defense and again a world class fighter his wild shots will be countered and his power probably won't have the effect at world level as it's had at Venezuelan national level. Whilst is little known it's fair to say that Taguchi is becoming more and more known, in fact he's the longest active reigning world at 108lbs. His reign began at the end of 2014, when he beat Alberto Rossel, and has since distinguished himself with wins over Kwanthai Sithmorseng, Luis De la Rosa, Juan Jose Landaeta and Ryo Miyazaki. Those wins haven't set the world on fire by any means but have helped Taguchi move on from merely being “the man to take Naoya Inoue the distance”, which he did in a Japanese title fight back in 2013. Taguchi a huge fighter at 108lbs, he's gangly, rangy, tough, tricky and talented. He's certainly not a big puncher, despite stopping 3 of his last 4, but he's a solid puncher who can hurt fighters and grind them down with his surprisingly good body shots. Technically Taguchi is very solid, but can be inconsistent as we've seen in bouts against De La Rosa, Ryan Bito and Florante Condes. When he's at his best however he is a handful for anyone in, or around, the Light Flyweight division, and given his size he can certainly move up in weight. If Taguchi is at, or close to, his best he defeats Canizales with ease using his reach and skills. If however he's off his game he could be pushed hard here. Saying that however even at his worst we can't see Canizales beating him here, in fact we suspect this will be either a wide decision for Taguchi, if he''s off song and has to work hard for every round, or a mid round stoppage if he's close to his best.
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At the end of this month we get two brilliant world title bouts. There's a WBA Super Flyweight title bout between Kohei Kono and Luis Concepcion, a bout that he was monstrously high hopes for, and a WBA Light Flyweight title bout, which will see Ryoichi Taguchi (24-2-1, 11) defending his title against fellow Japanese fighter Ryo Miyazaki (24-1-3, 15). Whilst we can fawn over the Super Flyweight bout for days we must admit that the Light Flyweight bout is almost guaranteed to be a thrilling fight it's self and pits men who should gel in the ring to give us a brilliantly exciting war. We don't think it'll over-shadow the Super Flyweight bout but it will be a brilliant bout it's self, and potentially another all-out-war. The champion will be seeking the 4th defense of his title, a title he won at the end of 2014 when he beat Alberto Rossel. His previous defenses have all ended in stoppage and he looks be developing into a heavier handed fighter than many give him credit for. He has bounced Rossel, Kwanthai Sithmorseng and Juan Jose Landaeta off the canvas multiple times in his last 3 bouts and looks like a fighter who has really come a long way since winning the belt. For many the stand out of achievement for Taguchi isn't his title win but his 2013 bout with Naoya Inoue for the Japanese Light Flyweight title. That bout saw Taguchi go up against Inoue and show no fear as the two traded in a brilliant 10 round bout, with Taguchi becoming the first man to hear the final bell against Inoue. The bout might have seen the Watanabe gym fighter lose his title to “The Monster” but it was a gallant showing that improved his standing in the sport, along with Inoue's. Since that bout he has gone 6-0 (3) and reached the heights of world champion. Taguchi is a huge Light Flyweight, standing at around 5'6” with freakishly long arms and real toughness. He's not the most skilled, or the most explosive, but he's a great all-rounder who hits harder than his record suggests, has great stamina, can fight wonderfully on the inside and has really impressive body shots for such a tall man. He's a very talented fighter but one who has been known to give away his height at times, to fight up close, and one who has shown some inconsistency through his career, with a less than stellar performance against Luis de la Rosa at the end of 2015. The challenger will be seeking to become a 2-weight world champion, having previously held the WBA Minimumweight title. Although he did make his name, on the world level at least, at 105lbs he had previously held the Japanese and OPBF Light Flyweight titles beating the likes Munetsugu Kayo, Katsuhiko Iezumi, Junichi Ebisuoka, Donny Mabao, Jerson Mancio and Michael Landaero at 108lbs. At Minimumweight Miyazaki became a world champion by taking a narrow decision against Pornsawan Porpramook in a thriller before notching two defenses, a brilliant KO against Carlos Velarde and a majority decision against Jesus Silvestre. After those defenses he felt he had outgrown the division and went in search of a Light Flyweight title. Sadly however for Taguchi he struggled to make weight for his first bout at 108lbs, where he was stopped by Fahlan Sakkreerin Jr in 3 rounds. Since that loss he has managed to get his weight sorted and run up 4 straight stoppage wins to help earn a shot at Taguchi here. Those wins haven't come against top opponents but they have helped re-establish Miyazaki as a contender. In the ring Miyazaki is an aggressive fighter. Their are defensive flaws but he often uses his offense to mask those flaws and is happy to take one to land one. His shots have thudding power on them, though he has been known to score eye catching KO's as seen in his win over Velarde. That power however hasn't seen him stop a genuinely world class fighter and with his defensive flaws there will be opportunities for all of his opponents, especially given that he is very small for a Light Flyweight. What we're expecting here is for Miyazaki to come forward, apply pressure and to see Taguchi meet him center ring with the two exchanging in a genuine war. The fight will see shots traded back and forth in a war, though we suspect Taguchi natural size advantage, and ability to box on the back foot as well as the front foot, will see the champion retain the title. He'll be able to take a step back and set up traps whilst Miyazaki just looks for a fight and leaves himself open that little bit too much. Over the last few years the lower weight divisions have been among the best with competitive bouts, a lot of excitement and some genuine all out wars. Sometimes they have been bouts we expected to be good, that lived up to expectation, other times however we have been given an unexpected treat in a bout that easily exceeded expectations. This coming Wednesday we're hoping for a bout that fits in that second category as WBA Light Flyweight champion Ryoichi Taguchi (23-2-1, 10) [田口良一] defends his title against Venezuelan veteran Juan Jose Landaeta (27-8-1, 21). On paper the bout is a mismatch, and the bookies widely agree with it being a poor match up, though both have sounded confident in the build up and both seem to have prepared hard for the bout. The reason many view the contest as a mismatch is Landaeta's age and history. The 37 year old Venezuelan made his debut way back in 1999 and has had a long career, which has seen him share the ring with the likes of Noel Arambulet, Chana Porpaoin, Yutaka Niida, Koki Kameda and Mark John Yap. Another reason is Landaeta's record, which consists of 8 losses, including relatively recent defeats to the limited pairing of Francisco Rosas and Edwin Diaz. Although not the most consistent fighter on the planet Landaeta does look amazing for his age. That is partly due to his recent breaks from the ring, which lead to him fighting just once in a 6 year period between Summer 2008 and December 2014. That break hasn't stopped him physically ageing, but did mean he didn't take much damage during his mid 30's. In the ring Landaeta is a very talented boxer, with a very intelligent jab, a genuine toughness and a lot of natural skill. He does perhaps lack the consistent fire to be a world level fighter, but at his best he could be a handful for many, with Niida and Kameda both finding that out first hand. Whilst Landaeta is at the end of his career the same cannot be said for Taguchi, who is only 29 and really beginning to find his stride after almost a decade in the professional ranks. He debuted back in 2006 and began things with an opening round KO. After reeling off 9 straight wins he suffered his first loss, a defeat to Masayoshi Segawa. After that loss the Japanese fighter reeled off 7 more wins before his next set back with those wins including victories over Tetsuya Hisada and Yu Kimura. Sadly though that winning run was ended in 2012 when he fought to a draw with Masayuki Kuroda in a bout for the Japanese title. Since the draw with Kuroda we've seen Taguchi really find his way in the sport, going 7-1 and claiming both the Japanese and WBA titles at 108lbs, whilst his only loss came to the amazing Naoya Inoue. In fact rather tellingly Inoue was unable to see off Taguchi who is so far the only fighter to hear the final bell against the “Monster”. In the ring Taguchi is a very tall and rangy Light Flyweight, he's tough, he hits harder than his record and he knows how to box on the outside, as well as battle up close. Sadly though his last bout, a TKO win over Luis de la Rosa, seemed to show up that he too is inconsistent and were it not for the de la Rosa injuring himself there is a genuine chance that Taguchi's title reign would have come to an end. Notably however he won against de la Rosa and continued his reign as champion and went back to the gym to work on the issues that plagued him in that bout. With both men being talented, rangy and tough we can see this going the full distance, despite both predicting KO wins. Notably however the winner may simply be decided by who turns up in better condition. Both have been inconsistent, both have shown touches of class but both have also shown they can have off days. If both turn up in perfect condition then we suspect Taguchi will win with his youth and energy. However if Taguchi is less than 100% there is a real chance that he gets out boxed by the challenger and loses his title. We do suspect Taguchi will win, but wouldn't be massively surprised if he had to answer some very serious questions on route to a victory. To end 2015 Watanabe are hosting a world title double header, sadly however both of the title offerings are disappointing match ups with neither looking likely to be competitive. In one of the bouts we're expecting to see Takashi Uchiyama record the 11th defense of his 130lb world title whilst the other is expected to see Ryoichi Taguchi (22-2-1, 9) easily retain his WBA Light Flyweight title, as he goes up against Colombia's limited Luis de la Rosa (25-4-1, 14). The champion won the title exactly a year ago, when he defeated Peruvian veteran Alberto Rossel with a clear 12 round decision. Following that win he secured his first defense in May, stopping the experienced but over-matched Kwanthai Sithmorseng in 8 very one sided rounds and this bout with de la Rosa will be his second defense of the title. Although relatively under-rated the Japanese fighter is widely regarded as one of the best fighters in the criminally over-looked Light Flyweight division. The weight class lacks a really big name, with Donnie Nietes arguably being the most well known fighter, but Taguchi is certainly hoping to change that, and change that he can do if he faces some of the top names in the division in 2016. That could mean bouts with Yu Kimura, who he does actually hold a win over, Randy Petalcorin, Rey Loreto, Pedro Guevara, Jonathan Taconing, Paipharob Kokietgym and Ryo Miyazaki, sadly however beating the likes of de la Rosa will not do his career any great good. In the ring Taguchi is tough, in fact he's the only fighter to have heard the final bell against Naoya Inoue*, talented and improving quickly, with both his confidence and abilities becoming more notable. He's also very tall and rangy for a Light Flyweight standing at around 5'6” and boasting a 67” reach. Taguchi uses his size well to box at range, he's accurate with his jab and straight, and can also hold his own inside throwing great uppercutts for such a tall fighter at his weight. It is fair to say that Taguchi's not unbeatable but his only loss in the last 6 years came to Inoue, and in that bout Taguchi did have some genuine success in, over the 10 round distance. As with that loss it will take a very special fighter to beat Taguchi. When we talk about special fighters we certainly don't mean Luis de la Rosa. The Colombian fighter's best result was a split decision loss to Raul Garcia, more than 5 years ago, and since then he has gone 10-4 with all 4 of those losses coming in his last 7 bouts. Not only has he lost those 4 bouts but he has, at times, looked very uncompetitive being blown out by both Alexis Diaz and Moises Fuentes inside a round, being stopped in 8 by Filipino Merlito Sabillo and losing a wide decision to Zou Shiming. In the ring we know that de la Rosa isn't world class. He has fought world class fighters but has come up short against them and seems to have been a man who is fortunate that the world title bodies have so many titles available to fighters, and allow “top 15” fighters to get world title fights. In the real world however de la Rosa isn't top 15, nor is he really even top 25 with boxrec.com rating him way down in the 80's coming in to this bout. On paper de la Rosa has a punchers record.The reality however is that he has been beating some terrible opposition such as Gustavo Cortes and Deivis Narvaez, both of whom he has beaten twice. The level of his wins, Colombian domestic level fighters, sadly says it all about the crude challenger. If we're being honest we see this as a cross mismatch and would be shocked if Taguchi doesn't see off the challenger inside the distance, with a mid-round stoppage looking the most likely for the champion, who really needs to get a serious bout sorted for 2016 if he's to build on any potential fan base that he has. He has the skills to become a notable champion but now needs the bouts. *Note-Inoue is set to fight between this being published and Taguchi's bout with de la Rosa, though at the time of writing Taguchi is the only man to have survived the distance with the Monster. Whilst the month of May has a number of brilliant looking world title bouts there is one bout that looks out of place and hugely under-whelming. That's the WBA Light Flyweight title fight on May 6th that sees newly crowned champion Ryoichi Taguchi (21-2-1, 8) defending his title against the highly undeserving Kwanthai Sithmorseng (49-3-1, 26). Before we start we have to say we like Taguchi, he's a very talented, tough and hard working fighter who has already notched notable wins over the likes of Yu Kimura, Yuki Chinen, Florante Condes and, most recently, Alberto Rossel. He's also shown his toughness in surviving the distance with Naoya Inoue and was very unfortunate not to have had a win on his record against Masayuki Kuroda. We feel he's a deserving champion in a division which has seen a lot of new faces winning titles over the last 12 months. What we don't like however is Kwanthai getting a world title fight when he is less than a year removed from a loss to compatriot Stamp Kiatniwat, a talented prospect but one who is relatively unproven, and less than 2 years removed from a 7th round TKO loss to Kazuto Ioka for the very same title he's challenging for here. We would give him some lee way if he was to have scored a win of note following those losses but he hasn't and his only win against a fighter with a winning record came against Heri Amol, a man schooled by the then debuting Ken Shiro. Sadly this is another example of the WBA sanctioning a bout that shouldn't really be a world title bout. With that said it'll come as no surprise that we're tipping Taguchi to retain his belt here. The talented Japanese fighter, dubbed “The baby Face Assassin”, has world class ability, freakish size for a Light Flyweight and the confidence of a man who is finally coming to terms with the fact he's a rather good fighter. At his best Taguchi is a talented boxer-fighter who can box on the move or take the action inside and go to the body. He's not the biggest puncher in the division but he does hit harder than his record indicates and when he tags an opponent clean they certainly begin to respect his power and try to avoid taking too many clean shots from him. From makes him so tough to beat however is his toughness. It was that toughness that forced Naoya Inoue to dig deep in their Japanese title fight in August 2013 and it was the same toughness that saw him climb off the canvas to over-come Florante Condes last July. Despite looking relatively feeble Taguchi is as tough as they get. As for Kwanthai the Thai was a good fighter. The key words being “was” and “good”. Back in 2010 he did claim the WBA Minimumweight title with a very narrow win over compatriot Pigmy Kokietgym. Hie reign lasted around 5 months before he was upset, in his first defense, by Indonesian veteran Muhammad Rachman. Going in to that bout Rachman was 39 and had lost his previous 4 bouts, yet he still managed to stop Kwanthai in the 9th round exposing the Thai who was 31-0-1 entering that bout. Since the loss to Rachman we've seen Kwanthai feed on the many Indonesian fighters who fight in Thailand and pick up losses on a regular basis. That includes fighters like Domi Nenokeba, Safwan Lombok, Ichal Tobiba and Samuel Tehuayo. The type of guys that should test a prospect but not be used to help someone get a world title shot. Amazingly however that level of competition helped Kwanthai get a shot at Ioka in 2013 and again here with Taguchi. Unfortunately Kwanthai's opposition tells us everything we need to know. He's not good enough to beat top drawer fighters and he's not good enough to beat Taguchi. The one question is whether he's tough enough to last the distance with Taguchi. We don't think he is and we're going with Taguchi to stop Kwanthai inside 9 rounds. Hopefully Taguchi will than face a more interesting test such as Randy Petalcorin, who recently looked sensational in stopping Ma Yi Ming, or Ryo Miyazaki, both of which would make for really good fights. (Image courtesy of http://www.watanabegym.com) For the second day running Tokyo hosts a trio of world title bouts, this time around however only one really stands out. That's the WBA Light Flyweight title bout between current champion Alberto Rossel (32-8-0-1, 13) and Japan's unheralded Ryoichi Taguchi (20-2-1, 8). The bout lacks a big name but is a genuinely compelling contest between an experienced veteran in the best form of his career and a talented but yet under-exposed fighter looking for his chance to announce himself on the world stage. Aged 36 Rossel is a true veteran and has been a professional since 1998. In his 41 fight career he has faced a who's who of the lower weights including Ivan Calderon, Brian Viloria, Luis Alberto Lazarte, Vusi Malingo and Hugo Fidel Cazares. All of whom have beaten him. Despite his age however he is now in the form of his career and has strung together a career high 8 successive wins. Notably however they have all come in Panama with with 6 of them coming by decision. Although Rossel has been fighting at home he hasn't just been fighting scrubs. The first notable win form those 8 bouts was a decision over the then unbeaten Jose Alfredo Rodriguez to claim the WBA interim Light Flyweight title. As the “interim” champion Rossel defended the belt 4 times, defeating Karluis Diaz, Walter Tello, Jose Alfredo Zuniga and Gabriel Mendoza. On paper those wins were good but in reality they weren't as good as they looked with each one being a struggle, despite some wide scorecards. They told us as much about Rossel's as they did his strengths. His lack of power for example and his frustrating style which really isn't attractive. Rossel was upgraded from “interim” champion to “regular” champion earlier this year, opening a space for Randy Petalcorin to claim the interim belt with a stoppage of Walter Tello who had previously pushed Rossel close. Although limited Rossel has been viewed as central to the development of the sport in Preu. He is the countries first world champion and has likely helped the likes of Jonathan Maicelo, Ricardo Astuvilca, and David Zegarra all become fighters on, or around, the fringes of world class. With those fighters now coming through however Rossel has served his primary use and now it seems he is being sent out for a high paying gamble in Japan. If he wins he cements his title, if he loses he collects a payday and can think about retirement with some money in the bank. At 28 years old Taguchi is a fighter coming into his prime however for many fans outside of Japan he is remembered solely as one of Naoya Inoue's opponents. That description is a really unfair one and Taguchi is much more than just a fighter who lost the Japanese Light Flyweight title to Inoue and in fact he gave Inoue the toughest fight of his career so far. (Note-this is being published prior to the WBO Super Flyweight title fight between Inoue and Omar Andres Narvaez) Firstly Taguchi is a former Rookie of the year, winning the Light Flyweight crown in 2007 with a win over Sho Nakazawa, secondly he is a former Japanese Light Flyweight champion, beating Yuki Sano for the belt. Thirdly he is a damned good fighter and the only man, so far, to have stopped Yu Kimura, the current Japanese Light Flyweight champion. Although not the biggest puncher or the most intimidating fighter at 108lbs Taguchi is a very talented individual who is tough, fast, brave and more than capable of holding his own with almost anyone in the division. Aside from the loss to Inoue he has only been beaten once, by close decision against Msasyoshi Segawa, and been held to a draw by Masayuki Kuroda, a former world title challenger. He's no mug even if he's isn't the most well known fighter or the most imposing. Coming forward Taguchi applies intelligent pressure, boxes well behind the jab at distance and on in the inside he shows a great variety of punches. Among his best weapons up close are his body shots which all but crippled former foe Sansadka Portsanapon in their 2009 contest. On the back foot he can be a sharp counter puncher though does seem to be notably happier going forward. We suspect this could be a scrappy contest with Rossel trying to make things messy whilst Taguchi ploughs forward trying to out work and beat up the champion. The scrappiness will be the only thing that makes this even semi competitive at times, however Rossel knows the old tricks and will slowly but surely frustrate Taguchi who will be forced to show a number of things that we've not really had to see from him. At the end however we don't think the judges will be as kind to Rossel's spoiling as they have been in Peru and after 12 rounds Taguchi will likely be crowned a world champion. Although we think the bout will be scored widely in favour of the Japanese fighter we wouldn't be shocked if he finished the bout marked up and frustrated with possibly a cut or two from accidental headclashes. (Image courtesy of boxmob.jp) Just under 3 years ago a young unbeaten Japanese fighter shocked the international boxing public by dethroning the long reigning Thai Oleydong Sithsamerchai. Although Oleydong was struggling with 105lb weight limit few, outside of Japan, had given the then 6-0 Kazuto Ioka more than a slim chance to claim the WBC Minimumweight title. As we all know though Ioka would stop Oleydong and claim the world title. Since beating Oleydong back in February 2011 Ioka (now 13-0, 9) has become one of the dominant fighters in the lower weight divisions. He has unified the WBC and WBA Minimumweight titles and moved up to Light Flyweight where he immediately captured the WBA title. This New Years Eve see's Ioka, fighting for the third successive year on December 31st, attempt to make the 3rd and possibly final defense of his Light Flyweight. Following back to back victories against limited but experienced Thai's Ioka is now expected to face a genuine test as he battles Nicaragua's unbeaten Felix Alvarado (18-0, 15). It may not be the Nicaraguan we all hoped Ioka would get in to the ring with this year, he's certainly in for a tough night to end the year. Ioka, since claiming the WBA Light Flyweight title on New Years Eve 2012 has looked very impressive. He took apart Wisanu Kokietgym back in May before stopping an out classed Kwanthai Sithmorseng in September. Those fights however were against men who really didn't deserve a world title fight despite having a combined record of 86-9-3, neither was great and in fact neither was expected to test Ioka in any way at all. In Alvarado however we have someone who looks like a bit of a monster. Alvarado is offensively minded, strong and comes to fight. If you try and stand off against Alvarado he is happy to walk you down, show you angles and then unload heavy shots in your direction. It's not always the smoothest of work but it's proven to be effective as he switches from head to body in an attempt to beat up his opponents. Whilst Alvarado can be out boxed and can be made to look basic by some fighters, only 2 men have ever gotten close to beating him. Arnoldo Solano, who lost a disputed majority decision to Alvarado, and Eliecer Quezada, who lost by a very narrow unanimous decision. The worrying thing for Alvarado is inexperience. Yes he has more fights than Ioka but his 18 fights to date have only accounted for 51 professional rounds. Less than 3 a fight. Alvarado has gone 10 rounds just once, and has only gone beyond 3 rounds thrice. With 7 opening round KO's and 15 KO's inside 3 rounds he's been used to getting opponents out early but when he's gone beyond 6 he has struggled with pacing. Ioka, with just 13 fights, has already gotten 96 rounds under his belt which is more than 7 rounds a fight. He has also gone 12 rounds twice and 10 or more rounds on 4 occasions, including his memorable encounter with Akira Yaegashi. That is quality experience and something that gives Ioka a real edge here. Although less of an offensive machine Ioka is wonderfully skilled with the ability to go forward, box off the back foot and pick his shots at will. He's one of those fighters who always appears to have that little bit of extra time and he uses it to great effect with one of the most beautiful straight right to the body in the sport today. He's not a monster puncher but he is a very clean puncher and his shots, from the jab to the uppercut are all delivered excellently. Going in to this fight the key is who will be able to dictate the early tempo. If Alvarado can get on to the inside this could be a real war for 3 rounds with both men forced to take hard shots. If Ioka is still standing after 3 rounds however it's going to be very hard for Alvarado to get a victory with Ioka drowning him. Those first 3 rounds are the key for Alvarado. If Ioka can control the pace and distance for 3 rounds with his jab and movement he'll wear Alvarado down in the second half of the fight before finishing the Nicaraguan, probably with a body shot. Whilst the first 3 rounds are the key for Alvarado we tend to think that the following 3 are the key for Ioka. If the Japanese fighter is still standing after 3 then rounds 5 and 6 particularly will see him taking over the fight. It's the fact we have 2 very different scenario's that make this so interesting. One thing is for sure though, we'd be very shocked if this goes 12. Interestingly the story coming out of Japan is that Ioka will be stepping up to Flyweight next year. The strong rumour is that he will be targeting WBC Flyweight champion Akira Yaegashi in what could potentially be another FOTY contender, like their first was in 2012. That would see this title becoming vacant, if Ioka is successful. With a number of fighters already wanting to get their hands on the belt including Naoya Inoue and Ioka's stablemate Ryo Miyazaki we may well see several great bouts coming as a result of this one. For those wanting to tune in to this bout, it'll be on TBS in Japan and there is also talk about it being televised in Alvarado's homeland of Nicaragua. Unfortunately, once again, no Europe or American channel appear to have picked this up.
Courtesy of Boxrec.com
Traditionally Japanese fighters have fared badly in Thailand whilst Thai's have been able to have plenty of success in Japan. In fact several Thai fighters in recent years, including Tepparith Kokiet Gym, Suriyan Sor Rungvisai and Pongsaklek Wonjongkam have all enjoyed notable success in Japan Unbeaten Japanese youngster Kazuto Ioka (12-0, 8) however seems to love fighting Thai fighters. He made his name originally by stopping Oleydong Sithsamerchai back in February 2011 and has since beat more 2 Thai's in his subsequent 5 title bouts, including Wisanu Kokietgym last time out. In fact in the 12 fight career of Ioka, he has a record of 4-0 (4) against Thai's, not bad for such a young fighter. He'll be attempting to move that ledger against Thai's to 5-0 on September 11th as he battles former WBA Minimumweight champion Kwanthai Sithmorseng (43-1-1, 22) in what looks, at least on paper to be a very well made match up against a highly ranked WBA fighter. Although inexperienced as a professional Ioka has been one of the most aggressively matched fighters in the sport. His amateur record of 95-10 (64) shows he's more experienced as a fighter than his professional record may illustrate and the fact that his trainer, and uncle, is Hiroka Ioka, a former 2-weight world champion shows his pedigree. Ioka may only have a dozen professional bouts to his name but he's a bona fide world level fighter with 6 victories in world title bouts, including notable victories over Oleydong and Akira Yaegashi. In fact in terms of rounds fought 45 of his career 89 rounds in world title bouts showing that whilst professionally somewhat inexperienced he's gotten valuable top level experience. In terms of his fighting style Ioka has a "non-Japanese" style. He's not a tough man fighter but instead a boxer-puncher. He's capable of fighting a firefight, as he showed against Yaegashi, though at his best he's a boxer with a clever ability to control range and a vicious right hand to the body, a shot with which he's making himself a reputation with. With 45 fights on his ledger you'd have expected Kwanthai to have been mixing in and around world level for at least a handful of them, especially considering he was a world champion himself. Sadly his world title experience is much less than that of Ioka, with a record in world title fights of 1-1, consisting of just 21 combined rounds. Although Kwanthai is inexperienced at the world level his 45 fight experienced is genuine in it's own right, especially when you consider many of those bouts have been fought for the PABA Minimumweight title, a title he has held twice. Although the PABA title is prestigious it's fair to say that Kwanthai hasn't been defending against top competition with his best PABA defenses coming against fighters like Jack Amisa and Ricky Manufoe. At his very best the 29 year old Thai is certainly a capable fighter, his victory for the WBA Minimumweight title over compatriot Pigmy Kokietgym. Though in all honesty a "capable" fighter is probably all he really is and he was fortunate to be fighting in an era with several world titles out there. With a stoppage loss on his record to Indonesian Muhammad Rachman from a body shot, we find it hard to imagine Kwanthai seeing out the 12 round with Ioka, especially given Ioka's body punching prowess. If Kwanthai isn't taken out with a body blow we really can't see him managing to out work or out box Ioka either. Despite the large experience edge for Kwanthai it'd be a shock to see him managing to do really much more than becoming #5 on Ioka's list of Thai victims Courtesy of Boxrec.com WBA "Regular" champion Kazuto Ioka (11-0, 7) has been one of sensational success stories of Japanese backing over the past few years. Not only was he an out standing amateur but he's proven to be an incredible professional as well. In the unpaid ranks Ioka (pictured opposite) ran up an impressive 95-10 (64) record and since turning professional he has been a sensation. In just his 7th professional bout Ioka dethroned the reigning WBC Minimumweight champion Oleydong Sithsamerchai who had entered the ring unbeaten in 36. Not long after claiming a world title the youngster unified it with the WBA title due to an historic victory over Akira Yaegahsi in what was the first ever all Japanese unification bout. Following the victory over Yaegashi the growing Ioka moved up to Light Flyweight and immediately claimed the vacant WBA Light Flyweight title thanks to a stoppage over Jose Alfredo Rodriguez. The 24 year old Japanese fighter may only have 80 professional rounds under his belt but to date his record has been excellent and so are his skills. He's shown a sharp jab, excellent movement, good toughness (despite being dropped by Indonesian veteran Heri Amol early in his career) and one of the best body attacks in the sport. Despite his young years and relative inexperience he's already looking like an experienced fighter who knows what's needed and when he needs it. In the first defense of his Light Flyweight world title Ioka will face Thai southpaw Wisanu Kokietgym (43-8-2, 13) who despite his wealth of experience is only 29 himself. Have made his professional debut way in 2001 Kokietgym and been in over 50 professional contests it should come as no surprise that he has been in over 300 professional rounds, though unfortunately for the Thai many of those have been against weak opposition. The better opponents that the Thai has faced, for example Z Gorres and Nethra Sasiprapa, have beaten him, and so to have some of the weaker opponents. For a man with almost 50 wins it may sound odd to say this but Kokietgym's record really is very weak. His best wins have come against fighters who are now widely considered Asian journeymen such as Ricky Manufoe, Jack Amisa and Sammy Hagler. This is a big problem when facing someone like Ioka who is a huge step up from anyone Kokietgym has faced so far. In the ring Kokietgym is somewhat wild and his left hand often looks wide and slow giving opponents a big chance to shoot down the middle. Although he appears to have a nice jab it's certainly under-utilised as is his body attack. He lacks the power to keep a fighter like Ioka honest and with his weak defense it'll be a shock if he sees his way beyond the middle rounds. Ioka might not (yet) be one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in Asia but in terms of potential the kid is amongst the very best, it'll take a special fighter to defeat him and Kokietgym isn't a special fighter. With this looking like little more than a stay busy defense for Ioka, there is hope that he will fit 2 more fights in this year, possibly one with Roman Gonzalez in what would have to go down as a genuine "super fight" In preparation for this bout we've featured the full fight of Ioka v Oleydong Sithsamerchai below, the bout that put Ioka on to the world stage. This video is thanks to jackyle11787. |
World Title Previews
The biggest fights get broken down as we try to predict who will come out on top in the up coming world title bouts. Archives
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