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Back in November we were treat to a genuine treat of a bout as the touted Junpei Tsujimoto (6-2-3, 4) took on the unheralded Daiki Ogura (4-3-1, 4) at Korakuen Hall. This bout is one that we suspect went under-the-radar, but sure provided some of the best fireworks we've seen in 2020. The bout isn't the highest skilled, or the most technical, but it a fun, short, battle that deserves a watch. With that in mind we've given the English commentary treatment to end the year. We'll be continuing this series in the new year, and will hopefully have more thrilling clashes like this to share.
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Back in November touted Japanese prospect Takuma Takahashi (5-0, 5) had his second bout of 2020 as he took on veteran Kodai Kiyota (9-6-2, 9) at Korakuen Hall. The bout was a strange one, with Takahashi being regarded as a future contender on the Japanese domestic scene and Kiyota being very much a man at the end of his career. Given how well regarded Takahashi is we felt this was worthy of the English Language treat as we headed towards the end of 2020, and onto a new year, a year that should be a big one for Takahashi. In 2013 Takane Okamoto worked with the then WBA Super Featherweight champion Takashi Uchiyama, who appeared in a short promotional video for the song "Hitman". Sadly it's not a video for the full song, but given the rock sound and the hard hitting sounds this would have worked fantastically well with Uchiyama's style and power and it's a real shame we didn't get a full track version. Just this short one. Okamoto would remain somewhat relevant in boxing and would go on to do the national anthems at the May 6th 2013 show, that featured Uchiyama nearly gutting Jaider Parra and Kohei Kono's hard fought loss to Liborio Solis. Also Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you're all having a great day after what has been a stressful year for us all. Thank you for sticking with us even when there was no boxing! It's thanks to you guys that we've been able to put these things together. For Christmas we're bringing you a double dose of musical goodness, with something a little later as well as this! Here we have a Korea TV show hosting a a pair of boxers, two for the price of one, with former world tittle challengers Young Kil Bae and Hee Jung Yuh, who are a married couple, singing what we believe to be "Prince of the Sea" by Myeong Soo Park, though if anyone wants to correct us please do! The song, at least to us, has a very "Pet Shop Boys" vibe, "Go West" maybe? Of course it doesn't sound great but seeing how uncomfortable the two look is brilliant and credit to the two for being involved in the show, especially in the ring walk attire they are are wearing. This is odd, but the sort of thing that we all enjoy on Christmas, terrible singing and people embarrassing themselves! We have something a little bit more professional coming up later today for those who enjoy these musical segments every week. For those who have enjoyed these, the good, the bad, the bloody awful, we'll be continuing them in 2021 as there's a lot more boxing related music out there! For this week's English language version of an Asian fight we thought it was a good chance to shine a light on one of the most talented Japanese fighter of the 1990's, Hiroshi Kawashima. With that in mind let us bring you his 1996 WBC Super Flyweight world title defense against Domingo Sosa. For those who haven't seen Kawashima we hope this can help entice you into giving him a watch in the future! We've mentioned before that live performances to accompany ring walks in Japan is rare, much rarer than it is in the US, so with that in mind let us share another of those rare moments, this time thanks to the amazing Akira Jimbo. Naoki Sato's track "Departure" is one of the most powerful sounding tracks out there, and is a genuinely brilliant piece. Somehow Jimbo played the track with drums as "The Monster" Naoya Inoue took part in his ring walk for his December 2017 bout with Yoan Boyeaux. We don't think we need to say anything about Inoue, his fame transcends Asian boxing, but we will give some props to Jimbo who is one of the most amazing artists in Japan, and has taken things like drums to a whole different level. He was featured on the cover of "Modern Drummer" magazine in 2000 and has used the drums and the set up he has to create sounds that relly don't sound like they come from a drum set up. For this week's English dub of an Asian fight we head back to the 1980's to see fighter-come-promoter Hideyuki Ohashi (11-3, 7) in action. Here the then 24 year old Ohashi was battling against Filipino foe Boy Kid Emilia (5-3). Ohashi, for those who are unaware, was regarded as one of the best Japanese talents of his time. Although he hadn't won a world title by this point he had shown his ability, and had twice fought Jung Koo Chang. He would later become a 2-time world champion and face another true legend, losing in 1990 to Ricardo Lopez. As for Emilia, less is known about him, and even his record isn't fully accepted. What is known is that he had this bout, and then seemingly never fought again. Last week we featured a song used for Masayuki Kuroda's first world title fight, against Juan Carlos Reveco, what's worth noting is there was a whole new track released for Kuroda's second world title bout, his 2019 clash with Moruti Mthalane. This was "Victoria" by Koji Irving which not only acted as a catchy little song to help inspire Kuroda but also featured Kuroda as a star in the video. Irving, for those unaware, is a Latin guitarist, singer, composer, goodwill ambassador and plenty of other things. He was born in Mexico but has lived in Japan since he was 7 and this was one of his most notable tracks, helping him get attention with boxing fans. Given how the previous Kuroda related track sounded like a pub song this is very different. This is polished, professional, toe tappingly catchy, and deliberately something you can sing along with in the chorus. A smart bit of work here by Koji Irving! In July 2013 fight fans in Tokyo got their first chance to see Masayoshi Nakatani (5-0, 4), as he travelled to the Japanese capital to take on former Rookie of the Year winner Shuhei Tsuchiya (14-1, 12) in an 8 round Lightweight clash. For Nakatani this was a step up in class following a string of lower level wins whilst Tsuchiya was looking to bounce back from a February loss to Shoji Kawase. For those who haven't seen this one it is well worthy of a watch, just to see how good Nakatani looked very early in his career, and to show what an advanced prospect he was just a couple of years after his debut. With Nakatani set to fight in the US later this month we thought it was a great time to give fans a chance to see an early Nakatani bout given our English Language treatmen. We hope you enjoy! In February 2013 Masayuki Kuorda had his first world title bout, as he challenged Juan Carlos Reveco at the end of the month, for the WBA Flyweight title. To help get behind the Japanese fighter there was a support song made for Kuroda, this short track which is certainly...interesting. Although it's nothing special musically we do love this idea of getting behind a fighter with a song like this and would kind like to see more these things done in the future to help cheer on a local fighter. It should be noted that Kuroda and the Kawasaki Nitta Gym do have a very close relationship with the local soccer team, the Kawasaki Frontale, and a chant like this certainly has a soccer stadium feel to it. A really good idea to try and get behind their man and get in their opponents head. It didn't get Kuroda at the time, but an idea we do, genuinely, like |
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