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With no fights currently taking place, and we don't need to explain why, we've decided to begin a new series looking at fights that could have been. These are match ups that may, or may not, have been mooted but are fights that could have happened. Not only do we intend to look at who the men involved were, but when the bout could have been made, why we would have liked it, how we feel the bout played out and how history played out instead.
Chris John Vs Hozumi Hasegawa We began this series with an all out war, and this week we go in a very different direction for what could have been a genuine show case of incredible boxing skills, speed, ring IQ and pure ring craft. It's a match up between two men who knew how to box, were surprisingly aggressive and would have made the bout look like high speed chess of the highest order. For a purest this would have been something special, and it would have been exciting enough to have made even the most blood thirsty enjoy it. This would be a Featherweight showdown for the ages between Indonesian great Chris John and Japanese Ace Hozumi Hasegawa. When? The window for this bout isn't mega huge, like it would be for some bouts, but there was a clear overlap in 2010 and 2011 when the two could have clashed in a unification bout. At the time John was enjoying a lengthy reign as the WBA "super" champion whilst Hasegawa was the WBC champion. Alternatively the bout could have taken place a little bit later with just the WBA "super" title of John's on the line. Ideally however this would have taken place in April 2011, when Hasegawa instead took on Jhonny Gonzalez, and was stopped. Had we seen this instead we would have had a unified WBA/WBC champion, as well as a special, special bout. Who? Chris John is the greatest boxer in Indonesian boxing history. He was a very long reigning WBA champion at Featherweight, and had his title upgraded from interim, to regular to super. His reign is much maligned for not facing the biggest names the division had, but unlike anyone else at the time he was proving a willing road warrior and was taking some solid scalps along the way. During his long reign he fought in Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, Japan and the US. Whilst he lacked massive amounts of power John made boxing look natural and easy. He moved around the ring with excellent balance, had an excellent boxing brain, could adapt and had solid hand speed. He lacked in the physical aspects of the sport, but more than made up for it in the technical areas. Hozumi Hasegawa was similar in some ways to John. He wasn't a power puncher, but he was quick, razor sharp puncher, with an excellent boxing brain, a willingness to brawl when he needed to and was a southpaw to boot. His weakness was his chin, but even that was rarely exposed and was often covered by his excellent will to win and tenacity. Although not a big puncher he did hurt fighters when he landed clean, and was a great example of the old adage "speed kills". This was seen against the tough Vusi Malinga and his KO of Veeraphol Sahaprom was something special. Featherweight wasn't his best weight, that was Bantamweight, and his time at 126lbs was was relatively short, but an excellent win over Juan Carlos Burgos showed he could have success there. How would we see it playing out? Where both men lacked was their physicality. Neither was easy to push around, but neither made a knack of physically bullying opponents either. Instead both boxed. They boxed in different styles, but they were both boxers at heart, and not fighters. They both liked creating some space to work with, countering mistakes and taking advantages of when an opponent slipped up. But both could force the action when they needed to and, when they landed clean, they could do damage. Physicially the bigger guy would be John, the natural Featherweight, and he would almost certainly boss the few clinches we'd see. John also has a slightly longer reach, though both guys are pretty much the same height. Hasegawa would however perhaps edge the speed, both hand and feet, and his southpaw stance could prove a problem for John. Early on we'd expect to see a very technical chess match. John probably the more aggressive in the first round or two, but not by much as both looked to draw a mistake from the other, with patience being the key. From there on though the bout would pick up, and we'd start to see a slow build, yet always compelling, technical war. We don't expect many exchanges, but what we'd get would be sensational. Sadly for Hasegawa we do see him coming up short, as natural size plays a part over 12 rounds. It'd be close, hotly competitive, and intriguing through out with both men showing amazing foot work and ring craft, with John just sneaking the decision. Would history of been changed? Looking at the time frame we'd want the bout, against early 2011, Hasegawa wouldn't have faced Gonzalez, if he lost here, and the WBC linage from him would have been starkly different. It would potentially have done away with the reigns of Daniel Ponce De Leon, Abner Mares and even Gary Russell's long reign, which has ran since 2015. We would still expect to see Hasegawa move down in weight, and eventually become a 3-weight champion. As for John history would look kinder on him, and the Indonesian super fight with Daud Yordan would have been pushed back to later in 2011. There's a chance his reign would have ended earlier than it did, as this bout may have put some miles on his clock, but in reality if he squeezed this in then continued with what he did his loss to Vetyeka, which we would envision now being in 2014, would have come when he was 49-0-3. Of course it's hard to know for a fact how things would have played out, both in the ring and in terms of politics, but we suspect the Featherweight division would look a bit different had we seen the "Dragon" and the "Ace" clash in 2011.
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Historically South Korea has been one of the strongest countries in boxing, with the peninsula having provided a number of all time greats in the 1970's, 80's and 90's. Sadly though the golden age of Korean boxing is long gone and the country is now without any kind of boxing star. Saying that however we shouldn't ignore the fact that KBM are managing to unearth some real talent from the country, and over the coming we're hoping that talent can be developed, and can shine.
Among the most impressive of the young Korean fighters that are coming through the ranks is the highly skilled, though somewhat frustrating to watch, Sung Min Yuh (4-0). The Korean 19 year old is one of the most naturally gifted fighter in Korea, and looks like he could be one for the future, if he can tweak his mentality. Yuh's ability had been spotted at a young age. Whilst his full amateur record is unclear reports in Korea are that he had won a silver medal the Boys' Sports Meet before making his professional debut. He had seemingly impressed in the School boy scene, but we've not managed to track down any evidence that he competed any higher than the domestic school boy level. Yuh, who is part of Daejon Design Boxing, made his debut in March 2019 on a card in Seoul. At the time he had just turned 18, with his birthday coming just 12 days before he fought as a pro for the first time. His debut was in the round of 16 of the KBM "Battle Royal 3" tournament, a Rookie of the Year like tournament that KBM run. On debut Yuh looked talented, speedy and big but just scraped past fellow debutant Jae Woo Kim, with a split decision. Through out the bout Yuh looked the better natural boxer, with more impressive hand speed and better size. Despite looking the better natural athlete he looked very raw, very open and lacked composure when he was letting his shots go, giving Kim opportunities to counter. There was something there, but it was clear Yuh needed real work. Around 4 months after his debut Yuh returned to the ring for his second bout in the Battle Royal tournament, as he took on Jeong Min Kim in the semi-final of the tournament. This time Yuh, fighting at home in Daejeon, put on a more mature and composed performance. There were glimpses of recklessness, but for the most part this was a more complete performance than his debut as he showed some wonderful handspeed, skills and aggression. He showed some really nice defensive touches for someone so inexperienced and young. Although this was another close fight, it seemed like Yuh had done more than enough to deserve the win he got. Having impressed in his first two bout Yuh returned for his third pro bout in November, as he took on the then 6-0 Do Ha Kim, who was fighting as Yoo Seung Jun. Kim was 26 years old, unbeaten and had impressed since making his debut in 2018. Kim however was made to look second best by Yuh, who was too quick, too smart and too accurate. Offensively Yuh was landing the better shots, and defensively he was frustrating Kim, smothering Kim's work. It wasn't always pretty, but it was effective from Yuh who was the clear winner after 6 rounds. This win saw Yuh winning the Battle Royal at 154lbs and ending the year with real momentum. Having won the Battle Royal Yuh returned to the ring back in January, and beat Se Yul Yang to earn a KBM Light Middleweight title fight later in the year. Whiulst his performance against Yang wasn't perfect, there was a lot to like about Yuh, who looked really skilled, but lazy and almost like he wanted to impress the small number of fans in the venue, rather than really doing what was best for him. Interestingly the win over Yang has set up a rematch wit Do Ha Kim, and the two should be facing off when boxing returns to the Korean scene later in the year. Although still a youngster it's clear Yuh has talent. What he does with that talent is hard to know, but there is certainly promise here, and fingers crossed he can make the very most of it, and help put Korea back on the boxing map. Last week we covered Yong Soo Choi in this series and today we cover one of his major rivals, Takanori Hatakeyama (24-2-3, 19) in this week's "The 5 most significant wins for...". Fans outside of Asia perhaps aren't too familiar with Hatakeyama, and that's a shame as the guy was all action, exciting and in a number of great bouts from the 1990's and early 00's. Hatakeyama, like Choi, is one of favourites for the Closet Classic series, and fans of that series will be fully aware of how amazing Hatakeyema's fights are and how much fun he is to. Sadly though we're not talking about his most fun bouts here, but his most significant wins. Even with that in mind we still have some tremendous bouts to share of Hatakeyama's, and really is one of those fighters who always gave fans value for money, and massive amounts of excitement. Shigeru Kotani (February 13th 1994) We're starting with an obscure one, and in fairness there was a few obscure ones we were considering including Hatakeyama's often replayed KO win over Jae Woon Park and his OPBF title win over Jung Chil Choi. Despite being obscurity Hatakeyama's 1994 win over Shigeru Kotani saw Hatakeyama win the All-Japan Rookie of the Year and certainly helped increase his profile in Japan, and put him on track to success. Not only did the win see Hatakeyama win the Rookie of the Year tournament, at 130lbs, but also claim the MVP, really highlighting his potential. It's worth noting that he was also just 18 years old at this point. Koji Arisawa (March 29th 1998) A little over 4 years after winning Rookie Hatakeyama fought Japanese champion Koji Arisawa, in a bout that was described as the biggest Japanese title fight in history. The bout was only a national title fight but it was massive news in Japan pitting two hugely popular and unbeaten fighters against each other for the Japanese Super Featherweight title. The bout was shown live on Japanese terrestrial TV and was held at the Kokugikan. Whilst the bout was highly hyped before hand it easily outdid all expectations and turned out to be a sensational bout, with Hatakeyama stopping Arisawa for the title, and launching himself into a second world title bout. Yong Soo Choi II (September 5th 1998) A moment ago we mentioned the win over Arisawa launched Hatakeyama into a second world title fight, that came against Yong Soo Choi. In 1997 Hatakeyama and Choi had fought to an amazing 12th round draw. Hatakeyama had bounced back from that set back by beating Arisawa and then getting a second shot at Choi. The second Hatakeyama Vs Choi bout was almost as good as their first, though tactical changes from Hatakeyama, who realised that he had to use more movement and use his feet more, proved vital. After 12 rounds Hatakeyama took a razor thin win to claim the WBA Super Featherweight title and become a world champion for the first time. Understandably after this win, and the win over Arisawa, he had become one of the top names in Japanese boxing. Gilberto Serrano (June 11th 2000) Sadly Hatakeyama's reign as the WBA Super Featherweight champion was a short lived one. He would make only a single successful defense, as 12 round draw with Saul Duran, before losing the belt to Lakva Sim and retiring. His retirement was a short lived one though and less than a year later he returned to the sport and stopped Gilberto Serrano to become the WBA Lightweight champion. The in ring action wasn't as memorable as in some other Hatakeyama bouts, but the contest was still dramatic, with Serrano being dropped in rounds 5 and 7 before being dropped 3 times in round 8. Given the circumstance, of Hatakeyama retiring, unretiring and then moving up in weight, this was a huge win, and lead directly to his next major win. Hiroyuki Sakamoto (October 11th 2000) After beating Serrano to claim the WBA Lightweight title we saw Hatakeyama state he wanted to defend against fellow Japanese fighter Hiroyuki Sakamoto. This would be Hatakeyama's first defense of the title and came against the nearly man of Japanese boxing. Sakamoto had come up short in several other world title fights, including one to Serrano that saw Sakamoto dropping Serrano twice in the opening round before swelling around his eyes forced the bout to be stopped. This was brilliant, brutal and thrilling with Sakamoto eventually running out of steam and being stopped early in round 10. For fans of tragic boxing stories Sakamoto's career, and life, is worth reading upon. As for Hatakeyama he was never quite the same fighter after this and wouldn't win another professional bout. Recently we reported that a WBA Light Flyweight world title bout, set to take place in May had been cancelled. That bout was supposed to see "Super" champion Hiroto Kyoguchi defending his title against Indonesian challenger Andika "D'Golden Boy" Sabu (17-0, 8), a little known challenger who is regarded as one of the biggest hopes for Indonesian boxing.
Despite that bout being cancelled, at leats for now, it's worth talking about the unbeaten Indonesian, who was ranked #2 by the WBA when that bout had been put together. Despite having done very, very little to deserve his ranking. "D'Golden Boy" was born Andika Fredikson Ha'e in October 1995. He was the 5th of 7 children and came from a modest family. He left he family home looking for work and followed his brother, going from Sabu to Waingapu for jobs. He did pretty much anything, from being a labourer to a bus conductor in the pursuit of the money needed to live. Like many fighters from poor background Sabu found boxing and began his affair with the sport when attending the night market in Sumba. He had took part in the event, boxing for the first time, and saw the sport as a chance to change his life. He would catch the eye of a trainer who offered him the chance to practice the sport, something he accepted. Despite having no reported amateur fights Sabu turned professional, joining up with the Mirah BC Bali, where he was trained by Yance Mandagie and Ahmad Mandar. Sabu would make his professional debut in November 2014, and defeat the brilliantly named Don King Fortune in 2 rounds, himself a debutant. From there he was kept busy, with another fight in December and then 6 more in 2015 as he raced his record to 8-0 (3). Whilst some of his competition during this early stretch were fellow novices, others were more well known Indonesian domestic fighters, like Heri Amol, and guys like Ardi Tefa and Silem Serang, who had some international experience. Given the lack of depth on the Indonesian scene Sabu would manage to continue climbing through the ranks with no issues, and continuing stringing together wins through 2016 and 2017. Sadly he was lacking a real test. It was hoped he'd step up but the wait was taking a while. Despite things being rather slow for Sabut he did manage to claim silverware in 2018, when he beat Faisol Akbar Jr for the KTPI Light Flyweight. That was his 15th straight win and saw him moving his record to 15-0 (8). With a title around his waist Sabu, obviously, wanted more. He would get his second tittle fight just 7 months after claiming the KTPI title, beating Romshane Sarguilla for the WBA Asia Light Flyweight title, a title that lead to his WBA ranking. Sadly for Sabu the bout seemed to show up his flaws, with Sarguilla losing a razor thin technical decision, in Indonesian, to Sabu. Although not a big name Sarguilla is a really good test for prospects, and made the likes of Dave Apolinario and Pongsaklek Sithdabnij work hard to beat him. The win over Sarguilla may have had some controversy, but it was a step in the right direction. Sabu would make another step when he returned to the ring, after an intensive training camp, and took on Richard Rosales. Rosales, a Filipino journeyman, had been in with a who's who and despite piling up losses was a solid test for fighters looking to move through the sport. Fighters like Jayr Raquinel and Fahlan Sakkreerin Jr had both been given good tests by Rosales. Sadly the bout between Sabu and Rosales wasn't without incidents. In just the first round Rosales was cut from a headclash. The Filipino seemed in pain from it, but then seemed spurred on, trying to take Sabu out. Despite the aggression from the Filipino Sabu boxed smartly, looking like a genuine talent when he came forward with nice crisp punching and good speed. Sadly his defensive work seemed lacking and he was fortunate that Rosales was a wide puncher as several times Sabu seemed to be in trouble. After 10 rounds Sabu would get the win, albeit a razor thin one, with scores of 96-95 and 97-96, twice, with all 3 judges being Indonesian judges. The step up seemed too much for Sabu, who showed nice touches, but seemingly had a lot of work still do, especially defensively. The win over Rosales saw Sabu defending his WBA Asia title, but it showed he wasn't ready for a top opponent. It showed he needed time to develop. He was world ranked, but looked more like an emerging prospect than a fringe contender. His ranking opened up the opportunity to fight for a world title, which he would have done against Kyoguchi, but sadly for Sabu that would have looked like him being cashed our by promoter Daniel Martin. We hope that Sabu does get a world title fight, but he needs more seasoning first. He struggled with Rosales and Sarguilla. Whilst there may have been issues in camp it's clear that he's still a work in progress and a world title bout needs too wait if he's to stand a chance of winning. We continue to take our chance to shine a light on emerging fighters in our "Introducing" series by turning our attention to China, and their emerging Super Featherweight hopeful Xiao Tao Su (11-1, 6). We don't expect many to be familiar with Su, but he's certainly one to watch and is already ranked by one of the world title bodies, which he shouldn't be despite the promise he clearly has.
Based in Kunming, the same place Xiong Zhao Zhong really made his name, Su began his career in 2017 aged just 20. He wasn't tipped as anything big and there really wasn't much expectation on his shoulders, but he won his debut by stopping Hui Liang in the 4th round. Just a month later he picked up his second win, beating Japanese fighter Ryusei Shimizu. In early 2018 he picked up his third professional win, stopping Xing Fang in 2 rounds. Sadly March 2018 was an odd month for Su. He began the month with a win over Micael Ferreras Olfindo in Macao, but ended it with a loss to Lei Jang just 4 weeks later, ending his unbeaten run and seeing him fall to 4-1 (2). Still really young at the time there was no reason to see the loss as anything more than a bump on the road. Having cramped 5 fights into 9 months Su got a small break before he bounced back from the loss to Jiang. When he fought again, about 2 months later, he got back to winning way, taking a close decision over Junhui Zhao in a 6 rounder. That was his first 6 rounder and whilst it was a close win it should he could do 6 rounds. Just a month later he scored a win that made us sit up and take note, as he travelled to Japan and stopped Riki Hamada in 2 rounds. Interestingly it was Su's fight with Hamada which really put him on our radar. At the time Hamada was 7-1 (6), Su came at Hamada with no fear, and very little respect. He was aggressive, exciting and the one forcing the fight, despite being on the road he showed no fear or anything...including the referee who could have given him a serious punishment for hitting Hamada after dropping him. Luckily for Su he was only deducted a point, and finished off Hamada, in brutal fashion, soon after the bout resumed. Having scored a bit win on international soil Su would then, surprisingly, struggle past Chinese novice Yiping Gao in an 8 rounder. Su got the win, by split decision, but it very much showed that he had work to do. There was still work to do after he took a 6 round decision over Zakaria Miri in December 2018, again showing that he needed to find that something extra. As it turns what Su needed was a move in weight. In 2019 he moved up to Super Featherweight and it immediately seemed like that was the change he needed. He kicked off the year stopping Pradeep Kumar, in 3 rounds, before taking out Kongthara KKP just a few weeks later. The most impressive of his 2019 results came in August however, when he took out Shota Yukawa inside a round. The Chinese fighter looked strong, powerful and patient, before closing the show with a brutal left hook that sent Yukawa down hard. As with everywhere else, we don't know when boxing will resume in China, but when it does the 23 year old Su is someone to make a note of, and to try and watch his career progresses. He may never reach the top, but we're going to be excited in seeing him go from prospect, to contender, in the coming years. We still have no fights scheduled on the docket so we'll be continuing this mini series where we look at the most significant wins that a fighter scored during their career. Today we look at a favourite fighter from our Closet Classic series, Yong Soo Choi (31-4-1, 21), a Korean who had a brilliantly fun career in the 1990's, then made a short comeback to the ring in his his 40's, proving that even an old man can still fight. Although not too well known in the west Choi was one of the most fun and exciting fighters of his era and was a through back to the Korea's that had shone in the 1980's. He was tough, rugged, through a lot of leather and was amazingly good to watch. An inside warrior who hit hard, let his hands fly and was thrilling to watch. He is the sort of throw back fighter we should all appreciate, and here is great chance to learn about one of our favourite fighters! As is always the case with this series we are only considering official wins, and we are ordering them chronologically, not in terms of significance. Eun Shik Lee (December 26th 1993) Having won the Korean Super Featherweight title earlier in his career Yong Soo Choi took a huge step up on boxing day 1993 when he took on Eun Shik Lee, a fellow big punching Korean. Lee was the OPBF Super Featherweight champion, and had previously been the OPBF Bantamweight champion. Choi stopped Lee in the 3rd round to claim his first international title, and prove that he was well beyond the domestic level, and could move onto bigger and better things in the coming years. This was an under-rated win, but a big one for Choi and his career. Yamato Mitani I (October 10th 1994) Whilst Choi's biggest rival was Takanori Hatakeyama, who Choi fought twice and couldn't beat, arguably his first big rivalry was with Yamato Mitani, who he fought 3 times. Sadly the first fight hasn't leaked to the internet yet, whilst the other two have, but if the first is anything like the others then this was brutal, damaging and brilliantly rough. We can't really speak about the action but the significance is clear. It set up a stunning rivalry between two insanely tough and proud warriors and it was also Choi's first win on foreign soil, putting a flag on Japanese soil where he would return numerous times over the coming years. If you haven't seen Choi's other two bouts with Mitani we would serious advise checking them out. Victor Hugo Paz (October 21st 1995) In later 1995 Choi travelled outside of Asia for the first time as he went off to Argentina and faced the highly experienced Victor Hugo Paz, who had close to 60 bouts under his belt. Going to Argentina as the under-dog Choi didn't seem to care where he was or who he was facing as he took the fight to Paz and stopped him in the 10th round to claim the previously vacant WBA Super Featherweight title. Paz had been dropped in rounds 5 and 9 before being stopped and despite being at home Paz was down on all 3 score-cards. Lakva Sim (February 1st 1997) The argument of what makes a win "more significant" than another can be tricky at times, but beating a future 2-weight world champion, and one of the toughest men the sport has ever seen in an absolute barn burner is rather significant in our eyes. With that in mind Choi's 1997 win over Lakva Sim is his most significant world title defense, by some distance. This was an all out war, an absolute fire cracker that saw Korean fans getting a genuine treat, and both men taking a lot of punishment. If you like fights that are brutal, inside battled between men looking to prove they are the big dog of the ring this is for you! Choi won a split decision to retain the title, and was some how back in the ring less than 4 months later, beating Koji Matsumoto. A war like this deserved a significant rest, for both men. A real must watch a genuine 1997 Fight of the Year contender. Gilberto Serrano (April 18th 1998)
In late 1997 Choi fought to a draw, in another brilliant war, with Takanori Hatakeyama in their first bout. The two would fight again in September 1998, with Hatakeyama taking the win with a majority decision. Between those two incredible was was a come from behind stoppage win for Choi against hard hitting Venezuelan Gilberto Serrano, who would later capture the WBA Lightweight title from Setano Zoff. Serrano was in a rather comfortable lead against Choi on 2 of the scorecards as we entered round 9. He had made Choi look a little bit silly at times, and seemed to be doing more than enough to take the title if he could see out the distance. He was however tiring in round 8 as Choi began to come on strong and in round 9 Choi broke down his man, dropping him in the corner and forcing the referee to jump in and stop the bout. This would be Choi's final successful defense. With no fights currently taking place, and we don't need to explain why, we've decided to begin a new series looking at fights that could have been. These are match ups that may, or may not, have been mooted but are fights that could have happened. Not only do we intend to look at who the men involved were, but when the bout could have been made, why we would have liked it, how we feel the bout played out and how history played out instead.
Katsunari Takayama Vs Akira Yaegashi Whilst there are other more logical fights to begin this series with we're being a touch self indulgent and picking a fight we wanted more than any other at one point, and one that would have delivered incredible action. In fact if we could suggest any fight would have been a memorable fight of the year candidate it would have been a clash between Katsunari Takayama and Akira Yaegashi. When? Unlike many fights that we could cover going forward for this series the window for this potential bout is a pretty big one. Yaegashi had his first world title bout way back in June 2007, losing to Den Junlaphan, by that point in time Takayama had already won the WBC Minimumweight title and the WBA interim title. So lets speculate this bout could be staged any time from 2007 to 2012, when Yaegashi moved up to Flyweight. We know that in reality Takayama handed back his JBC license to chase the IBF title around the globe after losing to Roman Gonzalez, but even considering that in mind it would give us a cut off of 2010, still a pretty big window for the fight. Who? At the time period we're looking at Katsunari Takayama, the Lightning Kid, was still very much a secret outside of Japan. He had been in some entertaining bouts, was a former world and interim world champion and was someone who had turned pro young and learned on the job. Although not a destructive beast, like Roman Gonzalez, he was a tough, energetic fighter who always threw a lot of leather, and was willing to take one to land one. Later in his career he became well remembered for his incredible unification bout with Francisco Rodriguez Jr, but even before that he had been in a number of incredible bouts and was very much boxing's answer to the energiser bunny. He could box and move, but almost always got dragged into a war. Akira Yaegashi was very, very similar to Takayama. Like Takayama we knew Yaegashi could box, he liked to move and use his feet, but he could quickly be dragged into a war and it rarely took much to make Yaegashi fight fire with fire. During the window this fight could have taken place Yaegashi hadn't quite proven he was world class, coming up short against Den Junlaphan, but was banging on the door and he had won the OPBF and Japanese titles. He had proven his ability as an amateur, had adapted to the professional ranks and, with Koji Matsumoto and Hideyuki Ohashi in his corner, had two very smart boxing men helping him get ready to become a star. How would we see it playing out? We see this starting with both men boxing, keeping their form and moving early on. Although both were often dragged into wars they could both box, something that many fans forget. During the time window we're looking at the two guys still had very sprightly legs, could go 12 rounds with no issues and both were in their 20's. After the boxing and moving early on, we suspect the pace will begin to rise, the man who feels like they are behind after a few rounds will then pick up the pace. When they do that we'll see a war begin to brew. Both men turning from boxers to fighters, and for the final 4 rounds the intensity will become something scary, with both standing and trading in some thrilling, rock em sock em style action. Picking a winner would be almost impossible, though it would have been amazing to watch this one and we would have gotten something very, very exciting! Would history of been changed? Depending on when this took place, within the window, there are some interesting changes to history. Had it taken place before Yaegashi fought Kazuto Ioka, there's a chance that we wouldn't have gotten that bout, there's also a chance that Yaegashi wouldn't have moved up and beaten Toshiyuki Igarashi and we have missed out on Yaegashi Vs Gonzalez as well. It is worth noting those 3 bouts took a lot out of Yaegashi, and his career, although different, may have ended up better for him, and for us as fans. On the other hand Takayama may have ended up giving up in his pursuit of the IBF title, and his desire to become a Grandslam champion had he taken a title from Yaegashi. Had that happened we may still be looking at the JBC only recognising the WBA and WBC. We would almost certainly have not got Takayama's bouts against Mario Rodriguez, Francisco Rodriguez Jr and Fahlan Sakkreerin Jr. On the balance of probability we missed out on a great bout, but we probably ended up with a history that was better for it. We would have loved to have seen this, but thinking about what we might have missed had these two fought, and how history could have diverged, we'll happily accept we got more than our share of great bouts from these two. With the sport still on what is essentially a giant pause and with no fights taking place it's not a sign that we should be ignoring the sport. Instead we should be looking at what's to come when the sport does resume. With that in mind we'll be continuing our "Introducing..." series by looking at fighters we'll hopefully see in the ring later in the year.
With that in mind let us introduce to you a very special fighter, who made a big mark on the amateur scene and looks to make an equally big mark on the professional ranks, when the sport returns to Japan. Today we want to introduce Toshihiro Suzuki (0-0), who many in Japan feel could be a future star, when he finally gets to kick off his career. In February Kadoebi announced Suzuki would be kicking off his career with them. The 23 year old was joined at the gym soon afterwards by his brother Masahiro Suzuki, who transferred from the World of Sport boxing gym to Kadoebi. For those who haven't seen Masahiro he's already an established professional with a Japanese ranking and a 4-0 (2) record. We've been impressed by Masahiro, though it's suggested that Toshihiro is the better of the two brothers, which really does excite us in regards to his potential. As an amateur Toshihiro Suzuki really did make a mark, in a big way. We were originally informed that he had gone 64-26 as an amateur, but his Kadoebi now have him listed as an even more impressive 82-22. Whilst we all know that amateur records aren't always the most accurate the legitimacy of any his amateur achievements can't be debated. On the international youth scene Suzuki shone. He claimed a bronze at the 2014 AIBA Youth World Championships and a Silver at the Youth Olympics, also in 2014. Also in 2014 he won the Japanese Interschool Athletic Meet. Whilst those achievements came at the Youth level, and were years ago, they showed his potential and made it clear he had a bright future. Sadly Suzuki failed to replicate that success in the senior international ranks but was still a notable fighter on the domestic amateur scene, coming second in the 2017 Japanese National Championships and continuing to compete in the unpaid ranks with mixed success.Sadly he failed to make a mark on the seniors, but still showed a lot of potential, whilst developing a pro-ready style. From watching some of Suzuki's amateur bouts, and there is a lot of footage of him as an amateur out there, he appears to have a very pro-ready style. He's not a fighter who looks to fight in a point scoring fashion, but instead presses the action, looks to bring pressure and unload powerful shots to head and body. He has a real natural fluidity to his shots, and his combinations flow wonderfully when he lets them go. He looks like the type of fighter who is ready for the pros. As for his weight Suzuki fought between 64KG's and 69KG's, around 140lbs to 152lbs, and is expected to be fighting at a similar sort of weight when he gets around to making his professional debut. Likely at around Welterweight or Light Middleweight. One rather odd thing to note, before we finish this, is that it appears that Suzuki has yet to take his pro-test. That's backed up by Kadoebi not listing him as a currently licenced fighter and instead having him in their "Professional Aspirations" section, along with fellow amateur stand out Jun Ikegawa. Hopefully that will change when boxing does resume back in Japan, hopefully in the summer. Another week without fights taking place gives us another week to look at a fighter from the past and look at some of their most significant wins. As is always the case we only consider official wins, and their significance on the sport, and the fighter in question. Today we look at Thai legend Pone Kingpetch (28-7, 9), who's record belies his historical place in the sport as the first Thai world champion and one of the first real faces in boxing in Thailand. He wasn't the greatest fighter, don't get us wrong there, but is a legitimate legend of the sport, and someone who really deserves more attention than he gets. Kingpetch's career ran from 1954 to 1966. His retirement was sadly short lived and he passed away in 1982, at the age of 47. Despite only fighting 35 times he really was a massive figure in the 1960's for boxing in Asia, and the Flyweight scene in general. He's a rare fighter who's had some huge wins, but his record is deceiving due to the number of losses. Hitoshi Misako (September 14th 1957) In January 1957 Pone Kingpetch neat Danny Kid to claim the previously vacant OPBF Flyweight title, whilst that was significant in some ways it wasn't really a win over an opponent with any value, in face Kid was 18-10-5 at the time and went on to retire with a 43-34-14 record. What is a significant win is his first defense, which saw him defeat Hitoshi Misako, a much more significant win than his title win. Misako had been a prior OPBF champion and was very much a respected regional level fighter with a 29-12-5 record at the time. Misako was a decent fighter, and later set up the Misako Gym, making this win a much, much bigger and better than Kingpetch's over Kid. Incidentally both wins were 12 round point wins in Thailand. Pascual Perez I (April 16th 1960) In April 1960 Kingpetch got his first world title fight, taking on Argentina's first ever world champion Pascaul Perez. At the time Perez was the world Flyweight champion and boasted a very impressive 54-1-1 (34) record, having had avenged his sole loss, to Sadao Yaoita, by KO. Kingpetch took a split decision over Perez to claim the win and become the first Thai world champion, with a win over a genuine of the sport and a man who would end up being inducted into the hall of fame in 1995. The bout, staged at the Lumpini Stadium, had over 30,000 people in attendance cheering on their man. Pascual Perez II (September 22nd 1960) Around 5 months after winning the Flyweight title Kingpetch would give Perez a chance to reclaim the title in a rematch. Whilst the first bout took place in Thailand this time we saw the two men clash on neutral soil, in Los Angeles and there was no need for the judges to be involved. The bout ended in round 8 when Kingpetch stopped the former champion in the 8th round to make a sensational mark on foreign soil. Sadly Kingpetch would never return for another US fight. Interestingly this was the first time Perez suffered a stoppage loss in his career, though he would be stopped in both of his final 2 bouts. Fighting Harada II (January 12th 1963) Having lost the Flyweight title to Japanese legend Fighting Harada in Tokyo in October 1962 Kingpetch got a chance to reclaim his title with a rematch against the Japanese fighter just 3 months later. This time Kingpetch managed to do enough to take a majority decision at home in Bangkok over Harada, who was struggling to make weight and would move up to Bantamweight just 2 months later to begin his legendary run at 118lbs. Whilst circumstances may devalue the win slightly it doesn't really alter the significance, which saw Kingpetch getting a second win over a future hall of famer and a win that saw him become a 2-time world champion. Hiroyuki Ebihara II (January 23rd 1964) Figfghting Harada wasn't the only legendary Japanese fighter that Kingpetch would split a 2-fight series with. The other was Harada's close friend Hiroyuki Ebihara. Ebihara had ended Kingpetch's second reign as the Flyweight champion in September 1963, stopping Kingpetch in the opening round, before the two men rematched in January 1964, in Thailand, and once again Kingpetch would take a decision win over a Japanese great. Sadly for Kingpetch this reign was a very short one and the Thai lost the belt just 3 months later in Italy to Salvatore Burruni, before winding down his career and retiring with his name firmly etched in Thai boxing history When we look at the world rankings we see a lot of names that don't really belong in any top 15, but somehow end up there. As we write this, on April 1st, we can go through the world rankings and see names like Mladen Miljas, Tom Schwarz and Mirko Geografo. Another of those names is Japanese fighter Kazuhiro Nishitani (21-4-1, 12). We suspect many reading this have either no idea who Nishitani is, or even knew he was world ranked. In fact we suspect many, even in Japan, aren't too sure who the 33 year old from Hyogo really is. He is one of the more obscure Japanese Super Featherweight's, and if we're being honest we'd be be hard pressed to even put him in the top 10 Japanese fighters at 130lbs. Some how though the IBF have managed to squeeze him into the 10 in their Super Featherweight world rankings. So for those wondering who Kazuhiro Nishitani is, we thought it was time to shine a light on one of boxing's most obscure world ranked fighters as part of our "Who are you?" series. To begin with Nishitani is fighting out of Kobe, a small Japanese boxing market. He's further hampered, in some ways, by being promoted by Senrima Kobe Promotions, a small local outfit based in Hyogo. Whilst the promotional team have lead Teiru Kinoshita to two shots at the IBF Super Flyweight title, they are still a very small gym, in a very small market. They are miniscule compared to the likes of Watanabe, Teiken, Ohashi and even the smaller Osakan gyms like Green Tsuda and Osaka Teiken. In Japan there are two main markets, Osaka and Tokyo. There are then other regional markets, but essentially if a fighter doesn't fight in one of those two, they tend to struggle for attention, with some like Kosei Tanaka being an exception to the rule in recent years. Hyogo being one of those much, much smaller markets. Despite the low profile Nishitani has made a mark on the domestic scene and has been world ranked for quite a while, so lets look at how he got there, and how his career has been so far. Given he's relatively unknown it's hard to believe Nishitani's been a professional for over a decade. He made his pro debut back in November 2009, and won his first 7 bouts, going 7-0 (2) on low key cards from 2009 to 2011. During that run of results the most notable win was a decision over Tsubasa Muramatsu. In late 2011 Nishitani's unbeaten run came to an end when he went and fought in Osaka, losing to the unheralded Tetsuya Nishinaga. That was followed up but a loss in early 2012 to Yuhei Suzuki, who would later come up short in 3 Japanese title fights. Nishitani would rebuild from those 2 losses by scoring 7 straight wins, and advancing his record to 14-2 (7). Sadly though that form lead nowhere and things then went down hill, quickly, for Nishitani who won just 1 of his following 4 bouts, falling from 14-2 to 14-4-1 (7). During that bad run of form Nishitani came up short to the then Japanese Lightweight champion Kota Tokunaga. He was competitive with Tokunaga, but lost quite clearly to the man making his second defense of the title. After a single quick win Nishitani got a second shot at the title, as he took on Shuhei Tsuchiya in 2017. Despite being dropped by Tsuchiya in round 5 Nishitani battled back hard and went on to stop Tsuchiya in the 8th round to claim the Japanese Lightweight title. On paper the win over Tsuchiya should have shot Nishitani into some decent fighters. He was the Japanese Lightweight champion, he had just beaten the popular Tsuchiya at Korakuen Hall, live on G+. Sadly though he vacated the title, rather than defending it, and moved down in weight, from Lightweight to Super Featherweight. Around 7 months after winning the title Nishitani would return to the ring and defeat the debuting Phruekphaibun Khanthusaeng in 2 rounds. What should have been a title defense was instead a blow out against an over-matched Thai. That was then followed by wins over Filipino domestic level fighters in the form of Rey Ramos, Glenn Medura and Monico Laurente. Despite the limited competition Nsihitani is now riding a 6 fight winning. Despite not being the best fighter, he has proven to be tough, rugged, have a solid work rate and a fantastic will to win. Sadly though he lacks in too many other areas. He's not the most skilled, he lacks speed, he's very basic, and his technique is questionable at best. He can play a part in some fun domestic level bout fights, if matched with the right opponents, but it's hard to imagine him making any impact on a world class fighter. With a small promoter behind him, along with his 33rd birthday, it's hard to imagine Kazuhiro Nishitani getting a world title fight. Despite that he can claim something few can, he has been a world ranked professional boxer. He might not be a world beater, but he can tell everyone he was a top 10 ranked fighter. Sadly though that ranking really does make a joke of the IBF and their questionable rankings. Whilst we can hate on the IBF, and world title bodies, it's worth saying well done to Nishitani and his team for being so close to a world title fight. Saying that however the reality is that he is one of the many oddly ranked fighters, who has some how managed to get into, and remain in, the world rankings. For those who want to see a little bit of Nishitani we have included video of his crowning glory, his win over Tsuchiya, sadly though there really isn't much other quality footage of him out there, which is a shame. |
Oriental Opinions
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