When we closed out 2019 we promised to show more diversity in our "Introducing..." articles for 2020 and today we continue to uphold that, as we look at an unbeaten national champion from Korea, who is arguably the most fun to watch fighter on the planet, at least on a pound for pound basis.
This is the first time we've "introduced" a national champion, but given the state of Korean boxing it doesn't seem a bad choice, especially given just how much we enjoying watching the 19 yeah old Han Bin Suh (5-0-3, 4) The baby faced Suh made his professional debut in 2017, just a month after he turned 17, and he has quickly become a fighter that every fan should know about. That's despite not fighting at all in 2018! On debut, back in March 2017, Suh beat fellow debutant Sang Woo Bae inside a round, and added his second pro win with a TKO2 over Hyo Duk Oh just a few months later. Despite it being very early in his career Suh was making a name for himself based on his exciting style, that was almost a throw back to a bygone era of Korean boxing. Suh was all "punch, punch, punch". There was little finesse to what he did, but it was working and why would he mess with a winning formula? Sadly Suh's winning formula would stop being a winning one, and after taking a narrow win over Young Chan Yoon, in a bout that showed the willingness of Korean judges to give 10-10 rounds, he would suffer his first draw. That draw, a 4 round split decision draw with China's Youngu Yu, was followed by a break of over a year, before Suh got back in the ring and fought to another draw, this time a 6 round draw with Ki Hyun Park. Incidentally these weren't just draws, but were also the first bouts Suh had at Super Bantamweight, as he dropped down in weight after starting his career with fights above the Featherweight limit. Those draws didn't really set Suh back at all. Instead they seemed to empower him, making him realise he could set a hot pace, and keep going. He seemed to realise that his energy levels were incredibly and that he could take a shot really well, and it's that which has made him such a must watch fighter in the last year or so. He simply doesn't stop throwing punches, even when caught clean himself. He might not always throw the most effective, or the heaviest, or the cleanest of blows, but he throws so much than he simply drowns opponents in leather, like some of the top Korean's of yesteryear. That pressure, work rate and incessant aggression from Suh saw him win the Korean Super Bantamweight title, KBM version at least, in April 2019, when he broke down Dae Young Lee in an excellent all action bout. Suh, who takes risks in his aggressive march forward, was forced to take some clean counters, but refused to let Lee build any momentum before roaring back. Lee was game, but he had the fight beaten out of him by Suh in the 8th round as the frantic pace and none stop aggression proved too much., even if he did take shots himself. In his first defense of the KBM Super Bantamweight Suh again showed unbridled will to win and aggression as he defended the belt in a sensational bout against Jong Won Jung in July. This was an even better fight than his title win and Jung tried to go punch for punch with Suh, giving us a truly epic war with incredible levels of output from both. As with his title win Suh's defense left much to be desired, but his aggression was simply too much for Jung who was ground down, and stopped in round 8 of arguably the best Korean bout of 2019. Suh's most recent bout saw him earn his third defense as he fought to a draw with Jong Min Jung over 10 action packed rounds. This was a bout that Suh's defensive issues were most obvious, but his chin, his work rate, his heart and desire were amazing, and he refused to lose. Jung was the better boxer, but the 32 year old was dragged into Suh's bout as it went on and Suh's work rate certainly saw him deserve a draw, at worst. On January 18th we'll see Suh make his 4th defense, as he battles former amateur standout Dong Myung Shin. Suh in tough here against a man who ran up well over over 100 wins the the amateur ranks, but a win for the youngster is expected to net him an OPBF title fight later in the year. Getting past Shin isn't a given, but if he does we expect 2020 to be a massive year for Suh. Then again a loss for the youngster will not be the end, given just how young he is. Although Suh is unlikely to ever be a Korean star, like the legendary names from the 1980's, he does appear to be a fighter who is inspired by the likes of Jung Koo Chang, and that is certainly not a bad thing at all!
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Another week has passed us by and it's time, once again, to look at the good, the bad and the ugly from the last week! And this has been a week where the good have outweighed the bad and the ugly. It's not been a perfect week, but it's certainly been a week that has started the see things move forward for the year. The Good 1-Boxing is back under way! It's fair to say that 2020 has moved slowly, we might only be 12 days into the year but after the hive of activity to end 2019 it sort of feels like boxing fell off a cliff after the clocks rang in the new year. Thankfully the last few days we have seen normality resume and we've had some great action, some fantastic performances and we have so much more to look forward to. It's take a little while, bot boxing is back baby! 2-Guts Fighting set to bring us Shigeoka Vs Loreto Whilst it was a huge shame that TBS didn't air the New Year Eve's bout between Ginjiro Shigeoka and Rey Loreto, especially give that they could have put it on one of the satellite channels that TBS run, it's now been confirmed that the bout will air on free to air TV later this month! The bout, along with Miyo Yoshida's world title defense, are set to be aired in just over a week. As a bonus it appears one of the TBS sister channels is also set to air Yoshida's world title win from the summer at the end of January! Infact TBS have been great so far, showing a number of semi-recent bouts on TBS and doing a special "Chihara Junior Presents Boxing Champion Legend Revived Great Game! KO Collection" last Friday on BS TBS. They might not have given us Shigeoka live, but credit to them for pumping out a lot of stuff since the new year. 3-Female Fights shine in the US The last few years we've seen a lot of female fights on TV, and we've seen a general backlash from fans who were "sick of having them forced down our throats". We've always taken a different view on female boxing. We are sick of mismatches involving female fighters. This weekend we had two excellently matched bouts, with Elin Cederroos and Alicia Napoleon Espinosa giving us a sensational bout on Friday night before Alejandra Jimenez and Franchon Crews Dezurn followed up with a cracking fight the following night. Female boxing can be great, genuinely female fights can be amazing. But they need to be well match. These two were well matched, and they were great fights. They will have done more to improve the standing of female boxing than almost anything else in recent years. More of these please folks! Less trying to force fabricated records down our throats and more giving us evenly matched bouts. 4-Boxnation is given a life line! The best bit of boxing news this week came from the UK when it was revealed that British boxing channel Boxnation had been given a life line thanks to a new strategic partnership with Premier Sports. Fingers crossed the channel can be run profitably going forward, and can help give British fans a wider outlet for international fans. The British fans need a third player in the game after being let down in recent years by Sky Sports and BT Sports, so fingers crossed Boxnation, with the backing of Premier Sports, can play a major factor in getting more eyes on the sport and giving an outlet to shows that would otherwise not be picked up. The Bad 1-Knock Out Dynamite Tournament gutted When the Knock Out Dynamite Tournament Final card was announced we were really excited. We were set to get 3 tournament final bouts, the return of Shuhei Tsuchiya and an interesting bout for Shohei Omori. Sadly though one of the finals was cancelled, Omori's replacement was an under-sized Filipino, who proved to be tough nut not particularly competitive, and Tsuchiya's bout was cancelled due visa issues in regards to his opponent. With this being the first Japanese card of 2020 it wasn't a good sign, and will hopefully turn out to be little more than a stumble to begin the year, than an omen for the year to come. The Ugly 1-Speculation regarding Alejandra Jimenez's gender Sometimes boxing fans are complete dicks! We've all seen it over the years, and unfortunately a small number of fans have shown this again this past week suggesting, with some confidence in some cases, that Alejandra Jimenez's is a man. Whilst she might not look like the most "girly girl" out there, speculation like this doesn't help the sport and in fact helps makes fans in general seem like cave men. Lets stop being stupid, stop making forum posts stating she's a man, or that she used to be a man (as we saw on one forum), and realise people look different to each other. She put in a great performance and credit to her for it. 2-James Kinney's scorecard Whilst we find the comments made about Jimenez genuinely disgusting there was one man who certainly wasn't commenting on the looks of Mexican Super Featherweight. That was James Kinney, who seemed to be blind on Saturday night whilst scoring the Jesse Hart vs Joe Smith Jr fight. He was almost certainly the only person who, some how, found a way to score it to Jesse Hart and we need to question how he managed to get the 95-94 score in favour of Hart. This wasn't like two fighters looked the same or could be easily confused. This was a judge who really needs to be quizzed, and potentially kicked out of the sport. The card was absolutely terrible from Kinney, and leads to a lot of questions, questions the commission should be asking Kinney in the coming days. As we head towards the new year we've had a big look at the current scene and come up with "20 fights we'd like to see in 2020", yeah another series ahead of the new decade! As is always the case with what we do, these articles will have an Asian flavour, and every bout we mention in the series will have at least 1 fighter from Asia involved. So for those of you expecting us to talk about Deontay Wilder Vs Anthony Joshua, that won't be listed. What we'll be looking at is well matched contests with either some form of back story, a great stylistic clash or bouts with some form of significant meaning. If they tick all the boxes then that is even better! Each fight will be given it's own article and each of these will come with an introduction to the fighters, and why the bout is being featured in the list. Fight #15 Kenshiro Teraji (17-0, 10) Vs Hiroto Kyoguchi (14-0, 9) The Light Flyweight division might go over looked by many fans in the West but it is among the deepest divisions in the sport right now, and the one that is screaming out for a WBSS style tournament putting all the top guys in against each other and seeing who comes out the blender on the other side. It has a great mix of fighters, styles and a lot of fighters who want to make a statement, and that is what we need to see more of. Sadly we've not had any unification bouts in a while, but the fighters all seem to be up for prove who's the best, and there's a chance we will see the top guys facing each other in 2020. With that in mind we have picked the division's dream bout here. Kenshiro Teraji, also known as Kenshiro by many fans, is the WBC champion and the longest reigning active champion in the division. The unbeaten 28 year old has held the title since May 2017, and although yet to unify had scored some genuinely top level wins, beating the likes of Ganigan Lopez, Pedro Guevara, Milan Melindo, Saul Juarez, Jonathan Taconing and Randy Petalcorin, whilst racking up 7 defenses. He had been pencilled in to unify just before Christmas by Felix Alvarado was forced to pull out of that bout. In the ring Kenshiro is a fantastic boxer-puncher and not only has one of the sports most under-rated jabs and body attacks, but also some of the smartest foot work in the game, dictating the distance brilliantly behind his feet, which allow him to set up his offence with ease. Hiroto Kyoguchi is currently enjoying a world title reign in his second weight class, and although he's looked solid at 108lbs, notably gate crashing the division with a stoppage against Hekkie Budler, he hasn't really built on his title win. Defenses against Satanmuanglek CP Freshmart and Tetsuya Hisada, are both decent but not the wins that will define a legacy, to do that Kyoguchi would need to beat another top name, and fighting Kenshiro would give him a chance to do that. At his best he's a physical pressure-boxer, with explosive combinations and under-rated skills, but we really don't quite know how good he's going to be at 108lbs until he faces another solid name, similar in stature to Budler. Standing toe-to-toe with Kyoguchi is generally a mistake, but when he's faced boxers his defensive flaws have been shown up, and he's still got some polishing to do before he really peaks. What we'd get here is an excellent boxer mover, in Kenshiro, who can stick a jab in the opponents face whilst on the move and switch to the body at any second, taking on a fantastic pressure fighter, who can box really well on the front foot. This would be a wonderful mix of styles, and it would also have a great backstory running through it due to the amateur rivalry the two had. It's not the only great bout that could be made at 108lbs, but to us it's the most interesting, by far. (Images courtesy of Watanabe Gym and Boxmob) The year is still new, which is a relief as so far the Asian action hasn't been worth talking about for the most part. Earlier today we had the first Japanese show of 2020, but it was ravaged by changes that ended up removing 2 bouts from the card changing another, and it never really seemed to get going. There was Chinese action, which was alright but nothing spectacular and of course Bakhtiyar Eyubov was batted in Atlantic City.
Despite being left with scraps we have managed to come up with some honours for our weekly awards. Fighter of the Week Marvin Esquierdo (16-2-1, 10) The Filipino is unlikely to ever make it beyond regional level, if he even gets that far, but we can't fault his attitude and his mentality. He's been given a chance to shine in the Knock Out Dynamite tournament and he has made the most of that opportunity in both of his tournament bouts. This week he seemed to be the only man in Japan who realised that he could get a hefty bonus for scoring a stoppage, and went after Ribo Takahata early, dropping the veteran hard in round 2. Esquierdo couldn't get the finish there and then, but did get one in round 4 to net himself a nice bonus. Performance of the Week Tuguldur Byambatsogt (2-0) Whilst it was a very quiet week it was still a week where we did see some impressive action, with Mongolian fighter Tuguldur Byambatsogt really impressing with both his boxing, and his fighting ability. The former amateur standout spent 3 rounds out boxing Vladimir Baez by simply doing the basics. He moved around the ring, landed the jab to control distance and took advantage of the openings Baez gave him. After a tired looking fourth round he found a new gear and dropped Baez completing what had been a solid performance from a genuinely talented young Mongolian hopeful. Fingers crossed we see a lot more of Byambatsogt over the coming years. Fight Yihao Wang vs Keon Woo Kim There is something about watching a tough nosed Korean fighter barrelling forward, despite taking big shots that makes things enjoyable. That's what we had at the start of the week as the unbeaten, but under-sized, Keon Woo Kim took on Chinese foe Yihao Wang. Kim, who was always pursuing his man, and taking shots as a result, made this a fun contest despite really getting busted up and broken down. His desire to get close and make this a war made this a fight that had our attention, despite how one sided it was at times, and as Kim's face began to swell his hunger just grew. Of course Wang played his part, and his stamina and punch picking needs to be given credit as well. This wasn't a fight of the year contender, not even close, but was an entertaining little fight all the same. Round Marvin Esquierdo vs Ribo Takahata (Round 3) There was no round that truly stood out this week, but we did really enjoy the third round of Marvin Esquierdo's win over Ribo Takahata. The previous round had seen Esquierdo dropping Takahata, hard, and had the round been just 15 seconds longer the bout could have been over. Even with the minute to recover Takahata still seemed shaken at the start of the round, and Esquierdo tried to take him out. Then Takahata recovered, and tried to take out Esquierdo in what was a fun round that saw both men being hurt and letting their shots go. This was fun, exciting and saw both men digging deep. KO There was no suitable contender for KO of the Week Prospect Tuguldur Byambatsogt (2-0) We could legitimately rave about the Mongolian fighter all day, but we won't. He showed so much more in just his second professional bout than many show in their first 15. He looked composed, strong, skilled, and like he was fighting well within himself. We look forward to seeing more of him and hopefully we'll see more of his offensive side. For a 2-0 prospect to have done what he's done is really impressive, and he is certainly one to get very excited about. Upcoming fight Shinobu Charlie Hosokawa (12-4-1, 11) vs Kazuto Takesako (11-0-1, 11) The coming few weeks have quite a bit of action and after a slow start we do see things begin to pick up. Next weekend is a great example of that and on January 18th we get a brilliant clash of champions, with OPBF Middleweight champion Shinobu Charlie Hosokawa battling Japanese champion Kazuto Takesako. Noth only are both champions, but both are tough guys and both can bang. We are expecting this to be a legitimate shoot out and one of the highlights for the month! Keep an eye on this one next Saturday! The Hot Take - Boxnation, look out East! Look out for the long term! Cater to the hardcore!1/11/2020 We've not had many fights so far this year. Lets be honest the year has been a very slow one to get going, though that was expected given how hot 2019 ended and how many big names were in action during the final few months of the year. Despite a lack of fights there was some huge news for British boxing fans, as Premier Sports announced they would be teaming up with Boxnation to keep the "Channel of Champions" alive. It was a rather unexpected turn of events with Boxnation looking like it was already in the casket and about to have the soil tossed over it's corpse. It was unexpected, but great news.
Part of the press release to announce the new "strategic partnership" saw them announce "Premier Sports will be actively looking to increase live content on BoxNation with discussions underway to secure long term output agreements with PBC, Top Rank and Golden Boy along with a number of small hall UK promoters." Essentially trying to do what the channel once did, and again missing out on a lot of potential content to fill their schedule, whilst targeting only 2 potential time windows. The problem with chasing just US content, for international content, is that the channel is relying on fight fans staying up late, week after week, often for mismatches. A lot of the US shows start well after midnight and finish in the early morning. Whilst they are often entertaining, even if the real standout shows are few and far between, they do depend on people watching things well after many are asleep. And that's coming from us, and we have insomnia! Mexican shows have the same issue of simply being too late in the day for many fans, who will watch on delay, rather than live. Despite how good Mexican cards often are. The small hall UK cards are at a better time, but rarely do they have top level fighters on. They are often the fighters without a big name promoter, and whilst those promoters often put on solid shows, especially the likes of VIP Promotions Steve Wood, there is still a lot of the day, or rather the week, where the channel will have free time. These shows also tend to clash with the more polished productions from bigger UK promoters, such as Matchroom Boxing. What the channel should be doing is looking to spread it's wings, and look at working with promotions outside of the US and UK. The channel had previously shown bouts from Russia, South Africa and the Philippines and this was certainly more a positive than a negative. The Russian shows mixed good names, with solid production values and some great fights, the South African shows gave fans something they rarely got, and the Filipino cards were a wonderful, and cheap, touch through MP Promotions when the channel appeared to be stumbling towards it's death. Whilst the Filipino cards were on early in the day, they filled a void in the morning, whilst the Russian and South African cards gave fans some great action in the afternoon. Those partnerships were ideal for fans, and helped establish new names with fans. The channel, which was obviously targeted at hardcore boxing fans, seemed to often fail to embrace those fans who wanted to see those fighters. With Japanese promoters like Teiken, Hatanaka, Ohashi and Watanabe having some sort of output deal in Japan those promotional companies would also be excellent to be working with. The fans getting up early on a Saturday morning could do a lot worse than getting a Dynamic Glove show, or getting the chance to see Kazuto Ioka and Kosei Tanaka around mid-day UK time. The Japanese bouts obviously won't attract casual fight fans, but will keep subscribers of the channel onside, keep them with regular content, and help expose fans to a new market, a market that is full of young fighters that will be around for years to come. A working relationship that gets the Shigeoka brothers or Shokichi Iwata and Mikito Nakano onside now, will reap big rewards down the line when those fighters are mixing at world level. Needless to add the Japanese schedule in the last couple of weeks of the year would also keep fans well and truly tuned in, for things like the Rookie of the Year and, of course, the New Year's Eve show, which has grown into a big annual event for fight fans. It's also worth considering that as there's no bidding war for these shows in the west they will come at a relatively low price, keeping costs down and delivering exciting content to boot! If Boxnation is going to survive, grow and have success, it needs to appeal to the hardcore fans, it needs to fill it's schedule, and it needs to look off the beaten track whilst planning for the future. Getting together with promoters that have a stock of young prospects, as well as those with established names, and being able to target different parts of the day will be invaluable long term. As we head towards the new year we've had a big look at the current scene and come up with "20 fights we'd like to see in 2020", yeah another series ahead of the new decade! As is always the case with what we do, these articles will have an Asian flavour, and every bout we mention in the series will have at least 1 fighter from Asia involved. So for those of you expecting us to talk about Deontay Wilder Vs Anthony Joshua, that won't be listed. What we'll be looking at is well matched contests with either some form of back story, a great stylistic clash or bouts with some form of significant meaning. If they tick all the boxes then that is even better! Each fight will be given it's own article and each of these will come with an introduction to the fighters, and why the bout is being featured in the list. Fight #14 Can Xu (18-2, 3) Vs Josh Warrington (30-0, 7) We love chaos, we love high volume fighters and we love unification bouts. Few bouts tick those boxes as much as this potential Featherweight bout between two men who lack in terms of concussive power, but make for it in terms of volume, and willingness to let their hands go very freely. Given that one of the aims of this series is to talk about fights that would be exciting, we don't think we could come up with a more sure fire war than this one! In one corner is Chinese "Monster" Can Xu, a 25 year old who burst on to the scene in 2019 and wowed with his his incredible work rate. He shocked the division by out pointing Jesus M Rojas in January for the WBA "regular" title before making two defenses, against Shun Kubo and Manny Robles III. Xu is a willing participant in a fire fight, and is capable of throwing in excess of 1500 punches in a 12 round fight. On paper his KO rate suggests he lacks power, but the reality is that he hits hard enough to get respect, and often enough to keep that respect. In many ways he hurts people by simply wearing them out, and mentally defeats them as much as physically. Few will have the gas tank to keep up with him, and few will deter him from unleashing his whirlwind of shots In the other corner is Englishman Josh Warrington, the IBF champion and a man who has a solid following in the UK. Warrington won his title in May 2018 and has defended it against Carl Frampton, Kid Galahad and Sofiane Takoucht. Like Xu we've seen Warrington try to give the people counting punch numbers a heart attack with incredible volume and has proven to be capable of throwing a silly number of punches himself. He's got more experience and has fought better fighters than Xu, so will be full of confidence, though for the first time he would be in with someone who would be able to match in terms of volume, and that would be really interesting to see how he'd respond, especially given that Xu is the naturally bigger man. If this was made it would be incredible fun to watch. It would be very much like a fight from some sort of movie, with two men letting go of shots incredibly freely. Compubox, or whichever system is employed to count the punches thrown, would likely see their operators want to find a new job afterwards. They would be two men unleashing a non-stop fury of punches at each other at close to mid range and would be a clear Fight of the Year contender. If we got this one we suspect that we'll have something we'll be talking about for years afterwards. At the moment it seems like Warrington is eyeing a fight with Shakur Stevenson, but if that falls though sign us up for this one! With so many fighters out there it can be easy to lose track of who's who and to know who is worth following, who is worth knowing about and who fans should pay a little bit more attention to ahead of their upcoming bouts. That means that every week in 2020 we will pick one fighter in a notable bout and give them the "Who are you?" Treatment, trying to look at that fighter in detail ahead of their next bout. This week we look at female hopeful Chaoz Minowa (6-2, 5) who looks to claim a "world" title at the third time of asking. Minowa was once touted as a major force in women's boxing by those in Japan, though has yet to come close to reaching the lofty goals she set herself. Despite that her career isn't over and on January 18th she has the chance to get herself back on track when she takes on Kenia Enriquez in Jalisco. But who is Chaoz Minowa? And why should you care? Born Ayako Minowa in Utsunomiya, Tochigi in 1987 Minowa was brought up in a gorgeous area of Japan best known for it's Gyoza, something she has associated herself with through her career. Prior to turning professional Minowa was a notable amateur fighter, fighting under her birth name of Ayako Minowa rather than the "Chaoz Minowa" name she adopted when she turned professional. She ran up an impressive 37-15 (19) record in the unpaid ranks competing not just nationally but also internationally, and with success. On the national stage she claimed several national titles whilst internationally she took home bronze medals at the 2012 and 2015 Asian Women's Championships and she also competed in 4 World Women's Championships. Given her extensive amateur background huge things were expected when Minowa signed with the Watanabe gym in 2016 and signalled her intention to turn professional. She was in her late 20's at the time, but the background she had was expected to allow her to be fast tracked and adopting the "Chaoz" name before her debut made it seem like that she wanted attention straight away. On debut, in September 2016, Minowa stopped Thai foe Khwunchit Khunya in 3 rounds as part of an all female card. Just weeks after her debut she travelled to Korea for her second bout, stopping the crude but dangerous Chan Mi Lim in 3 rounds in her international debut. The intention form Watanabe was clear, they were going to push her, and push her quick, with an OPBF title fight coming less than 3 months after her debut. In that OPBF title bout Minowa was taken the distance for the first time in her career, as she was unable to stop Filipino Carleans Rivas. Despite failing to get the stoppage Minowa took a clear win over the Filipino to claim the OPBF female Flyweight title, the first title of her career. After a really exciting start to her career Minowa then slowed down, fighting just once in 2017, against a limited Thai foe, and then picked up a low key win to begin 2018. That was where her problems began. She was having things too easy and when she stepped up, in March 2018 to take on Tenkai Tsunami for the WBO Light Flyweight title, she was was seemingly expecting another easy bout. Tsunami, a rugged veteran and a world class fighter in her own right, saw off the early storm of Minowa and gave her a genuine lesson, before Minowa was save at the end of round 8 by her team. She had looked exhausted, was being beaten up and had slowed drastically against Tsunami, who was getting stronger and stronger as the bout went on. The loss was a major set back to Minowa, who was talking about winning world titles all the way up to Lightweight at one point, but she got back on the horse quickly, and picked up a low key win in Thailand to help rebuild her confidence. Lessons were clearly learned from the loss, and rather than quitting the sport, she seemed to realise she couldn't just steam roll everyone. Those lessons were put into effect in her final bout of 2018, when she travelled to Mexico and faced Ibeth Zamora Silva for the WBC female Flyweight title. Against Zamora we were really impressed by the sharp boxing, the movement and ring IQ of Minowa, who started fantastically. Sadly though the incessant pressure of Zamora and the altitude in Puebla were too much for Minowa over 10 rounds and in the final stages her output had dropped as Zamora came on strong. It was a hotly competitive bout, but one where the local took the clear and fair decision. That bout with Zamora was back in November 2018. Since then Minowa has been out of the ring, but returns on January 18th to face off with the exceptionally talented Kenia Enriquez, in a mouth watering bout for the WBC "interim" female Light Flyweight title. The fight, the first "world" title fight for an Asian fighter this year, is must win for Minowa if she's to pick up a world title. Now aged 32 she cannot afford a third loss in 4 bouts, but she will be the under-dog and knows she will be up against it in Mexico. With the ability to box or brawl Minowa is a versatile fighter, with solid power. Her flaws however seem to be her stamina and her self belief. Self belief isn't a bad thing, but Minowa fought like she could rip through anyone at one point. She now seems a lot more realistic and this should serve her well going into the Enriquez bout. Whilst it seems unlikely that Minowa will ever achieve the heady heights she predicted for herself, she is certainly a female fighter worthy of your attention leading into a must win bout for her, and her career. As we head towards the new year we've had a big look at the current scene and come up with "20 fights we'd like to see in 2020", yeah another series ahead of the new decade! As is always the case with what we do, these articles will have an Asian flavour, and every bout we mention in the series will have at least 1 fighter from Asia involved. So for those of you expecting us to talk about Deontay Wilder Vs Anthony Joshua, that won't be listed. What we'll be looking at is well matched contests with either some form of back story, a great stylistic clash or bouts with some form of significant meaning. If they tick all the boxes then that is even better! Each fight will be given it's own article and each of these will come with an introduction to the fighters, and why the bout is being featured in the list. Fight #13 Donnie Nietes (42-1-5, 23) Vs Roman Gonzalez (48-2, 40) As we found out in late 2019 veterans who have both shown signs of being past their best can make for amazing bouts. Hee we look at another potential all veteran match that could provide some incredible action, with one of the best pressure fighters in recent years taking on one of the most well schooled and intelligent fighters in recent years. Better yet these bout would be a meeting of men who are both 4 weight world champions and both want a huge bout in 2020, before potentially retiring in the near future. Filipino veteran Donnie Nietes hasn't lost since a controversial defeat in Indonesian back in September 2004. Since then he has gone 31-0-4 (15) and won world titles at 105lbs, 108lbs, 112lbs and 115lbs. Not only has he been a huge success story for Filipino boxing but, unlike many world champions, he has taken his show on the road, picking up wins in Mexico, the US and Macau whilst looking for a career defining victory. He's had a host of solid wins, but is still looking for that one massive win. At the age of 37, soon to be 38, it very much feels like it will be this year or never, and retirement surely looms if he can't get in a big fight in 2020. Nicaraguan great Roman Gonzalez has also picked up titles from 105lbs all the way up to 115lbs, and his resume is one of the best in the sport. He is however still looking to rebuild following a long break from the ring, which ended last year with an easy comeback bout. Gonzalez is being eyed up by several of the current world champions but we'd actually prefer to see him fight one more bout before getting a shot at the top, and why not do so with someone who is not a huge puncher, but is well regarded in the sport, and has a career that has ran parallel to his own? We see this as a true "must win", and the loser really has nowhere to go, but given their ages a loss by either likes spells the end no matter who it's too. Nietes has publicly wanted this bout for years, and it would be amazing to see his technical skills up against the aggression and power of Gonalez. We'd favour Gonzalez, who is younger, stronger and more imposing, but it would be amazing to see the ring craft and IQ on show here! Really a big one for us if this can get made! (Image courtesy of Boxmob and Teiken) As we head towards the new year we've had a big look at the current scene and come up with "20 fights we'd like to see in 2020", yeah another series ahead of the new decade! As is always the case with what we do, these articles will have an Asian flavour, and every bout we mention in the series will have at least 1 fighter from Asia involved. So for those of you expecting us to talk about Deontay Wilder Vs Anthony Joshua, that won't be listed. What we'll be looking at is well matched contests with either some form of back story, a great stylistic clash or bouts with some form of significant meaning. If they tick all the boxes then that is even better! Each fight will be given it's own article and each of these will come with an introduction to the fighters, and why the bout is being featured in the list. Fight #12 Wilfredo Mendez (15-1, 5) Vs Hasanboy Dusmatov (1-0, 1) We love history and we love records, and when historical records can be broken, we get excited. Here we look at a potential bout that could see a long standing historical record be broken, if the bout can be made. And we truly believe that if the bout is indeed made, a record, which has stood for over 44 years, could be broken! Of course the bout isn't a given, but it's something that certainly needs to be thought about by at least one of the two teams in the potential match us. The 23 year old Wilfredo Mendez is a talented Puerto Rican boxer who claimed the WBO Minimumweight title last year with a win over Vic Saludar. That was the third of 4 wins for Saludar in 2019, when also defended the title 2 months later, with a narrow technical decision against Mexican teenager Axel Aragon Vega. Although talented Mendez is light hitting, posses little real threat to an opponent and relies on his speed and movement, rather than anything physical. He's talented but we can't help thinking that the title will be a target for all emerging fighters at 105lbs who will be licking their lips and seeing him as the low hanging fruit in the division. In steps 2016 Olympic gold medal winner Hasanboy Dusmatov, who made his professional debut in November 2019, when he almost gutted Jesus Cervantes Villanueva. Dusmatov, from Uzbekistan is a special talent, a sharp shooting southpaw who was a sensational amateur, and is now looking at being fast tracked as a professional. There were rumours in the Uzbek press of him wanting a world title fight on debut, though that never came to fruition. Now the talk is that he wants to fight WBA champion Knockout CP Freshmart in his third or fourth professional bout. There is nothing bad with that idea, though the reality is that he could, potentially, pick up the WBO title in his second, then even unify with Knockout later in the year. If Dusmatov can get Mendez in the ring we have no concerns at all about the Uzbek being too good for the Puerto Rican, and doing that in just his second fight would be a huge statement of intent. It would set a male record for fewest fights to a world title, and could well set the record for least time from debut to a world title as well. It would also see him being among the first of this new Uzbek wave of fighters to reach the top. Technically the fight wouldn't be the best. We're next sure if Mendez will ever be in a fun to watch bout. But it would be an historic one, and for that we suggest they get this one made and give us all a slice of boxing history. Dusmatov's team should do all they can to secure this, and to get their man in to the history books in a way that few have ever attempted! If successful Dusmatov would break the 1975 record of Saensak Muangsurin, who won his first world title in fight #3, a record that Vasyl Lomachenko matched 2014! So we're into a new year and we've already had some good, some bad and some ugly! Yes the year waits for no man! The Good 1-Da Won Gang - Korean teen to get excited about Korean teenager Da Won Gang went pretty under the radar in 2019, despite winning the Battle Royal at 140lbs. It seems hard to imagine him still being under the radar at the end of 2020 though, and in fact it seems very likely that he will end up winning the KBM titles before the end of the year. A really exciting one to watch. 2-Ginjiro Shigeoka - The Rising Shines Again On the final of 2019 Ginjiro Shigeoka took a huge step up to face Rey Loreto, and stopped the Filipino veteran in 5 rounds. Whilst the stoppage, by the referee, wasn't amazing there was little to take negatively from Shigeoka, who looked sharp, tough, exciting and heavy handed. There is obviously still work to do, but the youngster already looks like a nailed on future world champion, and given his lazy of physical stature it's likely he'll be at 105lbs for a long time. 3-Jhunriel Ramonal - New Japanese Killer on the Prowl The Philippines may well have the spiritual success to Jess Maca at last, Jhunriel Ramonal completed a 2019 that saw him earn the Japanese Killer tag. Maca, for those unaware, was a thorn in the side of Japanese boxers in the late 90's and early 00's and after the year Ramonal had he's now set to take that same tag. In 2019 Ramonal travelled to Japan and upset Shingo Wake before returning and scoring another upset over Yusaku Kuga. The reality is that Ramonal is beatable, but no one can take liberties with him, and he'll almost certainly be back in the Land of the Rising Sun in 2020, with Japanese fighters looking for revenge and Ramonal looking to build on his current moment. The Bad 1-Korean Promoters streams on a phone? The first Asian show of 2020 was streamed on Youtube on January 5th, and it appears that it was streams on a phone left on top of a corner. Whilst a stream, even one this bad, is better than nothing, it's still a shame that they couldn't have a better quality stream. The card it's self was exciting enough, but the blurry image didn't do it any favours. It was also strange that it seemed the fights were fought in a ring set up in a corner in a gym. Very weird set up overall. 2-No set TV date for Shigeoka Vs Loreto..if it will ever be televised Japanese boxing on TV is awkward at times. The G+ shows, which air the full card live, and the Boxing Raise cards, which are either live or on demand, are great. Sadly though shows on Fuji TV and TBS are less great as a viewer. For the most part the channels only air world title bouts live, and then put other broadcasts together with tape delay footage. In theory they should, at some point, show Ginjiro Shigeoka's win over Rey Loreto on tape delay but as of the time of writing there is no set date for that. The leads to another bad. Both TBS and Fuji have alternate channels, available through satellite, which tend to show rather random stuff at the best of times. Why the channels don't put undercards on those is a genuine mystery. Come on Japanese TV channels, sort it out! Give us the undercards dammit! The Ugly Thankfully we've not really had any ugly so far this year. Though we haven't really had much of anything so far. Action does pick up in the middle of the month, so expect some questionable decisions, poor stoppages and bizarre boxing politics to kick in in a week or two, but for now nothing is ugly as such! In saying that however it does leave a bad taste seeing the January 30th show in Florida being sold primarily on the back of Jake Paul Vs Ali Eson Gib...this appears to be the way of modern day boxing folks! |
Oriental Opinions
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