![]() By Rene Bonsubre,Jr January 18 – Jhack Tepora’s scheduled defense of the WBA interim world featherweight title against Hugo Ruiz (Mexico) on the Manny Pacquiao-Adrien Broner undercard gets canceled after Tepora stepped on the scales five and a half pounds overweight. He also got stripped of his title. January 19 – Manny Pacquiao WUD12 Adrien Broner (USA), retains WBA world welterweight title, MGM Grand, Las Vegas,Nevada,USA. January 31 – Aston Palicte WKO2 Jose Martinez (Puerto Rico), Viejas Casino and Resort, Alpine, California,USA. Palicte wins WBO eliminator for the right to challenge WBO junior bantamweight champion Donnie Nietes. February 26 – Vic Saludar WUD12 Masataka Taniguchi (Japan) retains WBO world minimumweight title, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan. February 28 – Donnie Nietes vacates the WBO world junior bantamweight title and bares his intention to seek bigger, more lucrative fights. March 23 – Samuel Salva WUD12 Rene Mark Cuarto, wins IBF eliminator for mandatory challenger in the minimumweight division, Michael Dasmariñas WUD12 Kenny Demecillo, wins IBF eliminator for mandatory challenger in the bantamweight division, Resorts World Hotel, Pasay City, Philippines. March 31 – Featherweight Renerio Arizala undergoes emergency brain surgery when he collapsed after losing his fight by sixth round TKO against Tsuyoshi Tameda (Japan) in Yokohama, Japan. He regained consciousness after the operation. April 20 – John Riel Casimero WTKO12 Ricardo Espinoza Franco (Mexico), wins WBO interim world bantamweight title, Dignity Health Sports Park, Carson, California,USA. April 26 – Josie Gabuco wins a gold medal in the women’s light flyweight category at the 2019 Asian Amateur Boxing Championships in Bangkok, Thailand April 27 – Nonito Donaire KO6 Stephon Young (USA), retains WBA super world bantamweight title, Cajun Dome, Lafayette, Louisiana,USA. Donaire enters the finals of the WBSS bantamweight tournament. May 4 – Jerwin Ancajas WTKO7 Ryuichi Funai (Japan) , retains IBF world junior bantamweight title, Stockton Arena, Stockton, California,USA. June 19- Kazuto Ioka (Japan) WTKO10 Aston Palicte, vacant WBO world junior bantamweight world title, Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan. July 6 – Nordine Oubaali (France) WRTD6 Arthur Villanueva, WBC bantamweight world title, Barys Arena, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. July 12 – Kenshiro Teraji (Japan) WTKO4 Jonathan Taconing, WBC junior flyweight world title, Edion Arena, Osaka, Japan. July 20 – Manny Pacquiao WSD12 Keith Thurman (USA), wins WBA welterweight super world title, MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada,USA. Pacquiao becomes the oldest welterweight champion in boxing history at the age of 40. August 2 – Thammanoon Niyomtrong a.k.a. Knockout CP Freshmart (Thailand) WTD8 ArAr Andales, WBA world minimumweight title, Nakhon Sawan,Thailand. August 24- John Riel Casimero WKO10 Cesar Ramirez (Mexico), retains WBO interim world bantamweight title, San Andres Sports Center,Malate, Manila. Casimero earns the right to fight WBO bantamweight champion Zolani Tete (South Africa) within 90 days. August 24 – Vic Saludar LUD12 Wilfredo Mendez (Puerto Rico), loses WBO world minimumweight title, Centro de Convenciones, San Juan, Puerto Rico. August 25 – Maximino Flores (Mexico) WTD7 Carlo Caesar Peñalosa, vacant IBO flyweight title, TV5 Studio, Novaliches, Quezon City, Philippines. September 7 – Pedro Taduran WRTD4 Samuel Salva, wins vacant IBF minimumweight world title, First all-Filipino title fight held in the Philippines since 1925, Jurado Hall, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, Metro Manila. September 7 – Christian Araneta LRTD4 Daniel Valladares (Mexico) , IBF light flyweight eliminator, Arena Jose Sulaiman, Monterey, Mexico. September 14 – Emanuel Navarrete (Mexico) WTKO4 Juan Miguel Elorde (Philippines), WBO world junior featherweight title, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada,USA. September 21 – Middleweight Eumir Felix Marcial wins a silver medal at the AIBA Men’s World Amateur Boxing Championships held in Ekaterinburg,Russia. He lost to Russian Bakshi Gleb in the finals by 5-0 decision. October 13 - Nesthy Petecio wins gold in the featherweight finals of the 2019 AIBA Women’s World Amateur Boxing Championships in Russia. Petecio beat hometown bet Liudmila Vorontsova by 3:2 decision. October 18 – Eljay Pamisa win silver in the pinweight category of the ASBC Asian Juniors Boxing Championships held in Al Fujaira,UAE. He lost to India’s Visvanath Singh 3:2 in the finals. October 24 – Elwin Soto (Mexico) WUD12 Edward Heno , WBO light flyweight world title, Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, California,USA November 7- Naoya Inoue (Japan) WUD12 Nonito Donaire, unifies IBF and WBA world bantamweight titles and wins the WBSS bantamweight finals,Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan. November 30 – John Riel Casimero WTKO3 Zolani Tete (South Africa), wins WBO world bantamweight title, Arena Birmingham, Birmingham,United Kingdom. Casimero wins his third world title and becomes the fourth Filipino boxer to win three or more world division titles. December 7 – Marlon Tapales LTKO11 Ryosuke Iwasa (Japan), vacant IBF interim world junior featherweight title, Barclays Center, New York, USA December 7 – Jerwin Ancajas WTKO6 Miguel Gonzalez (Chile) , retains IBF world junior bantamweight title, Auditorio GNP Seguros,Puebla, Mexico December 9 – World Boxing Council appoints Nonito Donaire as the mandatory challenger for WBC bantamweight world champion Nordine Oubaali December 9 – Philippines edges regional rival Thailand 7-5 in total gold medals won in the amateur boxing competition of the South East Asian (SEA) Games held in the Philippines December 11 – Manny Pacquiao graduates from the University of Makati with a degree in Political Science-Local Government Administration. December 14 – Tenkai Tsunami (Japan) WTKO8 Jessebelle Pagaduan, WBO Female world light flyweight title, Uchinoura Ginga Arena,Kagoshima,Japan December 16 – Nkosinathi Joyi (South Africa) WUD12 Joey Canoy, vacant IBO world miniflyweight title, International Convention Center, East London, South Africa December 23 – Kenshiro Teraji (Japan) WTKO4 Randy Petalcorin, WBC world light flyweight title, Arena Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan December 23 – Manny Pacquiao ranked number 8 among Forbes’ highest paid athletes of the decade with 435 million dollars in total earnings. Photo – Top Row –left to right – Manny Pacquiao, John Riel Casimero, Jerwin Ancajas, Bottom Row – Left to right – Pedro Taduran, Nesthy Petecio, Nonito Donaire
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By Daniel Sharman ([email protected])
In November 2019, a most remarkable event occurred, one which went almost unnoticed amongst boxing fans: every single major champion within the bantamweight division faced off against another consensus top 10 fighter within the division. Indeed, if Rodriguez-Nery hadn't been scuppered at the last minute, eight top 10 bantamweights would have faced off against one another within just a single calendar month. This is a truly astonishing occurrence, and one seldom witnessed in modern day boxing, wherein top fighters are routinely inactive and often reluctant to fight one another. In the wake of this eventful month, which has seen a number of other interesting developments within the division, four fighters have emerged thick amongst the clouds: Naoya Inoue, Nonito Donaire, Nordine Oubaali, and John Riel Casimero. In this new series, I will look at each of these four boxers in turn, considering matchups and mandatories, all with a view to plotting the course of a possible route to a new undisputed, and new lineal, bantamweight champion. In this, the prelude to the series, we recap the major events leading up to the current moment, and prepare the way for an examination of the four boxers who have emerged in the current bid for bantamweight supremacy. Whilst it may not yet be clear who will ultimately come out victorious, whoever it is will have achieved true supremacy, and will have left their name boldly etched in the annals of history. A timeline of recent events: 24/04/2019, South Africa: WBO bantamweight titlist Zolani Tete is forced to withdraw from the WBSS quarterfinal, a unification bout with WBA 'super' champion Nonito Donaire, due to injury. 18/05/2019, Glasgow: Naoya Inoue starches undefeated IBF champion Emmanuel Rodriguez in two rounds in the WBSS quarterfinal. 07/11/2019, 9:00pm, Saitama: Nordine Oubaali and Takuma Inoue fight to unify the full and interim WBC bantamweight titles. Oubaali outpoints a determined and skilful Inoue over 12 rounds to retain his full version of the WBC crown. 07/11/2019, 9:30pm, Saitama: Donaire and Inoue meet in a scintillating WBSS final. The fight, which goes the distance, proves to be a fight of the year frontrunner with veteran Donaire acquitting himself brilliantly. Inoue survives a severe orbital fracture to emerge as a newly unified champion whilst cementing his spot at the top of the P4P lists. He also announces his new co-promotional deal with Top Rank, with his next fight planned to be held in Vegas in April. Meanwhile, Oubaali immediately expresses his desire to unify with Inoue, who reciprocates likewise, stating his desire to gain revenge for his brother. 20/11/2019: Bob Arum, Inoue's new co-promoter, informs reporters that Inoue's camp has told him that Inoue's eye injury is not too severe, and so the unified bantamweight world champion should be ready to return in March or April. 22/11/2019, Las Vegas: WBC mandatory challenger Luis Nery weighs in a pound over the bantamweight limit before his final eliminator bout with former IBF champion Rodriguez. This marks at least the fourth time Nery has missed the bantam limit in his professional career. 23/11/2019: Donaire indicates he has no plans to retire, and expresses an interest in rematching Inoue or facing Oubaali for his WBC crown. 28/11/2019, Mexico City: Marking the end of a long period of continued leniency, the WBC officially withdraws Nery's mandatory status. WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman advises Nery to move up one or even two weight divisions. 30/11/2019, Birmingham, UK: WBO interim titlist John Riel Casimero scores a big upset win, icing the returning WBO champion Tete within three rounds. With this, Casimero officially becomes a three weight world champion. In his post-fight interview, Casimero immediately calls out Inoue for a unification matchup. Inoue immediately responds via Twitter to affirm his desire for such a fight to take place. 04/12/2019, Tokyo: At their 32nd annual convention, the WBO affirm their intention to work towards making a unification bout between Inoue and their own champ Casimero. 09/12/2019, Mexico City: In light of Nery's removal from the mandatory position, the WBC board vote to instate their #4 contender Donaire as Oubaali's new mandatory challenger. Purse bids scheduled for January 3rd. Donaire shares this news positively on his social media. 09/12/2019, New Jersey: the IBF order Inoue to defend against mandatory challenger Michael Dasmarinas. Purse bids scheduled for January 2nd. Coming up in the series... Issue 1: Donaire, the Veteran Issue 2: Casimero, the Wildcard Issue 3: Oubaali, the Dark Horse Issue 4: Inoue, the Heir Apparent *Note: For the purposes of the current series, I have opted to ignore Luis Nery. This is due to Nery's missing weight in his latest contest, and the WBC's subsequent removal of him from their rankings. If Nery can still make bantamweight, it seems that the best he can hope for currently is a shot at the winner of the WBA 'regular' title fight between Rigondeaux and Solis. This rather lacklustre prospect fails to warrant him a spot in the bid to become 'the man' of the bantamweight division. ![]() By Rene Bonsubre,Jr Filipino fight fans were trying their best to get live feeds over the weekend. Three Filipino boxers campaigned in big fights overseas, with two figuring in world title bouts. Joe Noynay had his third straight fight in Japan last Saturday and was pitted against Japanese Kenichi Ogawa. Noynay was defending his WBO Asia Pacific junior lightweight title and his number seven world ranking. He knew there was a target on his back after back to back stoppage wins against Kosuke Saka and Satoshi Shimizu. Ogawa, whose split decision victory against American Tevin Farmer in an IBF world title bout was invalidated due to a pre-fight drug test result, was out for redemption and to improve his number eleven WBO ranking. But a hard clash of heads in the round three inflicted an ugly cut over Ogawa’s right eyebrow. Another accidental heabutt had the southpaw Noynay cut in round four. The fight was eventually stopped in round five with both boxers spilling blood. The clashes of heads was not unusual for those who have seen southpaw vs orthodox match-ups before. But this was bloodier than usual. Scores - 48-47 Noynay,49-46 Ogawa and 48-48. Noynay remained WBO regional champion due to the split technical draw but this was not the scintillating fight many had hoped. Roughly twelve hours later in the other side of the world, southpaws Jerwin Ancajas and Marlon Tapales figured in separate world title bouts. At the Barclay’s center in New York City, Tapales had trouble getting inside the long reach of Japanese Ryosuke Iwasa. The vacant IBF interim junior featherweight title was at stake. Both former world titleholders knew their careers were on the line. Iwasa, also a southpaw, showed he was the better skilled boxer. He fought off his jab and fired a quick left. A clash of heads in the third caused Tapales to be incorrectly counted by the referee. Tapales tried to open up past the halfway mark of the fight but he missed more than he landed. Iwasa knocked down a faded Tapales in the eleventh round. Tapales beat the count but the referee decided he was unfit to continue and signaled the end. Iwasa once held the IBF belt in this same division. He improves to 27-3,17KO’s while Tapales, a former WBO bantamweight champion, suffered his third loss, 33-3,16KO’s. Daniel Roman of the U.S., who is the IBF and WBA champion in the 122 lb. division, suffered a shoulder injury while training last September which lead to this interim title bout. Iwasa is now in a mandatory position for Roman’s IBF belt. In Puebla, Mexico, Jerwin Ancajas made the eighth successful defense of his IBF world junior bantamweight title with a sixth round TKO win over Miguel Gonzalez. Ancajas proved to be too much for the Chilean challenger, who was getting his first world title shot. Ancajas methodically chopped down his opponent and in a dominant sixth round, pounded Gonzalez mercilessly. This made the referee to correctly stop it at the 1:53 mark even with the hapless Gonzalez still on his feet. Ancajas is now 32-1-2,22KO’s while Gonzalez drops to 31-3,8KO’s. While Team Ancajas was celebrating in the dressing room, news of Tapales’ loss reached their camp. Ancajas has reigned as world champion since September of 2016 but is still in search of a career defining fight preferably against the other reigning Superflyweight champions. Photo – left to right – Joe Noynay, Marlon Tapales, Jerwin Ancajas ![]() By Daniel Sharman ([email protected]) The lineal or 'World' championship has for decades held a special place in the hearts and minds of ardent boxing fans around the globe. Whilst major alphabet titles in the form of belts are both overly ubiquitous and often held by fighters without any sort of legitimate claim to supremacy within a weight class, the lineal champion is the fighter who can legitimately claim to be the best of the best, the true number one fighter within a given division. For a boxer to acquire the lineal status is for him to reach the pinnacle of the sport within his era, and serves as a notice to all other boxers in a weight class that this is the man to beat. However, in recent times, largely due to Tyson Fury's vocal promotion of his own status as lineal heavyweight champion, it has become fairly commonplace to see boxing 'fans' criticise the very notion of a lineal champion, and label it as 'imaginary', 'made-up', and so on. Whilst these criticisms are usually made by those who are either uninformed, unable to understand the concept, or simply trolling, some more distinguished voices have spoken dismissively of the idea of a lineal championship (such as, for example, Thomas Hauser). Thus, in this two part series, I will address the two main criticisms levelled against the lineal championship, both of which I believe to be mistaken. This will also act as a follow up article to my previous one regarding the possibility of Naoya Inoue securing the lineal bantamweight title. ![]() 1.) "The lineal championship doesn't exist." This is the main criticism directed towards the lineal championship. The criticism usually goes as follows: as there is no belt to be won for the lineal title, and no organisational rules to adhere to (e.g. enforced mandatory challenges), the lineal title isn't real; it's just 'made-up'. This criticism gets the situation entirely the wrong way round. It is not the lineal title which is invented, but rather the championship titles proffered by various sanctioning bodies. It is the various alphabets titles which are created or made-up, whereas the lineal title is the real championship, existing separate to the dictates of any group of individuals who decide to call themselves a 'sanctioning' or 'governing' body. Fundamentally, the lineal championship is not the same as a championship which is sanctioned and controlled by a governing body (e.g. the WBC); the lineal title is not owned by any specific organisation or cabal of individuals, and was not created by them. Any group of people can get together, form an organisation, and decide to start giving out 'championships': this is what happened with the WBA and WBC, followed by the IBF, then WBO, and now the IBO. These titles only have legitimacy insofar as people are willing to recognise them as valuable (for instance, at one point the WBO was seen as illegitimate). By contrast, the lineal title is by definition legitimate: it is no more and no less than a designation which is attached to the best fighter within a given weight division, and a boxer's possessing the lineal championship amounts simply to the fact that others, both boxers and non-boxers alike, recognise that fighter's status as the best within their weight division. Whereas the legitimacy of sanctioning body titles is subjective, or dependent on opinion, the legitimacy of the lineal championship is objective, or dependent on fact. The word 'champion' itself implies the existence of a world or lineal champion: a champion means one who has shown his superiority to all others in some matter decided by public contest or competition, in this case, boxing. Thus, it is incoherent to maintain that there can be any more than one champion in a given weight class (let alone four or more). Indeed, the major sanctioning bodies, in mutually recognising one another's titles, themselves thereby tacitly conceding that the person whom they crown 'champion' is not really the champion, the true number one. And, it especially ridiculous that those fans who happily recognise all four major titles will at the same time denigrate the lineal championship; they are willing to accept a situation which is contradictory in itself, whilst denying the existence of something far more coherent. Now, as regards the lineal championship, a boxer's holding the lineal status continues up until such point as he loses it to another fighter (who then succeeds him as the lineal champion), or he permanently retires (at least from the weight class in which he possessed the title). And the way a vacant lineal championship is filled is simple: the two boxers recognised as the best in the division square off against one another, and whoever wins assumes the new title. ![]() It is almost universally agreed that there are too many titles in boxing, but most fans of the sport seem to have lost track of what championship titles are actually intended to be. Each governing body, at least in theory, intends their championship to be held by the genuine number one in a given division; when a fighter wins their championship, they are given a belt as an outward symbol or manifestation of their status as champion. It is not the belt itself which is important, and it is only supposed to outwardly show the important thing: that the person with the belt around their waist is the true champion, the genuine number one. The belt follows the championship, not the other way round. It seems that fans, in our materially obsessed age, have got the order of things muddled. Many fans act as if the important thing is the physical act of holding a belt, and that, by holding the belt, a boxer thereby acquires the status of champion. This is all wrong: holding a belt merely indicates in a visible and aesthetically pleasing way that a given fighter is champion, no more, no less. By thinking that holding a belt makes one a champion, fans have fostered an environment in which sanctioning bodies are able to endlessly proliferate world titles on no greater basis than their ability to physically proliferate the belts themselves (note, for instance, that the WBA's 'regular' and 'super' belts are visually indistinguishable). To recap, the lineal championship exists. It is a status or designation which is held by the best boxer in a weight class. Whilst there is no physical belt which a boxer receives to represent his status as lineal champion, he can nevertheless hold that status, and can only lose it through either retiring or being beaten by another fighter. The lineal champion is the real champion in a weight class. Unlike the championship titles of sanctioning bodies, the lineal title was not invented or contrived by an organisation or group of individuals, and its legitimacy is not dependent on people conferring legitimacy upon it; it is simply the designation given to the best fighter within a weight class, and exists above and beyond the whims of any self-purported sanctioning body whom the public may be willing to accept. Coming up in Part 2: Responding to "The lineage has been broken, and so is no longer valid!" (Images of Yuri Arbachakov and Daisuke Naito courtesy of http://jpba.gr.jp/, Image of Pongsaklek Wonjongkam courtesy of Thairec) ![]() By Rene Bonsubre,Jr In a country that regularly produces topmost boxing talent, even a boxer as gifted as Marlon Tapales (33-2,16KO’s) will struggle when it comes to name recognition. That may soon change if he can capitalize on his biggest fight on U.S. soil against Japanese Ryosuke Iwasa (26-3,16KO’s) for the IBF interim world super bantamweight title at the Barclays Center in New York. Tapales, who is training in California, told this writer that they will be leaving for New York on Wednesday. Asianboxing has already reported that Iwasa left Japan last Monday to acclimatize to the conditions in the U.S. “I am just three pounds over the limit, there will be no problems at the weigh-in,” Tapales told this writer in a short chat. This will be battle of southpaws. The 29 year old Iwasa is a former IBF world champion at this weight category. Two years ago, he stopped countryman Yukinori Oguni in six rounds in Osaka for the title. He beat Filipino Ernesto Saulong by unanimous verdict in his first defense but lost in his second defense to Australian TJ Doheny by unanimous decision. Daniel Roman of the U.S., who is the unified IBF/WBA champion in the 122 lb. division, was reported to have suffered a shoulder injury in training camp last September paving the way for this interim title bout. In earlier conversation with this writer, Tapales stated that he already saw Iwasa in action. This was in February when Iwasa fought in California and beat Mexican Cesar Juarez by tenth round technical decision. Tapales was on the undercard and beat Mexican Fernando Vargas Parra in five rounds. “I have seen him fight in person,” Tapales said, “I know I can take him. I feel stronger at 122 pounds.” “I want to be a world champion again. I am training hard and praying for that to happen.” Tapales concluded. The 27 year old Tapales from Lanao del Norte in the Philippines. He got a lot of attention from the press in 2016 when he stopped Pungluang Sor Singyu (Panya Uthok) in Ayutthaya, Thailand for the the WBO bantamweight world title. Tapales had to rise from the canvas twice in the fifth, endure the pain from brutal body shots, to stop the Thai in round eleven. The attention from this made-for-Hollywood performance was short-lived. Tapales’ career took a strange turn when his handlers could not stage a title defense for him at home. He was inactive for nine months and would then lose his title during the weigh-in in Japan. He checked in more than a pound above the division limit of 118. The title was declared vacant but the fight pushed through with Tapales winning by eleventh round TKO. He decided to move up one division higher but had to wait seventeen months for another fight against Tanzanian Goodluck Mrema in Metro Manila, which lasted less than a round. Things began to look up when he signed with Manny Pacquiao’s company, MP Promotions and got two fights in the United States. He stopped Mexicans Fernando Vargas Parra in five rounds and Roberto Castañeda in three. Iwasa is ranked number one by the IBF while Tapales the number three contender. They will be one of the main supporting attractions for the WBC world middleweight title fight between Jermall Charlo and Dennis Hogan. Photo – Ryosuke Iwasa (left) and Marlon Tapales |
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