Last October in the first round of the Knock Out Dynamite tournament one man had us incredibly intrigued prior to the show, and left us thinking "wow this guys good....and there's more to come...a lot more". That was Mongolian youngster Tuguldur Byambatsogt (1-0), who made his debut with an excellent decision win over Shusaku Fujinaka, in a bout that saw him come in just above 140lbs.
Aged just 20 at the time the Mongolian youngster looked a sensational talent, but there was little really on record about Byambatsogt before he beat Fujinaka. We could find some amateur details at the time, but not a lot, and although we were told a lot of positives in advance we were still not sure what to expect. And then we saw him easily out box Fujinaka and then slowly details emerged about just how good Byambatsogt was as an amateur, and what a bright prospect he really was. Born the harsh realities of Mongolia in 1999 Byambatsogt had become an amateur prodigy before making his debut last year. Reports suggest that he had 106 amateur bouts and won 85 of them. We couldn't find proof of all 106 bouts, but what we could verify was very impressive and included appearances at international competitions. They included the Asian Junior Championships in 2015, the Asian Youth Championships in 2017, the Feliks Stamm Memorial in 2018 and the 2018 Konstantin Korotkov Memorial. We also found a tournament win at the 2017 Mongolian Youth National Championships. That amateur pedigree was on show when Byambatsogt beat Fujinaka in one of the most impressive debuts in recent years. The novice Byambatsogt completely out boxed the much more experienced Fujinaka, and unlike many Mongolian fighters his style was almost entirely based on back foot boxing, movement, and the text book basics. There was none of the typical all-out Mongolian aggression, or in your face toughness, but instead just boxing, simple, effective, well schooled boxing. It wasn't ideal for the tournament format, which offered bonuses for KO's, but it was a perfect display of what the youngster could do and why we, as fans, should be interested in following him. On January 12th we'll see Byambatsogt back in the ring in a professional contest, as he takes on the hard hitting Vladimir Baez in the final of their Knock Out Dynamite Tournament bout. A win there would almost certainly see regional promoters sniffing around him. It is however a very, very tough bout for the youngster, and is no gimme. A win would be a real statement, though it's a clear step up from the Fujinaka bout just a few short months ago.
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As we cross into a new year we've not really had much to talk about, despite that we did have results from New Year's Eve, and an obscure Korean show taking place in the last 7 days, and that's enough for us to be happy with!
Fighter of the Week Kazuto Ioka (25-2, 14) The fight of the week was an easy call, with Kazuto Ioka taking the award on the back of his hard fought win over Jeyvier Cintron on New Year's Eve. Whilst Ioka was always expected to win it was great to see him being tested, and being pushed. Cintron wasn't there to make up the numbers, and instead the Puerto Rican was in the ring to win, using his size and skills to ask a lot of questions of the Japanese star. Also real credit goes to Cintron for fighting to the end of the bout, something we didn't expect when Ioka's body shots started to land with alarming consistency. Performance of the Week Kosei Tanaka (15-0, 9) With a nigh on punch perfect performance Kosei Tanaka retained his WBO Flyweight title and looked fantastic. From the opening moments it was clear that Tanaka was happy to use his tools to make life easy and dominate a challenger who was too slow, too clumsy and too open for him. This was exactly what Tanaka needed after a struggle last time out, against Jonathan Gonzalez. Fight Kazuto Ioka Vs Jeyvier Cintron This was a long, long way, from Fight of the Year conversation, however it was a truly compelling 12 round championship level match that swung nicely back and forth. The early rounds were high level chess, with Cintron taking the early lead, before Ioka found his range and hammered the body of the Puerto Rican. Ioka seemed on the verge of a stoppage at one point, before Cintron bit down on his mouth piece and finished strongly. Not a fight of the year, but still a very high quality fight. Round Jae Hyun Jo Vs Chul Hyun Lim (Round 6) We really didn't have many stand out rounds if we're being honest though we did enjoy the final round of the relatively obscure bout between Jae Hyun Jo and Chul Hyun Lim on Sunday morning. It may have been our craving for boxing speaking but it felt like both men put their foot on the gas for the final 3 minutes and delivered something rather fun. Nothing special, but fun all the same. KO Kosei Tanaka KO3 Wulan Tuolehazi This was an easy pick with Tanaka's triple uppercut KO win over Wulan. This was spiteful, this was nasty and this was Tanaka using his speed to and boxing IQ to find a hole in Wulan's defense, breach it then again and again. A gorgeous KO, and one that will send Tanaka into the new with another highlight KO on his resume. After a relatively tough year this was the perfect way to finish it from the "KO Dream Boy". Prospect Ginjiro Shigeoka (5-0, 4) It's hard to give even consider giving Prospect of the week to anyone other than Ginjiro Shigeoka, following his win over former world title challenger Rey Loreto. We all expected Shigeoka to win, but few would have anticipated him dropping Loreto in the opening round, then battling with Loreto, a feared puncher, before scoring a second knockdown. Shigeoka was rather honest post fight, explaining that he had injured his hand and ear drum and questioned whether he could have gone 12 rounds, but in the end that didn't really matter. He battled through some adversity and stopped a legitimate contender. Upcoming fight Jaron Ennis (24-0, 22) vs Bakhtiyar Eyubov (14-1-1-1, 12) Sadly our pick for this week has been picked almost by default. Whilst Jaron Ennis, a fantastic US prospect, is a fantastic prospect this isn't a bout we'd typically get too excited about. Sadly there is very, very little else on in terms of fights involving Asian's this week. Eyubov, from Kazakhstan, has looked very limited when he's stepped up and we wouldn't be surprised to see him getting blasted out here. Generally December is a very Japan centric month in Asian boxing, with the end of shows and Rookie of the Year. This year things seemed even more Japan centric than usual with a host of cards through the month. As a result December's awards were pretty much all in Japan, though that doesn't take away from what was a very interesting month.
Fighter of the Month Kazuto Ioka In December we had a host of world title fights, some were competitive, some weren't but for us the guy who shone the brightest was Kazuto Ioka. Ioka was in tough with a 2-time Olympian, who was tall, longer and faster. After taking a couple of rounds to figure his man out however Ioka began to adjust and slowly broke down Jeyvier Cintron in what was an excellent over all performance in a fantastic bout. Cintron, we suspect, will win a world title in the future and this is a win that will end up looking very good in a few year's time. Fight of the Month Yuki Beppu Vs Ryota Yada Few fights can truly be described as dramatic, but with 6 knockdowns, bombs being traded through out, and a huge come from behind win it's hard to suggest that anything other than the WBO Asia Pacific Welterweight title bout between Yuki Beppu and Ryota Yada was going to win this. There were other great bouts, the rookie of the year bout between Kodai Honda vs Yasutaka Fujita being among them, but nothing was every going to compete with Beppu Vs Yada. A genuine must watch war. KO of the Month Mammoth Kazunori TKO5 Lerdchai Chaiyawed It seemed that December wanted to try and provide us with the best of everything, and the brutal KO scored by Mammoth Kazunori, against Lerdchai Chaiyawed, tried to steal the KO of the Year with just over 2 weeks of the year left. This was originally doing the rounds from a fan cam, but when the bout was upload to Boxing Raise a few days after it took place the KO looked even better. A single solid left hand turned Lerdchai 's lights out...and then he hit the canvas. This was as clean a shot as Kazunori will likely ever land, and the way Lerdchai hit the canvas was just nasty. Prospect Yudai Shigeoka (2-0, 1) With a win against an OPBF champion in just his second professional bout, it was hard to give this award to anyone else. Shigeoka might not be as brutal as his younger brother, Ginjiro Shigeoka, but out pointing Lito Dante this early in his career was fantastic and a real statement of intent for someone wanting to be fast-tracked. Amazingly Yudai's brother stopped Rey Loreto and Bektemir Melikuziev out pointed Vaughn Alexander, in just his 4th bout, during the month. This was an excellent month for prospects. Upset Renz Rosia UD8 Aston Palicte The "Filipino fighters are involved in upsets" trend continued through December. Jhack Tepora being stopped by Oscar Escandon, Jhunriel Ramonal stopping Yusaku Kuga and Renz Rosia beating Aston Palicte were the short list for the month. For us Rosia's win gets the award due to the fact he completely out boxed, out fought and out though Palicte. This wasn't a wild shot, or beating someone before they warmed up. This was beating them round, after round, after round. This was Rosia exposing Palicte's flaws, and given where Palicte was at the start of this year was a genuine surprise. What made this really stand out is that Rosia was 1-4-1 in his previous 6 bouts! A genuine shocker. Round Toshiya Ishii vs Haruki Ishikawa (Round 2) We had some amazing rounds this past month, and round 4 of Akira Yaegashi Vs Moruti Mthalane will certainly be a hard one to forget. For sheer drama and too and fro action however the pick from the month was round 2 from Toshiya Ishii's incredible battle with Haruki Ishikawa. Ishii was dropped in the opening seconds, regrouped, the two men staggered each and both were hurt several times before the round concluded. This was sheer, unadulterated awesomeness. A real round of the ages, and came in a Japanese Youth title bout, proving that even this low level of title is worth putting it all on the line for. 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 #11 Shohjahon Ergashev (17-0, 15) vs Zhankosh Turarov (24-0, 17) All Central Asian bouts don't seem to be a common thing, sadly, but on paper they could make for some really interesting fights, as they often do in the amateurs. In the unpaid ranks Uzbekistan Vs Kazakhstan is a regular sight, often in medal bouts, and the winners often walk away with not only a medal but also a huge glowing boost of national pride. We'd love to see a lot more of those types of bouts in the professional ranks, and today's fight is one such example! Heavy handed Uzbek southpaw Shohjahon Ergashev is certainly not a fighter many would rave out in terms of skills, but in terms of aggression, power and excitement he is brilliant value. We've seen him struggle against boxers, but anyone who stays and has a fight with him can quickly find themselves in trouble. In 2020 we want to see him tested, and we want to see him in interesting bouts. We know that Salita promotions has some interesting plans for him, but we dare saw we have the perfect bout for him here against another unbeaten Central Asian fighter with ambitions of their own. Unbeaten Kazakh Zhankosh Turarov was once on the verge of a world title fight before his career got derailed by recurring injuries. He returned to action in 2019 and took two rather meaningless wins to get some moment going in his career, whilst beginning a run at Lught Welterweight. At 29 years old, and with his history of injuries, he really can't continue wasting time. Intead he needs a bout that can help shoot him towards a world title bout, and a win over Ergashev would do that. In fact we believe a bout against Ergashev would get the best out of Turarov, and vice verse with Ergashev needing to up performance to have a chance with the talented Kazakh. In terms of selling this bout in the West, it wouldn't be impossible, but it may be easier to actually sell it in Asia it's self, with MTK, who handle Turarov, running shows in Kazakhstan. If they can get one of the world title bodies to accept the fight as a world title eliminator it would give both teams a reason to say yes, it would give the fighters a fight with meaning and a hot crowd. The action may not be the tidiest, with Ergashev fights often being messy if he can't blast his opponents out in a round or two, but the between the moments of messiness we would expect a hotly contested fight that could end at any moment. This would be a gut check for both, it was be a test for both and it would be exactly what both men need ahead of a bigger fight for a world title. So the new year is here! And although we've not got a lot happening in January, we do have more than we expected, with title bouts, eliminators, tournament finals and a little of everything! January 5th- Pyeongtaek, South Korea Yoo Seung Jun (6-1) vs Seung Hee Lee (4-6, 1) One of two KBM eliminators at 154lbs will see the once beaten Yoo Seung Jun take on Seung Hee Lee. Our understanding is that the winner here will fight for the vacant title later in the year against the winner of the other eliminator. Sung Min Yuh (3-0) Vs Se Yul Yang (3-4-2, 1) Talking about that other eliminator, that will see Sung Min Yuh take in Se Yul Yang. Notable if Yuh and Jun win their bouts it would be a rematch of the "Battle Royale" final from last November, and would have an interesting sub-plot of revenge or repeat, as well as being for the KBM title. Da Won Gang (3-0, 1) Vs Jin Soo Kim (6-7-1, 3) Another KBM eliminator will be at 140lbs where the touted Da Won Gang takes on Jin Soo Kim. The talented Gang is regarded by those in Korea as one of the countries best talents in recent years, and like Sung Min Yuh he won the "Battle Royale" last year. A win here sets him for a big 2020. January 10th- New Jersey, USA Jaron Ennis (24-0, 22) vs Bakhtiyar Eyubov (14-1-1-1, 12) The limited but heavy handed Bakhtiyar Eyubov, from Kazakhstan, is up against it here as he takes on touted American Jaron "Boots" Ennis in what looks likely to be a show case for the talented local hopeful. January 12th- Tokyo, Japan Vladimir Baez (26-5-2, 24) vs Tuguldur Byambatsogt (1-0) In a Knock Out Dynamite Final we'll see Japanese based Dominican slugger Vladimir Baez battle against Mongolian professional novice Tuguldur Byambatsogt. On paper a mismatch, but in reality this could be a big break out for Byambatsogt, who impressed us in his semi-final bout. Ribo Takahata (16-8-1, 6) vs Marvin Esquierdo (15-2-1, 9) Another final at the Knock Out Dynamite Tournament will see Japanese veteran Ribo Takahata take on Filipino foe Marvin Esquierdo. Notably Esquierdo fought in the first ever Knock Out Dynamite Tournament bout, and netted the highest bonus with an opening round win, will he look for the same here? January 17th- Iowa, USA Shohjahon Ergashev (17-0, 15) vs Adrian Estrella (29-4, 24) Touted Uzbek puncher Shohjahon Ergashev looks to kick in the new year as he takes on once touted Mexican Adrian Estrella. Neither of these are the most polished of fighters, but both are heavy handed and we expect this one to be short, but very explosive! January 18th- Tokyo, Japan Shinobu Charlie Hosokawa (12-4-1, 11) vs Kazuto Takesako (11-0-1, 11) OPBF Middleweight champion Shinobu Charlie Hosokawa defends his belt against hard hitting Japanese national champion Kazuto Takesako. This is not expected to hear the final bell, with both men being heavy handed fighters, and will be one of the highlights of the month! Takeshi Inoue (15-1-1, 9) vs Cheng Su (14-2-1, 8) Former world title challenger Takeshi Inoue will be looking to defend his WBO Asia Pacific Light Middleweight title against Chinese challenger Cheng Su. Inoue, who is enjoying his second reign as the WBO Asia Pacific champion, will be looking to get a second world title shot in the near future, but needs to get past Su to keep that dream alive. Jalisco, Mexico Kenia Enriquez (22-1, 9) vs Chaoz Minowa (6-2, 5) Talking about world title fights WBC "interim" female Light Flyweight champion Kenia Enriquez will be defending her title at home in Mexico against Japanese challenger Chaoz Minowa. For Minowa this is a third crack at world level, and a loss here will likely end her hopes of ever becoming a world champion. Over the last few weeks we've seen a lot of discussion from numerous fans talking about how they aren't interested in the lower weights due to the lack of depth in the divisions. It make a change from the "they are smaller than my 9 year old niece" argument, but it's not particularly any better than that argument. Many even throw out number of active fighters from boxrec to back up their arguments. "There's only 451 Light Flyweights" and "there's only 250 Minimumweights" as if the total number of fighters in a division represents it's quality of fighters. True it represents the overall talent pool, but is a division is small, but more finely matched, surely that's better than a bloated talented pool, of unevenly matched fighters.
The Minimumweight, at least in 2019, did under-whelm. Massively. The two most recognisable champions in the division, Wanehng Menayothin and Knockout CP Freshmart, fought am combined 3 times. This wasn't a banner year for those two, but that didn't mean the division lacked overall. It was a year that saw a trio of fantastic hopefuls make their mark, with Ginjiro and Yudai Shigeoka along with Hasanboy Dusmatov, make their intentions clear. The division also gave us some sensational fights, with Kai Ishizawa's war against Masataka Taniguchi and Samuel Salva Vs Pedro Taduran being among them, it gave us the feel good story of Norihito Tanaka finally winning a title at the age of 33 and we got a huge upset with Lito Dante shocking Tsubasa Koura. Sure great fights, upsets, an emerging trio of prospects doesn't mean the division is deep, it means it's interesting. The depth comes in numbers of good fighters. With Wanhengm, Knockout CP Freshmart, Pedro Taduran, Wilfredo Mendez, Byron Rojas, Melvin Jerusalem, Jose Argumedo, the Shigeoka brothers and Vic Saludar the division has a healthy mix of prospects, contenders and champions. The Light Flyweight division is another accused of having a lack of depth but yet it has Kenshiro Teraji, Hiroto Kyoguchi, Elwin Soto, Carlos Canizales, Felix Alvarado all holding some form of a world title. A chasing group of contenders that combine veterans like Milan Meldino and Tetsuya Hisada, along with untested veterans like Daniel Matellon and other more tested guys like Sho Kimura and Edward Heno. Unlike many divisions we're not seeing the Light Flyweight division really recycling fighters either. Soto became a champion in his first world title bout and in 2019 we also saw Hisada, Heno and Satanmuanglek CP Freshmart get their first world title bouts. There is good fresh talent in the division and we've been getting great fights from that talent. Elwin Soto Vs Angel Acosta was a low key instant classic, just like Hiroto Kyoguchi Vs Tetsuya Hisada. The only real disappointment in the division was the illness that forced Felix Alvarado out of a unification bout with Kenshhiro Teraji. Now lets take a look at some bigger divisions. Lets take a look at the Welterweight division, a division with over 2000 fighters in it, apparently. Thee top guys there are tremendous, Terence Crawford, Errol Spence, Manny Pacquiao, Shawn Porter. Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman and Yodenis Ugas are a great pack of fighters. It is, almost certainly the best division in the sport right now. The division gave us great fights, Errol Spence Vs Shawn Porter being the pick of the bunch from the division in 2019. Sad thing however is that the Welterweight division is an anomaly. It's a division that really has almost everything going for it, just a shame that Terence Crawford has failed to secure a bout against another top fighter in the division. Welterweight aside no other division is particularly stacked, and delivering. The Super Middleweight division has obvious match ups to make, with Callum Smith vs Billy Joe Saunders being the most obvious, but the bout isn't being done. Instead we have Smith, Saunders, David Benevidez and Caleb Plant taking on a mix of mandatories and weak voluntary defenses. In a supposed "deep division", with over 1300 fighters, Smith Smith fought chinny former Middleweight Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam, Saunders won his title with a win over the unknown Shefat Isufi, and then defended it against the equally as obscure Marcelo Esteban Coceres and Caleb Plant stayed busy by stopping the woefully over-matched Mike Lee. The number of fighters in the Super Middleweight division is significantly more than either the Minimumweight division or Light Flyweight division, yet it failed to produce a fraction of the excitement of the lower two weight classes. Another similar example is at Middleweight, where Saul Canelo sometimes fights, along with Gennady Golovkin, Chris Eubank Jr, Ryota Murata, Demetrius Andrade, Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Jermall Charlo. A great list of names, but from those 7 we only saw one bout pitting any 2 of them together in 2019, with Gennady Golovkin and Sergiy Derevyanchenko delivering a legitimate fight of the year contender. Instead of the best Middleweights facing off we had things like Gennady Golovkin Vs Steve Rolls, Demetrius Andrade Vs Artur Akavov, and Adrade Vs Luke Keeler to kick off 2020 doesn't bode well for the year ahead. The division is actually damaged by the sheet number of options a fighter had here, with so many less fighters than someone can face. And this brings us to the key point. Having a lot of fighters in a division doesn't make it stronger, or weaker, by default. A division's "depth" isn't based on some raw numbers. It's based on more than that, much more. The key to a division's depth is how well matched fighters are on paper, and in the ring. The best divisions match up well on paper, and then deliver in the ring, when the best actually fight each other. If a division had 40 sensational fighters, but they never faced off, then what would be the point? In the lower weights the depth is usually magnified somewhat by the fact the top fighters need to face top competition to get attention. This isn't the case in some divisions, where a guy like Dominic Breazeale recent got a world title fight on the back of 3 relatively fan friendly but low level wins. More important than depth to a division however is the knowledge of the fighters in the division. For years the Cruiserweight division was one of the most interesting divisions in the sport. It was delivering FOTY contenders on a regular basis, as two big lumps, often from Europe, smashed the ever loving snot out of each other. Sadly for a number of American fans those fighters were downplayed as nobodies. The ignorance of some fans towards the fighters saw them over-look a stacked division. It was a massive oversight and a serious mistake by certain fans who missed out on things like the Marco Huck Vs Ola Afolabi wars, Steve Cunningham's insane first bout with Tomasz Adamek, which took place in the US and was still over-looked by American fans. If you think a division is lacking in depth sometimes you need to realise it isn't based on who YOU recognise, it's about the talent there. Sometimes it's worth learning a little bit about the fighters there, and enjoying the fights. Rather than downplaying a division due to their size, or the number of fighters competing at a weight class. 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 #10 Wanheng Menayothin (54-0, 18) Vs Ginjiro Shigeoka (5-0, 4) The Minimumweight division seemed to be on standstill for much of 2019 with the two longest reigning champions really....not doing much. The WBO title was fought for a few times but hardly set the world on fire and IBF title was vacated before Pedro Taduran claimed it in the summer, then sat on it and didn't do anything with it. We expect changes in 2020 and there are 3 very notable novices sniffing big chances in the new year. Here we look at one of those novices, and a bout against the longest reigning male world champion currently in the sport! Wanheng Menayothin, the man who broke Floyd Mayweather's 50-0 record, may not be well known in the west but the Thai is a solid fighter. His 54-0 record might not be the strongest record out there, but he's managed to run up 12 defenses and is actually a very good fighter, even if his performances are inconsistent at times. During his reign he has beaten a mix of world class challengers, like Tatsuya Fukuhara, Simpiwe Konkco and Pedro Taduran, as well as lesser challengers, like Go Odaira and Jerry Tomogdan. A lack of unification bouts has hurt his career, but at 34 it's now likely too late for him to land the divisional super fights, and it may be best for his career to repeal the next generation of fighters. Score wins that will age well, if you will. In Ginjiro Shigeoka Japanese boxing has a fast tracked sensation. The 20 year old boxer-puncher has been a sensation since turning professional in 2018 and has made it clear that he wants to fight for a world title as soon as possible. At the end of 2019 he became only the second man to stop Rey Loreto and a that win, although tough, would likely have helped solidify his belief that he's ready for a world title fight. Stylistically the champion that makes the most sense for him to fight would maybe not be Wanheng, but if he wishes to make the biggest splash, which he appears to want to do, then there probably isn't a better option for him than the unbeaten Thai. The match up would pit a defensively sound, sharp combination punching Thai veteran, who turns 35 in October, against a young sharp prodigy who is lightning quick, bullish strong and full of confidence. It would, on paper, be either a passing of the torch fight for the Minimumweight division or an old lion repelling the challenge of a young cub, too eager to make his mark. Either way the bout would have real intrigue. Whilst this bout likely wouldn't occur early in the year, there's no reason this couldn't be set up for later in 2020, potentially after both men have fit in a bout earlier in the year, moving to 55-0 and 5-0. Both men seem to want an international bout, so maybe even popping this on the lower end of a DAZN card Stateside wouldn't be impossible either, given that Wanheng has signed with Golden Boy Promotions. In 2019 one of our favourite weekly series was the "introducing" feature, which saw us look at a fighter every week. These tended to be focused on prospects, though the original idea wasn't supposed to be prospects, just a fighter of some interesting. This year we are focusing the "introducing" series on prospects, but to go alongside them are doing a new weekly series looking at fighters who are between prospects and world champions. "Who are you?" This is a chance to shine a limelight on a fight fighters who don't get much attention, but deserve some. This is where we look at fighters like contenders, national champions or regional champions, who deserve a chance to be more well known by an international fan base. Our first fighter to be featured in this new series is Uzbek Light Welterweight Shohjahon Ergashev (17-0, 15), an exciting, yet very flawed, fighter who promises fire works every time he steps in the ring. The 28 year old is unlikely to ever become a dominant force as a top level fighter, but we'd be surprised if he didn't fight for a world title down the line, and potentially win a belt. Ergashev, like many notable Uzbek fighters, first made his name in the amateur ranks. He notched a reported 202-14 record in the unpaid ranks, and whilst those numbers are questionable what can't be denied is the fact that he fought a lot in the unpaid ranks, with numerous appearances at the Sidney Jackson Memorial tournament, named after the American trainer who essentially founded organised sport in Uzbekistan. It was at one of the Sidney Jackson Memorial tournaments that Ergashev scored a very notable win over fellow Uzbek Shakhram Giyasov, who would later win an Olympic gold medal in 2016. In December 2015 Ergashev made his debut, doing so on a relatively small club show in Russia. It was there that he took out Arzu Aliev inside a round. Ergashev would then build momentum with 8 more blow out wins in Russia before making a low key US debut in 2017. That US debut saw him stopping Marquis Hawthorne in 2 rounds to move to 10-0 before finally landing a bout that helped him announce himself to a wider audience. In January 2018 the then 10-0 (10) Ergashev took on a then 18-0 (12) Sonny Fredrickson. The bout was supposed to be a win for Fredrickson but instead it turned into a showcase for Ergashev, who out boxed, out fought, out though and and outshone Fredrickson, who was stopped in round 3. It was an almost perfect performance for the Uzbek who caught the eye of everyone tuning in to the show. Sadly Ergashev failed to really shine in his next bout, and his stoppage run came to an end with a 10 round decision win over Zhimin Wang. Whilst the bout answered some questions about Ergashev, such as whether or not he could do 10 rounds, and what happened when he couldn't blow opponents out, sadly though it took the glass off the excitement we had seen in his win over Fredrickson. Thankfully Ergashev would get back to destroying over-matched opponents soon afterwards, beating Juma Waswa, Zack Ramsey and Nazareno Gaston Ruiz all before the year was over, with Ruiz lasting just 18 seconds. Following 3 quick wins Ergashev then took another step up, taking on the 19-0 Mykal Fox. On paper this looked like a great match up, but unfortunately it ended up being an absolute stinker of a fight between two men who's styles didn't gel at all. Fox tried to keep Ergashev at range, using his size, and Ergahsev looked completely limited in tried to cut the distance and fire off his powerful left hands. As a result this ended up a total mess of a fight. Despite the ugly nature of the bout Ergsahev did enough to take the decision, but lost a lot of the momentum and fanfare that he had had going in. Thankfully the Fox bout was an easy one to forget and 6 months later Ergashev had got back to stopping fighters, taking out Abdiel Ramirez in 4 rounds, in August 2019. Now lined up to fight Adrian Estrella on January 17th a win there is likely to move Ergashev towards a world title fight later in the year. In the ring Ergashev is a heavy handed southpaw slugger. He's aggressive, he's exciting, he's very handed handed. But he's also very predictable, very straight forward, and if a fight can either neutralise, or take, his over hand left he looks like he's got nothing else in his arsenal. He's very much a one-trick pony. Thankfully for him, that 1 trick is a solid one, but he needs to add a lot more if he's to reach the top of the sport. Adding a jab, learning to double it, and varying the way he uses his left would be a great start. Win or lose Ergashev is going to be fun to watch, but there is no denying that he is very, very flawed. To answer who he is, Ergashev is a crude but heavy handed Uzbek southpaw contender. |
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