When we talk about the best Filipino prospects there are few that rival the very talented, and incredibly promising Dave Apolinaro (13-0, 8). The 21 year old "Doberman" is someone we expect to see reaching the top of the sport in the coming years, but for now he is very much a prospect carving out the early stages of his very, very promising career.
Apolinario turned professional in 2017 but before than he had real buzz surrounding him following a very promising amateur career, and for being the younger brother of a solid, fringe world level fighter. In fact Apolinario has boxing flowing through his veins with several fighters in his family, though his brother clearly an influential figures. Dave Apolinario's older brother, John Mark Apolinario, had turned professional in 2006 and fought a genuine who's who. During his 12 year career he fought the likes of Roberto Vasquez, twice earning a draw with the man from Panama, Koki Kameda, Hernan Marquez, Drian Francisco, Luis Nery and Giemel Magramo. Sadly for the "Iceman" he always always founding at the that level, but was decent enough to make a mark. Whilst his older brother was fighting in the professional ranks Dave was making a name for himself as an amateur. He shined at the Philippines National Games in 2016, winning at 48KG's, and then winning at the Palarong Pambansa in 2016 and 2017, at 49KG's. That amateur seasoning saw Apolinario turn professional with some expectations on his shoulders when he turned professional later in 2017. On June 10th 2017 Apolinario made his debut, taking on Prince Canonero. The prince was downed in the opening round the bout was stopped with just a single second of the opening round left. It was pretty much a perfect debut for the talented Apolinario. A month later he would take his first decision win, as he was taken 4 rounds by Rio Gulipatan. Apolinario would remain active through 2017, picking up 2 more wins to move to 4-0 (3) by the end of the year. Apolinario was kept busy through 2018, just like he had been in 2017, a year that saw him fight 5 times. His first bout of the year was a gimme, against Frankie Batuon, but he would step up through the year, taking 8 round decision wins over the tough Jenuel Lauza and over Michael Camelion. Those 2 decisions had been partnered with 3 early wins, to advance Apolinario's record to 9-0 (6). As we entered 2019 Apolinario was someone who we had hoped to see develop during the year, and boy did we get to see him prove himself. The talented youngster kicked off the year with a bout against Romshane Sarguilla, and Apolinario looked great whilst easily out pointing the game Sarguilla. Interestingly Arguilla went 0-4 in 2019, but this was the only clear loss he had, and he was very live with Andika Sabu and Pongsaklek Sithdabnij, and on reflection this was an excellent win for Apolinario. Exactly 4 months after Apolinario's win over Sarguilla he took on another tough domestic foe, as he clashed with Adrian Lerasan. For the first time in his career Apolinario was forced to go 10 rounds, and he did so in a very impressive, composed and mature win over Lerasan. Although Lerasan was no world beater he had come to win, and he asked questions of Apolinario, who answered them in impressive fashion. Sadly after back to back tests Apolinario ended the year with two stoppages against over-matched opponents who were no threat to the promising youngster. For a 21 year old fighter we see a lot of maturity in Apolinario's boxing style and mentality in the ring. He's patient, he's smart, he uses his feet and moved well. There are question marks over his power and physicality, but even those are likely to change in the future when Apolinario physically matures. At this point it's too early to call for Aploninario to take any sort of huge steps up in class, but over the next few years we do expect to see Apolinario mixing at Oriental level, and then moving on to world title level as he reaches his mid to late 20's.
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For many reading this we suspect the only "Ioka" they know much about is Kazuto Ioka. Kazuto is one of the modern day stars of Japan, a 4-weight world champion, a man linked to the New Year Eve shows, which he has often lead, and a fighter who married, and subsequently divorced, a notable Japanese singer. He's had it all and is legitimately one of the very top names in Japan, probably number #3 behind Ryota Murata and Naoya Inoue. What few newer fans maybe aware of is that Kazuto uncle, Hiroki Ioka (33-8-1, 17) was a star before Kazuto was even born. In fact Hiroki Ioka was a man who set a number of records that no other Japanese fighter has been able to match. He was a young prodigy, the final star crafted by the legendary Eddie Townsend. Today we look at the 5 most significant wins for... Hiroki Ioka as we continue this series. As with all the other articles in this series the wins are listed chronologically, and not by by their significance or meaning. 1-Kenji Ono (July 8th 1987) One win that would be easy to over-look is Ioka's July 1987 win against Kenji Ono for the Japanese Minimumweight title. This win came less than 18 months after Ioka's professional debut. It was his first 10 round bout, it was his first title bout, it helped prove he was ready for bigger things and most notably it saw him setting a record for the youngest Japanese national champion, at the age of 18 years and 6 months. That record still stands today. The bout saw Ioka out point Ono to claim the title and become the second ever Japanese national Minimumweight champion. A very significant and important win for Ioka, and one that can go over-looked. 2-Mai Thomburifarm (October 18th 1987) Just over 4 months after winning the Japanese Minimumweight title Ioka faced off with Thai foe Mai Thomburifarm for the newly created WBC Minimumweight title. The bout was the first for the title and saw Ioka beat Thomburifarm over 12 rounds, with ease, to take the title. This would have been a significant win had it just seen Ioka become the inaugural WBC Minimumweight champion, but it also saw him set the record for the youngest Japanese world champion, at 18 years, 9 months and 10 days. This record has been challenged by Daiki Kameda and Riku Kano, though both failed in their attempts to break it. Coming into this bout Eddie Townsend was training Ioka from a wheel chair due to issues with cancer. 3-Kyung Yung Lee (January 31st 1988) In his first defense of the WBC title Ioka faced off with former IBF champion Kyung Yung Lee, who vacated the IBF title in an attempt to prove he was the best at the weight. Lee travelled to Japan to face Ioka, with the Japanese fighter stopping the previously unbeaten Korean in the final round, to prove his position in the sport. Interestingly the date for this bout is really important. It came 21 days after Leo Gamez had become the first ever WBA champion, and just a day before Ioka's mentor, Eddie Townsend, passed away. Townsend was in the venue to try and watch his charge make his first defense, but fell unconscious before the bout and was taken back to hospital where he sadly passed away. Ioka's performance, given the situation if his trainer and father figure, was incredible. Notably this was also Ioka's only stoppage win in a world title bout. 4-Myung Woo Yuh (December 17th 1991) After the massive win against Kyung Yung Lee we saw Ioka's career head downwards, something that wasn't much of a surprise given the loss of Townsend, arguably the greatest trainer in Japanese boxing. He would fail to win his next 3 world title bouts, losing the WBC title to Napa Kiatwanchai and failing to regain it in a rematch, then move up to Light Flyweight. In his first world title bout at 108lbs Ioka defeated Korean legend Myung Woo Yuh, in later 1992. The win over the then 36-0 Yuh saw Ioka claim the WBA Light Flyweight title, becoming only the third 2-weight world champion in Japanese boxing history. This would be the only defeat Yuh would suffer in his career, and would be avenged less than a year later, adding further to the significance of the win. Bong Jun Kim (June 15th 1992)
The final win that we've chosen to include here is Ioka's win over Bong Jun Kim. This was Ioka's second defense of the WBA Light Flyweight title, the belt he had taken from Yuh. On paper this looks like a straight forward defense against a fighter with a 23-7-3 record, though that really doesn't do the win any credit. Kim had fought once in Japan prior to this bout, beating Hideyuki Ohashi back in 1986, and Ohashi and Ioka were two of the young stars of Japanese boxing at the time. There had been calls to see the two to fight but they never did, though this is one of the few times the two men shared an opponent. The other thing to note is that Kim was the second ever WBA Minimumweight champion, and a unification between the two would have been big. Sadly this wasn't a unification, and did come more than a year after Kim had lost his world title, but was still a very meaningful bout and a big win for Ioka, who would lose 5 subsequent world title bouts after this contest, including the rematch to Yuh. The Filipino boxing scene is a rather perplexing one at times. It's big names are huge, and every fight fan has heard of the Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire, Jerwin Ancajas and Johnriel Casimero. Sadly outside of the top, top Filipino fighters however there isn't too much fanfare or attention, and even top Filipino world title contenders don't get much attention, never mind the prospects. One of the many prospects making their mark on the Filipino and looking to advance his career, later this year, is the talented and unbeaten Jayson Mama (15-0, 8). He's a 23 year old Flyweight who is dubbed the "Smasher" and is marching through the ranks, heading towards a regional title. His name might not be well known in the West, but he's one to keep an eye on going forward. Mama was making a name for himself way back in 2014 when he was still an amateur, alongside twin brother Jerven Mama. Both of the brothers began training at the Sanman Gym and just a year later Jayson impressed at the 2015 Palarong Pambansa, winning a gold medal. He would impress at Mindanao qualifying leg of the Philippines National Games, but decided to turn professional instead of continuing on with his amateur career. In early 2016 Mama made his professional debut and stopped fellow debutant Romel Padayhag in 2 rounds on a card that also featured Romero Duno, Reymart Gaballo and Robert Paradero. Just weeks later Mama beat Roland Jay Biendima, who recently gave Kento Hatanaka a good fight, by decision over 4 rounds. Mama would continue with a busy schedule through 2016 and by the end of the year he had gone 5-0 (2), with a good 6 round decision win over Joash Jordan in June. Despite the busy first year to his professional career Mama was a lot less active in 2017, though he did tick off some other firsts. His first bout of the year saw him going 8 rounds for the first time, beating Jeffrey Alejandre over the distance. He also notched wins over some experienced opponents, in the form of Bimbo Nacionales and Rodel Tejares. Neither of those fighters are big names, or even good fighters, but they are experienced foes. In 2018 we saw Mama continue taking strides in his career. He began the year stopping Michael Camelion in 9 rounds, the longest bout of his career up to this point, and claimed the WBO Oriental Youth title, the first title of his career. A rather low key in the middle of the year was then followed by Mama's international debut, as he went to Macau and beat Yinhuan Su with a 10 round decision, ticking off another achievement that a prospect should always look to do before a major fight. The win over Su served another purpose, as well as being a 10 rounder. The bout was also a qualifying bout for one of the IBF Silk Road tournament finals, and lead to Mama booking a place on a 2019 show in China. On that 2019 Chinese show he took on former world title challenger Fahlan Sakkreerin, and Mama easily out outboxed Fahlan, taking a wide and clear decision, whilst boosting himself towards a world title fight. A win over Fahlan, in Mama's 12th professional bout, was a reason to sit up and take note. That was then followed by another notable win just a few weeks later when he stopped former world champion Kwanthai Sithmorseng, in what looked like a bit of a quit job from the 36 year old Thai. Thankfully the win over Kwanthai was easily forgotten and Mama's next win came against decent domestic foe Dexter Alimento. Aged just 21 as we entered 2020 Mama was starting to get some buzz among the hardcore fans, and momentum was building behind him. Sadly that momentum has been slowed, understandably, by the on going global situation in the world right now. It was also slowed before boxing was put on hold, due to a rather meaningless stay busy fight against Reymark Taday in February. A bout that served no purpose for Mama. In the ring Mama is a fighter who looks natural as a fighter. He looks calm, composed, relaxed and despite having areas to work on he does have a lot to like. He has nice hand speed, a very solid boxing brain and looks like one of those fighters who picks shots well. There are areas to improve on, but with Sanman behind him he has a very good team, who will work on his flaws and and help prepare him for some big fights in the coming years. Mama might not be a big name yet, but he is a fighter with the potential to be a big star in the future. Expect to see his developing well over the next few years and eventually working his way to a world title fight in a few years time. He has the potential to go a long way, and now just needs experience and the time to mature. The Watanabe Gym is one of the most important in Japan now, and has a a lot of future world champions training at the gym. A few years ago it had a number of world champions, with Takashi Uchiyama and Ryoichi Taguchi leading the gym alongside the often unheralded Kohei Kono (33-12-1, 14). Despite his less than stellar record Kono was a throw-back, who learned on the job, put on a show, and fought hard to try and make a name for himself. The "Tough Boy" had turned professional with little in terms of amateur success but went on to carve out an exciting and successful professional career. Whilst Kono did lose a number of his biggest bouts, he did also score a lot of notable wins, and with that in mind we want to bring you "The 5 most significant wins for...Kohei Kono." 1-Teppei Kikui III (February 12th 2007) The first fight to be included here is Kono's first title win. This came in early 2007 when he beat Teppei Kilkui, in their rubber match, and claimed the Japanese Super Flyweight title. Kono had won the first meeting between the two men, back in 2003, but had lost in their first rematch, in 2005. Following their second bout Kikui had gone on to win the Japanese Super Flyweight and defended it once, before facing Kono. Here Kono would take a close, but clear, decision to claim the title and give his career a huge shot in the arm. 2-Eden Sonsona (October 6th 2007) Just 8 months after winning the Japanese title we saw Kono become a double champion, unifying the Japanese title with the OPBF title, thanks to a split decision win over Eden Sonsona. The bout was a hotly contested 12 rounder, but one that saw Kono's desire being just enough to get him over the line and take him to the victory for his first international title. Interestingly Kono would actually defend the unified titles in 2008, being the only man to defend the Japanese Super Flyweight title in a 12 round as a result! 3-Tepparith Kokietgym (December 31st 2012) With his career looking like it was pretty much stumbling into nothingness Kono went into a WBA Super Flyweight bout against Tepparith Kokietgym knowing it would likely be his last chance. Kono was 27-7 (10) at the time and 32 years old, he had come up short in a number of other world title fights and was facing a 24 year old world champion who had racked up 3 success wins against Japanese fighters to become a "Japan Killer". Despite many expecting Kono to remain a "nearly man" of Japanese boxing he managed to surprisingly stop the Thai in the 4th round to claim the WBA title and become a world champion, in his 35th professional bout. This would go on to be the only stoppage loss of Tepparith's career, and clearly saved Kono's career, just as it looked like it was about to end. 4-Denkaosan Kaovichit (March 26th 2014) Having lost the WBA Super Flyweight title to Liborio Solis, in his first defense, Kono was looking to reclaim the title in 2014 when he clashed with Thai veteran Denkaosan Kaovichit. The bout would really leave the loser looking down the barrel. At the time Kono was 33 and Denkaosan was 37, and neither would have been experience to bounce back. The fight was actually a close one early on, with Denkaosan picking himself up from a 4th round knockdown. As the bout went on though Kono's pressure got too much for Denkaosan's old legs, and the Thai was broken down in the 8th round, as Kono became a 2-time world champion. 5-Koki Kameda (October 16th 2015) In his second defense, of his second reign, the 34 year old Kono made his US debut as he took on the controversial Koki Kameda in the first ever all-Japanese world title fight on US soil. Kono was seen as the under-dog, and it was assumed that Kameda would become the first Japanese male fighter to hold world titles in 4 weight classes. Instead Kono put on the performance of a life time to defeat Kameda in what was a brilliant fight between two men looking to make a statement on American soil. Kono simply out worked the more naturally talented Kameda, who never fought again as a professional. For many outside of Japan this was their first chance to see Kono, and we suspect many wanted to see him again afterwards. Back at the start of April we brought you "Great Boxing Names (Volume 1)" and now, a month on, we're bringing you Volume 2, where we again look at some of the best, funniest, and strangest names for Asian fighters. Today we're looking at another 5 names as part of this series.
As with volume 1 the ground rules are simple. We will be accepting fighters who either have a strange Ring name, Nickname or Real name. We will also only be accepting fighters who have some form of a link to Asia, be it that they are a citizen of an Asian country or they fought in Asia, or they fought for an OPBF or PABA title, for example an Australian who has fought for a regional title will be included. Again we don't mean to disrespect the fighters, but we've found their names interesting enough to share with you guys, our readers. Wang Ya Nan (8-0, 3) The first female fighter to feature in this series is actually a pretty notable fighter. Before there was Zou Shiming and Can Xu China did actually have some world champions, and no we don't just mean Xiong Zhao Zhong. Chinese female boxers actually had some notable success before the men started to make a bit of a buzz. Among those females fighters was the wonderfully named "Wang Ya Nan", who won the WBC female Minimumweight title in 2008, years before Zhong became the first Chinese male world champion. Win Twingym (0-1) We're probably going to come across a number of names that could be seen as reflective, or not, on a fighters record. One guy who doesn't live up to his name is Win Twingym. This is obviously a ring name, and we don't have any idea of his real name, but it's still a brilliant one. His only recorded bout was a 10 round decision loss to the then PABA Light Flyweight champion Deeden Kengkarun back in 2001. A real shame Win's only bout saw him lose. Wonder Boy Roya (2-5-1, 2) Win Twingym wasn't the only fighter with a notable name to face Deeden Kengkarun, in fact Indonesian fighter Wonder Boy Roya challenged Deeden for the PABA Light Flyweight title, in what was Roya's debut. Sadly for Roya he was no wonder boy, losing to Deeden on his recorded debut and never picking up a win of any note at all. Dejvarin Hollywood (9-8-3, 7) We really don't know too much about Dejvarin Hollywood other than his record, though it appears he was also known as "Mike Hollywood" later in his career. What is known is that he was based in Thailand and fought from 1979 through to 1990, at least. We say at least as there's a good chance his record isn't complete. Notably he was the Thai Super Bantamweight champion in the early 1980's and faced off with a number of notable names. Among those he shared the ring with were world title challengers Sa Wang Kim, Paul Ferreri, and world champion Seung Hoon Lee. Although for a rather nondescript Thai he got around a lot, fighting not just in Thailand but also Australia, South Korea, Philippines, Indonesia and even the UK! One extra interesting fact here is he holds a win over Sak Galaxy, scoring that win a year after Sak had beaten Khaosai Galaxy! Missile Kudo (10-12-2, 3) We started this with a successful fighter, so we'll also end this with a successful fighter, or at least a semi-successful fighter, in the form of Missile Kudo. The Japanese Minimumweight was born Masato Kudo in 1959 and made his debut in 1982. He won the Japanese Minimumweight title in 1988, becoming the 5th man to hold the title, and held it from June to November. Although his reign was a short one he was also in the inaugural bout for the title in 1986, dropping Kenji Ono but losing a close decision. Two two would rematch, fighting to a draw, before Kudo out pointed Yasuo Yogi in the summer of 1988. We won't call Missile a star but he did manage to win a Japanese title, and that's not an easy task. What is rather humorous however is his name, "Missile", something not very apt for a fighter with just 3 stoppages in 24 bouts, 1 stoppage for every 8 bouts he fought! |
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