In the US having a musician do a live performance whilst a boxer makes their ring entrance is quite a normal thing, in Japan however it's actually really rare and one of the few times we've seen it recently has been when Japanese rapper AK69 has sang out close friend Kazuto Ioka. An example of it happening in June 2019 when Ioka took on Aston Palicte for the WBO Super Flyweight title. The rapper sang Ioka out to "Go hard or Go Home", one of our favourite AK69 songs. Whilst it's rare to see this happen in Japan, we would like to see it more often as this did give the bout an even bigger feel than it had anyway.
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The final English Language version of an Asian fight for November sees us roll the clock back to the 1990's, when Japan's Hiroki Ioka was one of the biggest stars in Japan. This bout came in 1993 and saw Ioka battle against Filipino journeyman Ronnie Romero at the Prefectural Gymnasium in Osaka. This isn't the best bout out there, but it is a pretty good chance to see what Hiroki Ioka was like as a fighter. Japanese musician TEE is a successful recording artist that many won't realise was actually a talented boxer himself as an amateur, before leaving the sport due to injuries to his elbows and shoulders. After he graduated from university he studied in Canada, and later returned to Japan where he began a fully fledged career as a recording artist. Despite not making it as a boxer in the end TEE remained close to the boxing fraternity in Japan and was close friends with with Japanese Minimumweight Masatate Tsuji. Sadly with Japanese Minimumweight Tsuji would pass away in 2009 following a bout with Yuji Kanemitsu. After Tsuji's death TEE would record a cover of Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again" in honour of his fallen friend, and would record a special video where he got other figures from the Japanese boxing world to speak, including some very famous faces, as well as Tsuji's parents. In late 2018 Thai boxer Panya Pradabsri, aka Petchmanee Kokietgym, moved up to Flyweight to dip his toes at the 112lb weight class. Whilst there he took on Filipino youngster Dexter Alimento in a bout for the OPBF Silver Flyweight title. With Panya set to fight for a world title later this month, we felt this was an ideal time to show case what the Thai can do, as we mover closer, and closer, to his bout with Wanheng Menayothin. That is, in many ways, the most interesting bout in Thailand in 2020, a year that has seen Thailand really raise it's level of match making. In 2015 Japanese group GReeeeN collaborated with Ryota Murata in a short video where Murata is training alongside GReeeeN's song "Green Boys" from their album "Do your Best!", and talking a little bit. The video isn't for the full song, but it's still something we felt fit this weekly musical video series we've been putting together on Friday's. The song is certainly not the worst we've included in this series, and lets be honest we've had some terrible tracks, but it's a shame that what we do get is so short and that they didn't just do a basic music video, for the full song, with Murata involved. For this weeks Asian fight with English Language commentary we've gone with the 2018 clash between Japanese star Kenshiro Teraji and Mexican veteran Ganigan Lopez, who were rematching following a 2017 clash. This was, in the eyes of some, the point where Kenshiro began to really show his development and skills, after originally struggling at the beginning of his reign. As Lopez some view this as the start of the end for him, but it is worth noting that since this bout he has actually remained in, and around, the world title picture, though he is now very much a man coming to the end of his days as a viable contender. Iconic Filipino Nonito Donaire has had a number of songs recorded in his honour, one of which was this one from Filipino band "Slam Girls". Despite being a great fighter there is a lack of quality in the songs recorded in Donaire's honour and this is certainly not a great song if we're being honest. Sorry to all the fans of Slam Girls, but this is...well...not our cup of tea at all. One of the few Asian fighters who has really managed to make a mark on the international boxing scene in the last few years is Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. With that in mind we felt it was a great time to give one of his fights the English language treatment, and with that in mind we stumbled on his 2015 clash with Indonesian journeyman Jack Amisa. We'll start by admitting this isn't a particularly well known fight, but to us it was one that was interesting and certainly worth sharing, so we genuinely hope you enjoy this one, and a chance to see Srisaket before he became a huge international boxing star. |
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