In late 2013 we began raving about a Japanese youngster who was preparing to make his professional debut. At the time he was just 17 or 18 and was just getting his B class license. That was Kosei Tanaka (5-0, 2), now just 5 fights later the youngster is the WBO Minimumweight champion, and the new Japanese record holder for the fewest fights to win a world title.
Earlier today Tanaka took the title with a dominant win over Mexican Julian Yedras (24-2, 13) in a performance that could be described as “comfortable but flawed”. The early going was perfection from Tanaka who claimed the first couple of rounds with amazing boxing. It was the sort of boxing that every fan wishes to see. It saw Tanaka using his movement to open up opportunities for his lightening quick hands, making Yedras look incredibly slow and showing signs of not just being a special talent but a future pound-for-pound level boxer. There really was every thing you could ask for, world class foot work, frightening combinations and sharpness on every punch. It was near flawless for the first 6 minutes. In the third round things began to change, significantly, as Yedras found a way to cut the distance with his pressure. In theory the close Yedras could get the more the bout favoured him, in reality however Tanaka showed he could more than hold his own on the inside or in a brawl. Yedras was beginning to have success but was forced to take some solid shots in return as Tanaka showed he was capable of beating Yedras up close. The success for Tanaka appeared to go to his head slightly and it saw rounds 4, 5 and 6 become more and more tricky as Yedras seemed to build on his success round after round. Tanaka's lovely movement was becoming less visible and instead he seemed to hunt the knockout and allow himself to take some silly shots that really weren't necessary. That was particularly clear in round 6 as Tanaka seemed to take a lot of flush shots in the final minute of what was Yedras's first “clear” round, though could well have been his third on the spin if you'd felt like being generous, as one judge seemed to but more about that later. Having clearly realised he was making this harder for himself Tanaka got back to his boxing in round 7 and seemed to thoroughly dominate the round with his speed, power, shot selection and accuracy which were all sensational. It was a round that ended in brawling though had seen Tanaka showcase everything about himself as a fighter and even seemed to show him hurt Yedras at one point. It was a round that seemed to show Tanaka had plenty in the tank but wasn't willing to show his hand all the time. Sadly the seventh round was followed by another disappointing round from the youngster who seemed to take more than he needed. It was a close round, and could easily have gone Yedras's way, though it seemed like Tanaka was fighting in neutral as opposed to letting his hands go as he had the previous round. It was also another round that Yedras got inside and had success, particularly to the body. Having looked slightly tired in round 8 there could have been questions about the youngster's energy reserves but then, in round 9, he came alive and had a thoroughly dominant round. We saw a return to the hurtful but lightning quick flurries, the smart movement, the breath taking accuracy and the skills that will take the young man very far. It was one of the clearest rounds of the fight and was a round that seemed to show Tanaka had a lot in reserve. The same skills were again on show in round 10 as Tanaka continued to show case the skills that had excited the hardcore Japanese fans prior to his debut. The big question, for many, was how Tanaka would handle the championship rounds. Prior to this bout he had never been beyond 10 rounds. It then seemed very clearly he could handle the distance with ease as he toyed with Yedras in the eleventh. The Mexican looked like an amateur as he missed time and time again whilst being picked off at range and tagged up close. It was showcase stuff from the youngster who looked like an experienced, championship level fighter. Going in to the final round it was clear that Yedras would need a knockout, even the most generous of judges had to have had him behind by a sizeable margin. Unfortunately for the Mexican he never came close to landing anything to turn the fight around. That was despite Tanaka show boating right in front of him, trying to draw a lead which was eventually punished by another amazing combination. The final round was full of magical moments from Tanaka which also included him turning the Mexican on the ropes whilst making it look effortless. After the final bell we had it 118-110 to Tanaka, having given Yedras rounds 6 and 8. The closest we could possible see it was 116-112, having given Yedras rounds rounds 4 and 5, though that was being generous. Two of the judges had it in the middle of that window with scores of 117-111. Those cards really couldn't be argued with. The third judge however managed to score the bout a very confusing 115-113 to Tanaka, some how finding another pity round for the Mexican. The close card, turned in by Puerto Rican Luis Ruiz, was far too close. We know he's not got much experience at this level but with a performance like that we can see why. Despite the poor card of Mr Ruiz he couldn't take away from the performance of Tanaka which was, at times, amazing. The youngster is now likely to fight in a much bigger bout, possibly against IBF champion Katsunari Takayama who was ringside for television channel CBC, and whilst he showed some flaws here we suspect they came out of contempt as much as anything else. It was clear early on that Yedras couldn't hurt Tanaka and the Japanese fighter didn't seem to mind taking a few shots. The only major flaw was that the youngster got a bit too reckless when he thought he had Yedras hurt, but for a young man competing in just his 5th professional bout there's no real shame in being a little bit excitable. It's clear than Tanaka doesn't have the KO power of fellow Japanese youngster Naoya Inoue, who's record Tanaka broke with this win, but he has everything else a fighter could want and at just 19 years old the world really is his proverbial oyster. Unification and multi-weight titles are certainly in his future.
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For the second day running we saw a small slice of history being created. Yesterday we saw Naoya Inoue becoming the quickest man to become a 2-weight world champion, setting a world record in his 8th fight when he stopped Omar Andres Narvaez in 2 rounds. Today the history was merely a bit of national history for Japanese fighters as Katsunari Takayama (28-7-0-1, 11) became the first ever Japanese fighter to win a version of all 4 major world titles.
Takayama did that earlier today by stopping light hitting compatriot Go Odaira (11-4-3, 1) in the 7th round of their meeting and claimed the IBF Minimumweight title, for a second time, as well as the elusive WBO Minimumweight crown, the one title he had never had in his illustrious career. On paper the bout promised excitement. Both men are volume punchers usually, both like to let their hands go and both are as reliant on their speed and movement as any other tool in their arsenal. As well as that there had been only a single stoppage defeat between the two men, and that was a more than 11 years ago when an immature Takayama was caught in the 9th round against Masato Hatakeyama in what was Takayama's first title bout. It seemed to go 12 on paper, but of course fights aren't fought on paper and when history is there for the taking sometimes a fighter can find something else in themselves. The fight started well with both managing to find their range and timing, neither showed great fear of the other's power but neither felt like taking too many risks. It was busy without being brutal, fast without being rushed and in fact Odaira managed to more than hold his own early on with round 4 being a particularly good one for the relatively unknown fighter. Unfortunately as we hit the middle of the bout things began to change and Takayama's shots began to take their toll with Odaira being forced to take body shots, the like of which he had never tasted. The body shots began to slow Odaira in round 5 and, as we all know, when a fighter is feeling the effects of body shots they can slow quickly and in round 6 it all seemed to unravel for Odaira who suddenly looked like a tiring man, despite still managing to do enough to fight back. Unfortunately for the Hanagata promoted fighter this was the beginning of the end and in round 7 Takayama got his chance and took it, with the finish coming in the a typical Takayama fashion with the “Lightning Kid” unloading shot after shot after shot in a furious bombardment of leather. The shots themselves had a lack of pop but the sheer volume of them was insane and Odaira's exhaustion was showing as the referee was forced to save Odaira who was being swallowed whole by a whirlwind of punches. Whilst the win for Takayama was historic it also sees him achieving one of his two public aims. It seems him claiming all 4 titles in a career grandslam, the other aim he has spoken about is to become a multi-weight world champion and a move to 108lbs seems likely. Hopefully however he will look to defend his unified crown, possibly against talented teenage sensation Kosei Tanaka who is himself chasing Japanese boxing history as he chases the quickest rise to a world title. Takayama and Rodriguez throw down in FOTY contender as we kick off a crazy few months at 105!8/10/2014 After non-stop complaints by boxing fans who had tuned in to see the predictably mismatched action on Showtime we then got the hardcore fans who moved on to the action from Mexico which always looked like the best part of the weekend. That was because we had two of the best Minimumweights on the planet trading leather to become a unified champion, a champion of champions. The fight pitted Japan's Katsunari Takayama, the IBF champion, against Mexico's Francisco Rodriguez Jr, the WBO champion. We knew it was going to be good, in fact we knew it was going to be great. And if we're being honest the fight exceeded even our high expectations in many ways, though one thing did leave us with a sour taste, more about that later however. Going in the bout was going to be decided on two things. Did Takayama have the speed and stamina to out work, out move and out land Rodriguez? And did Rodriguez have the power and strength to hurt Takayama? At the end we ended up having both questions landed in the affirmative leading to a thoroughly compelling and action packed fights that, if compubox was in use, could have set punch number records. In the opening round it was clearly Takayama's speed and movement that decided who won it. Rodriguez looked slow and sloppy though very strong as the pro-Mexican crowd chanted "Chihuas", the Mexican's nickname. In the second round however things became more competitive with Takayama starting the round very well before being rocked in the final 30 seconds or so. Takayama was already being warned for holding, despite the holding being kept to a real minimum, and was already being forced to stand his ground and trade. Although we gave Takayama round 2 we could understand others scoring it to Rodriguez, it was one of those plain old "swing rounds". Unfortunately for Takayama round 3 wasn't a swing round as the Japanese fighter was dropped. He was up as quickly as he was down but the round was still going to be a 10-8, though he did make a good effort of trying to erase the knock down, in fact if he was at home the chances are he may have managed to have won the round making it a 10-9. Away from home however that never really happens. Although rounds 1 and 3 were clear cut not many of the others were and rounds 4 and 5 were both swing rounds impossible to call for certain either way. Takayama tried to win them on work rate alone, unloading flurries to the body up close ad measuring with a jab as he picked his raids carefully whilst Rodriguez tried to claim them with the heavy handed assault that he's going to make his trademark over the decade. Both rounds really were rounds that you could argue for either man with great give and take. Going into round 6 the scorecards really could have said anything. They could have been 48-47 to Takayama or 49-46 to Rodriguez depending on your reading of the fight. In fact it could well have been 49-48 if you'd have scored the 3 close rounds in the most fair manner you could, giving them each as 10-10 rounds, and we know it's rare but they really were impossible to split. In round 6 we saw Rodriguez charge at Takayama in the early stages as he moved through the gears for the first minute of the round. Amazingly however for the final 2 minutes Takayama backed up the Mexican in what looked to have become a clear round for the Japanese fighter and a major turning point with Rodriguez then looking very tired. The exhausted look on Rodriguez continued in round 7 as Takayama appeared to easily bag another round and appeared to be on his way to unifying the titles. Rodriguez looked all in as if his assault to begin round 6 was him cashing in his chips. Amazingly the Mexican suddenly looked refreshed in round 8 as he hurt Takayama at several points. Takayama was looking ready to go as the fight swung, yet again. By the end of the eighth it seemed almost certain that Takayama was on his way to being stopped and his usually bouncing toes were now flat feet, his work rate has dissipated and he appeared to be kept in the fight on heart alone. The heart of Takayama seemed to kick in again in round 9 as he was forced to stand and trade almost from the off as Rodriguez came out in search of a stoppage. Luckily for Takayama he was able to recoup his legs a little bit as Rodriguez continually threw some wild shots that missed by a mile, though when he connected Rodriguez really did look to hurt the Japanese fighter who stood his ground for the last 40 seconds as the two men went toe-to-toe. They started round 10 as they ended round 9, stood in front of each other unloading shots, showing reckless abandon in he search of that punch that would drop their foe and help them to victory. At the end of the round both men seemed to be looking for hail Mary's. Going in to the championship rounds it seemed like the fight had swung just enough in the favour of Rodriguez that the titles were going to stay in Mexico. Suddenly however at the start of round 11 drama, and a little bit of controversy, struck as Rodriguez went down in his corner. Was it a knockdown or a slip? It was ruled a slip though on replay it was a hard one to call and had it been ruled a knockdown it would have neutralised the one scored by the Mexican in round 3. By the end of the 11h the knockdown/slip question was all but forgotten as the men stood trading and flailing punches at each other. It was insane as both men just stood firing bombs at each other as if the fight needed to be won by knock out. The final round saw Takayama slip in exactly the same corner as Rodriguez's incident in the previous round. That slip was early on but for the following 2 minutes they men against stood toe-to-toe trading, bombing each other and trying to score the stoppage they may well have felt they needed. They were fighting themselves to a standstill as the insane and hyper-active fight continued to be fought in the most impressive of manners. It was a war and it was amazing to watch. After 12 rounds the general view here was that Rodriguez had nicked it by a round or two, being helped by the crowd to just sneak the majority of the swing rounds. When the first score was read out as 116-111 we nodded in the agreement, then a score of 119-109 was read as our stomachs turned before a final card of 115-112 made us nod in agreement. The cards, which all favoured the Mexican seemed to get the right winner but we were left genuinely baffled by the wide card which seemed to be very off, even for a bout that had as many swing rounds as this one. Takayama looked dejected having failed in his attempt to collect the grandslam whilst Rodriguez rightfully celebrated winning what could go down as one of the fights of the year. Sensational bout. Takayama, who fell to 27-7-0-1 (10) is now 2-3-0-1 on the road and may well think twice about ever fighting outside of Japan again. He has been a road warrior but may well feel that it's not worth travelling when some judges, such as John Madfis on this occasion, have seemingly marked their cards before the fight has began. In fact he may well call it quits or try to secure a rematch back in Japan. For Rodriguez, now 15-2 (10), this leaves him as one of the top dogs at 105lbs following back to back wins over Merlito Sabillo and Takayama. As for the Minimumweight division we're now poised for a few interesting months. Talk of a rematch between these two is something Takayama and fans would likely love, WBA champion Hekkie Budler is set to defend his title against former WBC champion Xiong Zhao Zhong, current WBC champion Oswaldo Novoa is set to defend against the unbeaten Wanheng Menayothin in Thailand in November and we're also expecting a WBA interim title fight between Carlos Buitrago and Knockout CP Freshmart in October. Whatever happens in the coming months this division is going to be red hot at the top and possible deeper, especially if Kosei Tanaka gets his wish and gets a fight with OPBF champion Ryuji Hara. What a time to be a fan of the Minimumweight division. (Image courtesy of Nakazato Boxing) When a fighter travels across the world the one thing that many fear is that the judging will go against them when a crowd roars on a local fighter. Sometimes however the judges aren't needed and rather than relying on them make a decision the home fighter looks to avoid controversy. We had no real controversy this past Saturday when Filipino fighter Merlito Sabillo (23-1-1, 12) had his WBO Minimumweight ripped from him by talented and hard hitting Mexican Francisco Rodriguez Jr (14-2, 10). Sabillo, who won the title last year in Colombia, was widely expected to know too much and be too good for the Mexican challenger. Instead we found out that the Mexican was too big, too strong, too powerful and too aggressive for the usually tough Filipino. The Mexican's power and strength were clear from the opening round and by the end of round 2 Sabillo had already been knocked down and wrestled down. It was clear that Sabillo would be forced to dig deep just to survive never mind win. Having gotten off to a perfect start Rodriguez seemed to quickly grow in confidence and kept up an intense pressure, non stop offensive work and a vicious body attack. Sabillo, to his credit, tried to answer back but it was simply too much, Rodriguez wasn't going to be denied no matter what Sabillo did and round after round you could see Sabillo wilting having his resistance chipped away at. Sabillo's fate was effectively sealed in round 4, his best round. The Filipino managed to land some solid shots that seemed to just bounce off the challenger. It was as if Rodriguez was saying "you can hit me, but you can't hurt me" and if Sabillo still had any belief in himself it then vanished. No matter what Sabillo did the challenger just kept coming with wave after wave of attacks, he was hell bent on stopping the Filipino and in rounds 8 and 9 things were beginning to get painful to watch. Sabillo was beginning to get genuinely battered and it looked like it was going to continue to the end of the fight. Thankfully though Sabillo's trainer seemed to know that his man was done and mid way through round 10 he signalled to referee Eddie Claudio to finish the contest, saving Sabillo before too much damage was done physically. With this loss the Philippines are left with just 2 world champions, Donnie Nietes and Johnriel Casimero but of who now have the hopes of the Philippines on their shoulder with their up coming title defenses. (Photo courtesy of Zanfer promociones) Although the boxing day isn't yet over it's fair to say that we have already seen the "Fight of the Day" as Filipino Merlito Sabillo (23-0-1, 12) retained his WBO Minimumweight title in a war with Carlos Buitrago (27-0-1-1, 16). Sabillo, defending his belt for the second time, knew he was in for a tough fight before the first bell had rang. What he likely didn't expect was just how tough that fight would be as Buitrago, a youngster from Nicaragua, lived up to the high level of expectation put on his shoulders. The fight started tentatively with both men looking to fight off their jab. Unfortunately for Sabillo this was a style that suited the faster and taller Buitrago who appeared to take the lead after 3 rounds by just out boxing Sabillo. In round 4 the champion picked up the pace and tried to turn the fight in to a brawl. Buitrago, using his control of range and effective jab, managed to avoid a tear up though Sabillo was coming closer and closer to turning the fight around. Sabillo, for the first time, managed to cut the distance in round 5 and by round 6 he was beginning to connect with his own shots off on a more regular basis. Buitrago was clearly in the lead but Sabillo's fighting heart was showing through as he fought his back into the fight. Whilst Sabillo was starting to turn it around he certainly wasn't having things all his own way and at several points Buitrago landed bombs on him, shot that would likely have stopped many fighters at 112 never mind 105lbs. The charge of Sabillo, especially in the later rounds, saw him doing enough to take a number of rounds as he applied more and more pressure. Each round became more about whether you preferred the clear and punching of Buitrago or the tenacity and work rate of Sabillo. By the end however it was clear that neither man deserved to lose. The great start of Buitrago had been a long time ago and with out a doubt Sabillo had closed the gap on the cards during the second half of the fight. With neither man deserving to lose it's fair to say the judges got it right by scoring a draw. The judges, who were actually split, all agreed it was paper thin with one judge having it 114-114 whilst the others went 115-113 each way leading to a split draw. Interestingly, for those wanting to allege that Sabillo kept his title due to a "home town decision", the judges were from America, Germany and Japan whilst the referee was American. The close nature of the bout has seen many calling for a rematch and we'd love to see these two up against each other once again, maybe even on a Pacquiao card where the men can have a deservedly large audience. Note-This was the co-main feature of "Pinoy Pride XXIII", which also saw Donnie Nietes in a action against Sammy Gutierrez of Mexico. Of the two bouts we recommend everyone checks out this one rather than the other.
Courtesy of boxrec.com
Filipino "Tiger" Merlito Sabillo (23-0, 12) made the first defense of his WBO Minimumweight title as he disposed of the tricky but negative Colombian challenger Jorle Estrada (17-7, 6). Sabillo, who had claimed his title in Colombia in March was facing a second successive Colombian fighter. Unfortunately for the Filipino fans Estrada was nothing like Sabillo's previous Colombian opponent Luis De La Rosa. The Sabillo v De La Rosa fight was a memorable action bout with both men trying to claim the world title. This however was one man trying to defend his belt against a man merely trying to survive as opposed to win. Estrada was negative from the opening round and appeared out of his depth after just a minute. Sabillo had seen enough in the first 60 seconds to know that he had nothing to fear from Estrada and instead of working his own jab he started to fire off lead left straights, several of which connected and made Estrada even more set on avoiding a fight. With Estrada using his legs more than his hands Sabillo went to work on the challenger's midsection and appeared to hurt him there through many of the early rounds. Unfortunately every time Sabillo managed to hurt him, Estrada managed to just do enough to recover until the bell came and offered him some security. You could tell through the middle rounds that Sabillo was getting frustrated at the negativity of his opponent but he kept applying intelligent pressure and targeting the body when he was in range. Unfortunately due to Estrada's movement the action was kept mostly to singles but Sabillo was making sure they counted every time they landed. After a very poor round 7 in which neither man did much, despite Estrada promising a knockout in the round, Sabillo started to go back on the front foot and appeared to hurt Estrada once again. With Estrada's body being the clear target and with Sabillo knowing he could hurt him there the champion set his feet and landed a monster shot to the gut early in round 9. The shot, which was thrown with more bad intentions than any other in the bout, crumpled Estrada to the canvas where he spat out his gum shield and took the 10 count. We are expecting Sabillo to defend his title again early next year though the opponent seems to be down to ALA. Incidentally the WBO "interim" Minimumweight title is being fought for in a week as the unbeaten pair of Julian Yedras and Carlos Buitrago face off, maybe one of those would make an ideal dance partner for Sabillo (they would certainly make a more suitable one than Estrada). With out trying to sound too harsh about Estrada, we hope we never have to see him again after this negative performance. |
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