Lets start this week's "The Good, the Bad, The Ugly" by just mentioning, once again, that it's great to see more and more boxing. Almost every week now we are getting more bouts, at a higher level, on a more consistent basis. That's not just a good, but that's a great! Sadly however with more bouts we see more chicanery, really odd stuff going on and some horrifically bad match ups. With that said lets take a look at The Good, The Bad and The Ugly for this week!
The Good 1-TYC Play Stream A big shout out to TYC for their English coverage of Payne Boxing Series from Daytona. This was free to watch, high quality and interesting card. Don't get us wrong the quality wasn't amazing and the card was easily over-shadowed by other bouts, but anything truly free that this sport gives us gets a thumbs up from us! The card featured some interesting prospects, and whilst the match making left something to be desired the show ran well, was decent, had some nice fighters in action. Fingers crossed this continues going forward! 2-Zelfa Barrett's finish There's a lot of fighters that we are very unsold on and Zelfa Barrett is one such fighter. Whilst we certainly don't regard him as a top prospect, like Sky TV were pushing, he is a really fun guy to watch and his bout with Eric Donovan on Friday night was a really good fight. It was technical, competitive and then Barrett's power showed as he scored a truly devastating KO. Whilst we often want wars and high intensity battles we do love a well fought technical battle and that's what we got through much of this bout, until round 7 when Barrett's power told and he dropped Donovan twice, before a brutal finish in round 8. The Bad 1-Frank Warren's dull show When Frank Warren and Queensberry promotions get a chance to shine, they really do mess don't they. Their latest show was on BT Sport and ESPN+ and it was a torture to watch. Whilst the two under-card bouts were competitive neither was a joy to tune into. It wasn't helped by both bouts resulting in questionable decisions for the house fighter either. The co-feature saw Michael Conlan claim his latest win, but in reality it was a slog to watch, whilst a very rusty Carl Frampton struggled to get going against a domestic class fighter on a weeks notice. No one came out of this show looking good and ESPN came off looking terrible, by being on a delay broadcast as well. This was not an advert for boxing. 2-Teiken Delay Show Sometimes a "bad" is predictable, and that's the case with Teiken postponing their September 5th show to October 2nd. It's disappointing news but not a surprise, at all. The Teiken gym has been closed for over a week following the positive result in a PCR test given by Jorge Linares and with the gym still not open the fighters haven't been able to train. It's disappointing, an we certainly want to see more fights, but full understand the decision and expected it when the gym was forced to close. Thankfully the delay is only about a month so it's not a major issue. 3-David Benavidez loses title on the scales YoungThe Super Middleweight division has long been a mess, with fighters showing little intention of unifying, or trying to prove who is the best at 168lbs. Things got even muddier this week when David Benavidez was stripped of the WBC due failing to make weight. It's currently unclear if Benavidez will try to continue at Super Middleweight or will move up in weight, though what is clear is a unification bout with Caleb Plant is now off the table, and Benavidez again has question marks over his head about his professionalism. Some will state he has a great work ethic but he has be drug issues and now this problem making weight. At 23 years old he is still a youngster but the fear is that this is a pattern of behaviour that will see him fail to reach his potential. He's a talented fighter, but one who needs to begin to live the life if he's to fulfil his potential. 4-WBA Creating more and more belts! We saw several Japanese fans joke over the weekend that the PBC should be re-named the IBC, the Interim Boxing Champions, and that's certainly got some weight to it after the WBA created another worthless and unnecessary Interim title to help PBC out. This time it was the WBA "interim" Lightweight title, that ended up, some how, around the waist the over-hyped Rolando Romero. Romero is a charismatic guy but he had beaten no one of value before this weekend and was given a repugnant decision against Jackson Marinez to give him the title. Whilst Romero had fought no one coming in to this bout it also needs to be said Marinez hadn't either. The WBA said they'd review the result, but really the need to review their title whole title policy. This was a great match up on paper, marred by awful judging and a pointless title. Not every promising, prospect needs a special title created for them. They should have to earn it. The Ugly 1-PPV this coming weekend in the UK In a year that has seen a huge amounts of financial hardship for people, unemployment rising, and real tough times for British people, Sky Sports and Matchroom boxing thing it's an ideal time for a PPV. We know people live in their own bubble, but for PPV to be running at this current point is simply ridiculous. We genuinely hope the numbers for this bomb and that Matchroom come in to the reel world. They are holding the event in a private garden the size of a public park and expecting fans to pay in a real example of not reading the room. The show, although decent on paper, should be the standard level of card expected on Sky Sports, after all the main bouts are an "interim" world title and a female world title bout. Not exactly the huge fights that need PPV money behind them. 2-Garry Ritter's botch Boxing is a dangerous sport, and incredibly dangerous sport. So with that in mind we really need to ask what the fuck was Gary Ritter doing on Saturday night? Given that performance the experienced referee needs to be put out to pasture as he genuinely endangered one of the fighters, and blew a call that massively changed the a fight. He was the third man in the ring for Israil Madrimov's bout with Eric Walker and in round 9 Madrimov dropped Walker, hard. Instead of giving Walker a count Ritter made an excuse not to count, and allowed the bout to continue, after giving Walker time to recover. We're lucky that Walker managed to recover, though we did genuinely worry about his health. Interestingly it appears Ritter, although experienced, is rarely trusted in 12 round bouts and according to Boxrec this was his first in more than 2 years. An appalling call, and a dangerous one that risked Walker's health.
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Something we've wanted to do for a while, but never got round to it, was look at some cases of boxers who share the same name. It's not a big thing, or the most exciting thing ever, but it's an oddity that has been on our radar for a few years now and something we've wanted to cover. Today, we're going to do just that and look at 10 names that were used by multiple fighters, with two of them being used by 3 fighters. Some of these fighters had careers that were similar, whilst others were cases where one fighter has certainly made the name synonymous with themselves.
10- Sho Nakazawa One of the first names we had in mind for this article was Sho Nakazawa, a name shared by a once touted Super Bantamweight come Super Featherweight and a former Japanese Flyweight contender. Of the two it's the modern day one, who was born in 1992 and began his career in 2013, who is the more notable, but that was more as an amateur, where he won a number of domestic trophies. As we write this he is 12-4 (6) and fighting out of the Ohashi gym, though did begin his career as Osaka Teiken. His career has failed to hit the heights expected of him, sadly, though is still an active fighter and is still a genuine talent, despite not becoming the fighter many had hoped. The other Sho Nakazawa went was born in 1984 before debuting in 2004. He fought through to 2014 whilst running up a professional record of 17-11-2 (1). During his career he fought some notable names, including Ryoichi Taguchi, twice, and Kenichi Horikawa but was more regarded as a durable fighter than someone capable of going places with his career. Notably in his 30 bout career he was stopped just once, by Shota Kawaguchi in 2013. 9-Daisuke Watanabe We stick with Japan again for this name as we look at Daisuke Watanabe, a name shared by two Japanese fighters, born 10 years apart. As with Sho Nakazawa one of the men with this name is still an active fighter, and in fact has a direct link to Nakazawa, but more about that in a minute. The first of the Daisuke Watanabe's was born in 1981 and made his professional debut in 2004. He only fought for a few years before leaving the sport in 2008 with a 3-4 (2) record. His record doesn't have anything of note on it, though his final bout took place on a card that featured Hozumi Hasegawa, Takashi Uchiyama and Edwin Valero. Very much an obscure fighter The second Daisuke Watanabe is a currently active fighter who was born in 1991 and began his career in 2014. His career is ongoing and we still suspect some notable achievements from him. Among his bouts so far he has faced Sho Nakazawa, the second one, early in his career and is currently scheduled to compete final of the Hajime No Ippo 30th anniversary tournament. fighter. He's aggressive, heavy handed and has been matched hard, leaving him with a 10-4-2 (6) record as we write this. Aged 29 we see him still having a notable future in the sport. 8-Kenji Ono A really interesting name to consider is Kenji Ono, which was a name shared by two different fighters. One is a rather recent fighter whilst the other is a less well known but, is somone one who etched his name into the boxing history books way back in 1986. Neither men had a stellar career, but both are very notable fighters. The original Kenji Ono was born in 1959 and fought as a professional from 1981 to 1988, running up a 17-11-4 (6) record. During his career he fought some genuinely notable fighters including Samuth Sithnaruepol and Hiroki Ioka. As well as those opponents he also holds two notable distinctions. Firstly he was the first ever Japanese Minimumweight champion, beating Missile Kudo for the title in 1986, and he also lost in the first ever OPBF Minimumweight title bout. The second Kenji Ono was born in 1988 and fought from 2011 to 2019, and may well continue his career going forward, though it does seem somewhat unlikely given recent results. His most notable achievement was winning the 2014 All Japan Rookie of the Year, beating Seita Ogido in the final and in 2016 he was involved in a sensational bout with Jun Takigawa, which saw both men hitting the canvas. Sadly in recent years his form has suffered and he has gone 0-2-2 in his last 4, including a stoppage loss to Seigo Yuri Akui. 7-Xiang Li Maybe the strangest case of two fighters with the same name comes from China, where we currently have two Xiang Li's, making things incredibly complicated. Not only are they both active fighters but both are still very early in their career's and it's hard to say who is the more accomplished, or even the most promising. One of the Xiang Li's is a 22 year old Light Flyweight, who is currently 8-2-2 (3) and is a southpaw. So far in his career he's had some really interesting results, including a very controversial draw with Ryu Horikawa, a win in Hong Kong against Raymond Poon and he's hard fights in Thailand, Hong Kong and the Philippines. Although no world beater he has picked up a number of minor titles. The other Xiang Li is an unbeaten Super Featherweight who was born in 1995 and currently sports a 6-0 (5) record. On paper he looks the more notable but in reality he hasn't hasn't looked as skilled as the younger, smaller man. What he does have is power and that power has seen him stop his last 5 opponents. He's one to watch, as he's fun and heavy handed, but he's further away from a world title fight than the other Xiang Li. Notably this is the only case we can think of where two current Asian fighters share the same name. 6-Ji Hoon Kim The first of a three-fer in this article is Ji Hoon Kim. We know some will recognise the name, after all there was a former world title challenger by the name who was a popular TV level fighter, but they may not be aware that there was other Ji Hoon Kim's out there. The more notable of the 3 is the Lightweight known as "Volcano", who was born in 1987 and fought as a professional between 2004 and 2013. This Kim is one of the last notable Korean fighters and was a very much a TV friendly warrior who managed to make a name in the US, before fighting for a world title and then retiring due to an issue with his eyes. When he retired his record was 25-9 (19) A second Ji Hoon Kim was a lower weight fighter who typically fought at Super Flyweight. This Ji Hoon Kim went 3-4 (1) and fought entirely in South Korea between 2011 and 2013 he was born in 1992 and whilst his career over-lapped with the more famous Ji Hoon Kim his career never really took off, with the fighter ending his career after 3 straight losses. The third Ji Hoon Kim is even less notable than the other two, going 0-2 in his very brief career in 2013. He fought between Super Bantamweight and Featherweight and really, if we're being honest, did nothing of note in the sport. Strangely his career final bout was the final one of all 3 of these Kim's, who all fought in 2013. 5-Koji Matsumoto As we write this Keisuke Matsumoto is only days away from his professional debut as he looks to follow in the footsteps of his father, Koji Matsumoto. Well that's one of the two Koji Matsumoto's who are known to have fought in Japan. The most famous of the due, by far, is the former southpaw form Yokohama who was a 3-time world title challenger and a multi-time Japanese Featherweight champion. This Koji Matsumoto, Keisuke's father, was born in 1969 and fought as a professional from 1989 to 1998. During that time he went 26-6-1 (15) and shared the ring with the likes of Freddie Norwood, Yong Soo Choi and Young Kyun Park. The second Koji Matsumoto was a Super Bantamweight who fought from 2005 to 2006 and was from Saitama. This Koji Matsumoto went 2-2 (1) with his final professional bout coming against a then 21 year old Takuya Kogawa. Compared to the other Koji Matsumoto this is a mismatch. 4-Ric Magramo We're going to cheat a little bit here though we'll explain why. There has not been a notable boxer born with the birth name "Ric Magramo", there is however two men who fought under that name, and both are pretty notable fighters from a very interesting fighting family. In fact they may well be the case where both men are more notable, than any other 2-fighter pairing. The "original" Ric Magramo was born Endrikito Magramo, though is better known as Ric Magramo. His date of birth isn't clear but he debuted in 1961 and fought through to 1970 whilst running up a solid 35-17-5 (15) record. During his career he fought the likes of Bernabe Villacampo, Walter McGowan, Tsuyoshi Nakamura, Hiroyuki Ebihara, Kiyoshi Tanabe, Erbito Salavarria and Berkrerk Chartvanchai. He actually took a few from those guys as well, won a Filipino title and fought for the OPBF Flyweight title 3 times. The other Ric Magramo was born Renato Magramo in 1961, and had a career that spanned from 1982 to 1998. He ran up a record of 34-22-5 (9), which sounds poor but included bouts, like the other Ric Magramo, against a who's who of who. His opponents included Gerry Penalosa, Chana Porpaoin, Chatchai Sasakul, Joma Gamboa, Sompoch Harnvichachai, Paul Weir and Jacob Matlala. He even got a world title fight, when he fought Weir. 3-Hiroshi Kobayashi Like a few others in this list there is a huge gulf in how well known the two Hiroshi Kobayashi's are. One is regarded as one of Japan's greatest fighters, a former world champion and one of the great Japanese fighters from the past. The other is, sadly, a domestic journeyman who fought a number of top fighters but fail to score a win of note. The original Hiroshi Kobayashi was a great Super Featherweight was born in 1944, made his debut at the age of 17 and was a professional from 1962 to 1971. He won his first 18 bouts before suffering 4 straight losses. In the years that followed however he rebuilt brilliantly and won the Japanese Featherweight title before dethroning Yoshiaki Numata for the WBA and WBC Super Featherweight titles. He would defend the WBC title once and the WBA title 6 times before losing his final 3 bouts in 1971, with the final loss coming to Roberto Duran. He retired with a 61-10-4 (10) record. The other Hiroshi Kobayashi was born in 1969, whilst the first was still a world champion, and would make his debut in 1989, at the age of 19. He would go 12-15-2 (3) in a 29 fight career that ended in 2000. Although his numbers don't stack up he was a well trusted domestic level fighter who shared the ring with Hyung Chul Lee, Rolando Pascua, Rolando Bohol, Yuri Arbachakov, Hideki Todaka and Celes Kobayashi, among others. Very much a journeyman, but a good, domestic one. 2-Ki Soo Kim We're back in South Korea here for another case of a fighter with a name being much, much better known than the other, with the name Ki Soo Kim. Unfortunately this is probably one of the most unfair in this list, with one being a national hero and the other being an unfortunate fighter with the same name. The original Ki Soo Kim was born in 1939 and would go on to be a successful amateur and even more successful professional winning the Light Middleweight world titles in 1966. He was the first Korean to win world titles and fought as a professional from 1961 to 1969, running up a 33-2-2 (17) record and paving the way for the Korean fighters to follow him in the years ahead. As well as the Light Middleweight world title he also held the OPBF Middleweight title and would often switch between the two division's. Among his big wins were decisions against Nino Benvenuti, who had beaten him in the Olympics and Freddie Little. The other Ki Soo Kim went 3-2 (1) and fought between 1982 and 1983. His achievements in the ring amounted to nothing, and he really didn't do much of note at all. The one thing noteworthy about his career, other than his name, is that he fought a then 18 year old Myung Woo Yuh, the future Light Flyweight great. Sadly it's unclear when Kim was born, though we suspect it was around the time that his name sake was a top fighter 1-Takashi Miura The final name on this list again comes from Japanese boxing, and that is Takashi Miura. We suspect everyone reading this will know of one Takashi Miura but amazingly there has been three of them, two of whom fought at the same time, in the same division. Those two also share an opponent, and amazingly neither of them were the original Takashi Miura! Let us explain. The first Takashi Miura was a Super Bantamweight who fought in the late 1990's. His career record is possibly incomplete, though boxrec have him going 1-4 between 1997 and 1999. His most notable opponent was probably Jun Toriumi and he is very much a forgotten man. The second Takashi Miura was a Super Featherweight who born in 1980 and made his professional debut in 2002. This Takashi Miura was an orthodox fighter had some solid success, including a win over Kinji Amano. After going 7-1-1 (4) his career capitulated and he would end with an 8-6-1 (5) record, including losses to future Japanese national champions Yosukezan Onodera and Yoshimitsu Yashiro. His career came to an end in 2007 after a 4th straight loss. The third Takashi Miura was also a Super Featherweight, who debuted in 2003 and fought all the way up to 2017. He was born in 1984 and would become the most notable of the Takashi Miura's winning the Japanese and WBC titles, and became a fan favourite among the hardcore fans. Interestingly he twice fought Yoshimitsu Yashiro, ending Yashiro's national title reign, and would go on to fight a real who's who. He first made a mark internationally in 2011, when he fought Takashi Uchiyama, and would later face Gamaliel Diaz, Sergio Thompson, Billy Dib, Francisco Vargas, Mickey Roman and Miguel Berchelt. *Please note some records may be incomplete, all records used as boxrec records as per August 2020. When we talk about the "best" fighter we tend to be discussing the most successful, and not the most skilled. With boxing we need to remember that skills, alone, don't pay the bills and it's often the other facets, along with skills, that lead a fighter to success. A great example is Jorge Linares, one of the most skilled fighters out there just lacking in terms of durability. Another great example of skills was Hiroshi Kawashima (20-3-1, 14), one of the most skilled and polished defensive fighters Japan has ever produced. Kawashima will never be mentioned alongside the likes of Fighting Harada as Japan's greatest ever boxer, but in terms of skills Kawashima is very much in the countries elite tier. Sadly for Kawashima his incredible skills came at a price, and he worked on a defensive style following a couple of early stoppage losses, and he lacked the durability to take risks and be an aggressive fighter. His skills made up for his poor chin but still limited his overall success. Even with a questionable punch resistance however Kawashima turned his career around and went from 4-2-1 (4) to a man who made 6 defenses of the WBC Super Flyweight title in the mid 1990's. He made those defenses by using his exceptional skills to out box his challengers, and neutralise their aggression. Rather than waxing lyrical about Kawashima development as a fight we're here today to look at the 5 most significant wins for... Hiroshi Kawashima during his often under-rated 24 fight career. Hideki Koike (July 13th 1992) Having been written off after 7 professional bouts it took Kawashima time and effort to rebuild. His talent was obvious but there was always a question mark on whether or not he was going to be stopped again. In the summer of 1992 he took on the then Japanese Super Flyweight champion Hideki Koike, who boasted a 10-1-1 (8) record. Koike had stopped his previous 4 opponent, had power and had entered as the champion. That wasn't enough for him to over-come Kawashima, who proved too smart and too talented for the champion. This win saw Kawashima take his first professional title, and at the age of 22, prove that he had made the changes needed to at least compete at the higher end of domestic level. Kenji Matsumura (April 6th 1993) As the Japanese Super Flyweight champion Kawashima would make 3 defenses of his title. The final one of those saw him take on Kenji Matsumura, a name that hardcore fans of the division may recognise. Matsumura had, prior to this bout, been a 4-time world title challenger with bouts against Khaosai Galaxy, twice, Sung Kil Moon and Katsuya Onizuka. Although his best days were behind him he was a step up step up, on paper, from the other domestic challengers that Kawashima had faced. Kawashima would go on to stop Matsumura in 5 rounds, matching the feat that WBA champion Onizuka had done 7 months earlier and allowed comparisons between himself and the popular "Spanky K". Jose Luis Bueno I (May 4th 1994) Whilst Kawashima wouldn't get a shot at Onizuka, he did get his hands on WBC champion Jose Luis Bueno in May 1994. Bueno had ended the reign of Sung Kil Moon in October 1993, when he outpointed Moon in Korea, and had travelled to Japan to take on Kawashima in his first defense. This was a massive step up in class for the Japanese fighter who rose to the occasion and to take a clear decision over Mexican champion. Bueno didn't want to give up his title, and that was clear through out, but he struggled to dictate the tempo or distance of the bout as Kawashima's boxing brain out thought the experienced champion. Bueno kept it competitive but was dropped in round 11 as Kawashima did enough to secure the win and the world title. Carlos Salazar (August 7th 1994) After winning the title Kawashima's first defense saw him take on Argentinian fighter Carlos Salazar. Salazar is one of the many over-looked fighters from this era. He had given the then WBC Flyweight champion Sot Chitalada a tough one in 1990 in Bangkok, and then gave Sung Kil Moon fits in 1993 in Korea. In April 1994 Salazar fought in a close loss to Marco Antonio Barrera, and then travelled to Japan to take on Kawashima. Unsurprisingly Salazar was no push over for Kawashima and the two southpaws matched each other really well in a tactically fascinating, but rather drama free, bout. Whilst this was certainly not an exciting bout, despite some fun exchanges, it was a really impressive win, especially when you consider that Salazar would go on to win world titles at Flyweight and Bantamweight. This wasn't a fun bout to watch but was a win that aged brilliantly and helped enhance Kawashima's reputation as a result of Salazara's later success. Jose Luis Bueno II (January 18th 1995) Sometimes a bout can be significant due to when it happens and that certainly played a part in making Kawashima's rematch with former champion Salazar so important. The bout, like their first, was competitive at times, though not the close bout Chuck Hassett had it. Again Kawashima took the decision, and dropped Bueno, this time in round 7, on route to his decision win. The real reason why this bout was so important was that it came just a day after the Great Hanshin earthquake. Emotions in Japan were high thousands were killed, 10's of thousands were injured and 100's of thousands had been displaced. The country was hurting and Kawashima's win managed to add some normality to a country that was going though something horrific. Although it failed to make this list properly we do need to give a quick mention to Kawashima's November 1995 win over Boy Aruan. This was, rather surprisingly, the first time a Japanese and Indonesian fighter had fought in a world title bout. The month of August has already been pretty damn entertaining and we're about half way through it. Over the coming 2 weeks or so we see it get even better, with a host of notable fighters in action in varying level of match ups. Here we take the opportunity to highlight some of the best of what's still to come in August!
PLEASE Note - All bouts are subject to change, cancellations and postponements, something that is a lot more rife right now than usual due to the on going situation. August 15th Tulsa, USA Israil Madrimov (5-0, 5) vs Eric Walker (20-2, 9) In a WBA World title eliminator at Light Middleweight we'll see sensational Uzbek Israil Madrimov seek his 6th professional win as he takes on 37 year old Eric Walker. On paper this looks like a good step forward for Madrimov, despite Walker's advanced age. Unlike many older fighters Walker doesn't have a lot of miles on the clock, due to a very late start in boxing. Saying that however this is still likely to be more about Madrimov, and the Uzbek taking strides towards a world title fight, than it is about Walker and his redemption story. Shakhram Giyasov (9-0, 7) vs Francisco Hernandez Rojo (22-3, 15) Another Uzbek looking to move towards a world title fight is Olympic Silver medal winner Shakhram Giyasov. The talented Giyasov has shown some cracks in recent bouts and should be tested here as he takes on Francisco Hernandez Rojo. The Uzbek has shown some real potential but we do need to see him answering more questions and hopefully Rojo, who once lost a very close bout to Ryan Martin, will ask some of some of those questions. At his best Rojo could be the acid test needed for Giyasov, though it should be noted that it's well over 2 years since Rojo last fought, and this could be a genuine issue for the Mexican fighter. August 19th Korakuen Hall, Japan Ryota Yamauchi (6-1, 5) Vs Satoru Todaka (10-3-4, 4) In a bout for the now vacant WBO Asia Pacific Flyweight title we'll see the once beaten Ryota Yamauchi take on Satoru Todaka, with the winner pushing their claim for a WBO world title fight. Yamauchi has long been tipped for a world title and looks like a real talent, though one with plenty of areas to work on. As for Todaka this is likely to be seen as a must win, following a loss last year to Kenichi Horikawa in a Japanese title bout. We suspect this has been put together to make Yamauchi look like a star, and that's exactly what we expect of the Kadoebi gym youngster. Masanori Rikiishi (7-1, 4) Vs Yuichiro Kasuya (13-2-2, 4) In a real 50-50 match up we see former Rookie of the Year winner Yuichiro Kasuya take on the hard matched Masanori Rikiishi, in a mouth watering clash. This bout won't get the attention that many others will, but is, for us, one of the best match ups of the month. We favour the hard hitting Rikiishi, who comes into the bout on the back of a big win over Freddy Fonseca, but Kasuya is no push over and this could be a very intriguing match up, that could end super competitive on the cards August 22nd Korakuen Hall, Japan Shingo Kusano (13-8-1, 5) Vs Daisuke Watanabe (10-4-2, 6) In the Hajime No Ippo 30th Anniversary tournament final we'll see slippery southpaw Shingo Kusano take on the aggressive Daisuke Watanabe, in what could turn out to be a really, really intriguing match up. Neither of the two men were expected to make their way to the final but both have battled hard to get here, giving a very unexpected main event here. Of the two we think Watanabe has got the edge, but Kusano's performances in the tournament have been two of his very best and he is very much a man fighting for his career. We expect this one to gel very nicely and end up being a very nice match up from stylistic point of view. Shingo Wake (26-6-2, 18) vs Shohei Kawashima (18-4-2, 4) Former world title challenger Shingo Wake was shocked last year in his rematch with Jhunriel Ramonal. Now his career hangs by a thread and he can't afford another set back if he's to remain in the mix for a second shot at world honours. He'll be giving his all to not just win, but to shine when he takes on the talented but light punching Shohei Kawashima. On paper this looks a really even match up, but we expect it to be a mismatch, with Wake making an example of his fellow Japanese fighter, and making a statement. At the age of 33 Wake doesn't have long left and will be desperate to shine. Kawashima can play spoiler, but we don't think he has the ability to do it against a talented southpaw like Wake. August 23rd Almaty, Kazakhstan Tursynbay Kulakhmet (0-0) Vs TBA, Talgat Shaiken (0-0) Vs TBA, Kamshybek Kunkabayev (0-0) Vs TBA Due to the fact none of the above have had their opponents announced at the time of writing we're going to roll this into one and say it's time to take note of the Kazakh talent coming through the ranks under the guidance of MTK Kazakhstan. Although maybe unfair we dare say this trio are the most talented and interesting. For us Kulakhmet is the most talented, Shaiken the most exciting and as a Heavyweight Kunkabayev is the one most likely to make waves on the casual fan. Take note, all 3 of these men are looking to make an impact in the pros and all 3 have got barrels of potential. None of the trio need to be handled softly and all 3 could be let off the leash very quickly, given their incredible talent and amateur backgrounds. August 24th Korakuen Hall, Japan Ryo Matsumoto (23-3, 21) vs Takuya Mizuno (17-2-1, 14) Former world title challenger Ryo Matsumoto is in an awkward position in that cannot afford another loss any time soon, after 2 defeats in 2018. Saying that he is still a sensational talent, and one of the most amazing young boxers to watch, with speed, power, precision and skills. He has all the tools to go far, but now needs to make them work. In Takuya Mizuno we see a solid puncher, but someone who hasn't looked technically astute recently. If Mizuno can't blast Matsumoto out early on we expect to see Matsumoto take a very clear win. Still this is a real test of what both men have and is a very well matched but between very capable young fighters. Ryutaro Nakagaki (0-0) vs Shohei Horii (3-5-2, 2) Former multi-time Japanese amateur champion Ryutaro Nakagaki begins his professional career with a 6 round bout against Shohei Horii. The confident Nakagaki was a sensationally talented amateur who boxed with a pure boxing style, and the big question mark with him, going into the professional ranks, is whether he can add some spite to his shots. If so he's expected to be moved very quickly. Aged just 20 he is one to keep a real eye on, though the speed of his progression will depend on his early performances. Horii on the other hand has been stopped in 4 of his 5 losses and will not be expected to last the schedule with Nakagaki. If this goes 6 the hype will cool massively on Nakagaki, and he'll know that coming in so we expect this one to end early with Nakagaki making a statement. Keisuke Matsumoto (0-0) vs Hironori Miyake (9-9-2, 1) Another talented debutant on this show will be "Mirai Monster" Keisuke Matsumoto. Keisuke, no relation to Ryo, is a third generation fighter following in the foot steps of his father and grandfather. Given his father is Ohashi gym trainer Koji Matsumoto there is real pedigree here with Matsumoto, who has long been tipped as a star of the future. In the opposite corner will be Hironori Miyake. On paper this is a genuinely good test, despite the losses on Miyake's record. Miyake has never been stopped and has given the likes of Kyosuke Sawada and Yoshihiro Utsumi good tests. This should Matsumoto being asked questions, and needing to show what he got in the locker. August 31st Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan Shoki Sakai (23-11-2, 13) vs Hironori Shigeta (6-1-1, 3) To end the month we get a card from Hachioji Nakaya. The show is actually a really interesting one, with a number of intriguing domestic level bouts, but it's the main event that is the pick of the bunch. It will see Shoki Sakai make his Japanese debut, after 36 fights in the West, and will see him up against 2017 All Japan Rookie of the Year winner Hironori Shigeta. Both men are 29 and yet both are at very different stages of their career's. Sakai is slowly becoming the rugged journeyman that gets matched hard against prospects, and has gone 0-4-1 in his last 5. Shigeta on the other hand is a man who will be looking at a potential national title fight if he wins here. Both guys will be coming to win, and this will be a very compelling bout, to top off a very, very good card. This coming Thursday we'll see fans back at Korakuen Hall for the first time for a boxing event since February. The return of fans is welcome, and another sign that boxing is, gradually, getting back to normal in the Land of the Rising Sun. The card's main event is a Japanese title fight, featuring domestic Featherweight champion Ryo Sagawa, but there are other bouts on the card and if you're able to get a ticket those other bouts will be worth getting there early for. One of those bouts will feature 25 year old Super Bantamweight prospect Takeshi Takehara (5-1, 1), who we're going to try a shine a light on today as he looks to bounce back from his sole loss and rebuild has career going forward. Unlike most fighters featured in this series he wasn't an amateur stand out, but is some one we are excited to follow over the coming years, and a nice addiction to a deep domestic division in Japan. As an amateur Takehara didn't have a long or successful career. In fact his 21 fight amateur career saw him go 11-10 (4) in the unpaid ranks before heading to the pros in 2018. As a professional he signed with Kyoei and was supposed to debut in a Rookie of the Year bout in April 2018, just days before his 23rd birthday. Sadly Takehara's debut plans were cancelled when he was forced to pull out of the fight, which would have seen him take on Shota Ogawa. As a result of that cancellation Takehara had to wait until October to make his debut, and completely missed out on the chance to compete at the 2018 Rookie of the Year. When Takehara finally made his debut it was in a small C Class tournament put on by Dangan and saw him take on Naomichi Yaginuma. Despite being in his debut Takehara looked calm and confident, pressing forward with sharp footwork, and his jab looked really quick. Despite his lack of high level amateur experience it was clear that he knew his way around the ring and knew how to box. He ended up taking a decision win here and progressed in the tournament. Sadly however Takehara was unable to shine in the tournament final as his opponent pulled out of the bout. In April 2019 Takehara actually did enter the Rookie of the Year, making up for the issues he had had a year earlier. In his first bout as part of the competition he out pointed Kaisei Nakayasu to progress to the next stage. Just 2 months later he would return to action and defeat Shohei Yamanaka. That win would move Takehara further in the competition and his success kept rolling with a win over Mizuki Akima in July 2019. The win over Akima was supposed to lead Takehara into the East Japan Rookie of the Year Semi final. Takehara however got a bye as Tsubasa Narai was forced to pull out of the bout. That resulted in Takehara fighting in the East Japan Rookie of the Year final, where he impressively stopped Kotaka Umemoto. After scoring 4 decision wins before this bout Takehara actually showed a bit of spite here, forcing the referee to save Umemoto after a series of head shots in round 3. Having won the East Japan Rookie of the Year Takehara progressed to the All Japan final, where he faced Ryuya Tsugawa. Before we talk about the final we need to quickly touch on what happened between Takehara's win against Akima but before his bout All Japan final. The Kyoei Gym closed, temporarily, and left the Kyoei fighters scrambling to to be transfered to a different gym for the final. That ended up with Takehara and Kyonosuke Kameda transferring to the Hanagata gym for their Rookie of the Year final. In the All Japan final, in December 2019, Takehara faced off with Tsugawa in what ended up being a very technical and competitive match up. It wasn't the most exciting bout from the finals, but was among the most compelling and competitive and there wasn't much to pick between the two men, who were really did match each other incredibly well. Sadly for Takehara all 3 judges went with Tsugawa and as a result Takehara suffered his first professional loss. We began this by talking about how Takehara will be back in the ring later this week. Just to extend that a little but, the youngster will be looking to bounce back from the loss to Tsugawa as he takes on Beverely Tsukada (3-4-2. 2) in his first 6 rounder. Another week is gone and we can again look at some of the good, some of the bad and some of the ugly from the week we have gone past.
The Good 1-Youngsters Shine! On Saturday night we were treat to an excellent, mature and truly impressive performance by David Morrell in the US, as he dominated Lennox Allen over 12 rounds. The talented Cuban looked brilliant, mature and note like a 2-0 fighter. You did read that right, a 2-0 fighter dominated someone over 12 rounds. Just hours after that Japanese youngsters Jinki Maeda and Toshiki Shimomachi both shined in excellent performances. Whilst those two Japanese kids were at a much, much lower level than Morrell all 3 men impressed, and all 3 showed that there is exciting talent coming through the ranks. That is a great sign for boxing! 2-Kamshybek Kunkabayev turning professional It's fair to say that typically Asian boxing hasn't provided the best array of Heavyweights. Thankfully however it seems like that is on the verge of changing with a number of interesting and talented Central Asian Heavyweight prospects and hopefuls beginning to make a mark on the sport. They are fighters like as Bakhodir Jalolov, Mahammadrasul Majidov, Ivan Dychko, Zhan Kossobutskiy and Ruslan Myrsatayev. We're glad we can now add Kamshybek Kunkabayev into that list, with the 2-time World Amateur and Asian Champion's silver medal winner announcing he had signed with MTK Global. With his 29th birthday coming in November he may have left it a bit later, but who cares, we want to welcome him to the growing wave of Central Asian Heavyweight fighters, ready to make their mark at very high level. 3-Terri Harper and Natasha Jonas put on a thriller! We know there is still plenty of boxing fans who won't give female boxing a real chance, and we understand some fans never will. For those of us who enjoy female boxing, and those willing to actually give it a chance, can we just stand up and applaud the excellent bout between Terri Harper and Natasha Jonas from Friday night? This was fucking brillaint! We didn't expect a bout anywhere as close and competitive as we got, and damn both women brought the action in one of the best bouts since boxing returned. This is how you make the doubters of female boxing sit up and give it a chance, this is how you make fans care. Don't get us wrong, the quality of being wasn't amazing, the skills on show weren't mind blowing, but the action, intensity and entertainment were off the charts, and the evenly fought back and forth made this so very compelling. Hats off girls! This was fantastic. The Bad 1-Jong Seon Kang vs Seong Yeong Yang falling through If we had to single out 1 bout that had us massively excited for the month it was the scheduled all-Korean show down between Jong Seon Kang and Seong Yeong Yang. This had the legitimate potential to be a FOTY contender, and an all out war between two men who love letting their hands go and love to have a toe-to-toe battle. Sadly however this fell through at relatively short notice due to Yang suffering from a medical issue. On one hand it shouldn't be a major problem, and should pass quickly for the young and exciting Korean, but it was bad enough to force this bout off. A big "bad" for us, despite the fact most who don't follow the Asian scene probably weren't even aware of this, or how good the fight would have been. 2-Still nothing for Canelo, Joshua or Inoue It's weird world we live in where the biggest names in 3 different continents have nothing on the docket yet. Canelo's September date seems to have been missed, with no announcement, things are almost radio silent on Inoue and Joshua's date to face Pulev keeps getting pushed back and back. We understand all 3 men will likely need a gate to help fund their purses, but it's a scary sign that some of the biggest names in boxing may not end up fighting at all in 2020. We expect all 3 to fit in a fight before next year, though it could end up being December for Inoue, and November for the other two, which would be a massive disappointment. The Ugly 1-Ian John Lewis has done it again There are bouts where a referee is good, there are bouts where a referee is bad, and almost all referees vary. Even the best of the best are bad sometimes. Sadly Ian John Lewis has again done a typical Ian John Lewis job of being terrible. His role in the Anthony Fowler Vs Adam Harper fight was deplorable. He had numerous chances to step in and stop the bout, he had chances to put Adam Harper's health first, and chose not. He should have could have stopped the bout in round 4, 5 or 6 but instead the beating went on into round 7. By that point Harper's only chance was for Fowler to get himself disqualified. One of these days Ian John Lewis is going to cause a fighter a serious, life shortening, but totally avoidable, injury. This isn't an isolated case, and his role in the Vitali Klitschko Vs Shannon Briggs bout proves it. He might be an "A Star referee" as the British Boxing Board of Control deem him, but that really sullies the name of the BBBofC and damages the reputations of the other referees. Serious questions need asking, now, of Ian John Lewis, before someone dies due to his refereeing. 2-The Teiken Situation At the moment it's very, very unclear what the situation is at the Teiken Gym in regards to their fighters. The hope is that the gym will be closed for a few days, Jorge Linares will have a 10 day rest period, will feel fine at the end of it, the gym will re-open with out delay and we'll not see any bouts, other than Linares Vs Javier Fortuna and the already cancelled bout for August 13th, needing to be changed going forward. The reality however is that things will change and the September 5th Teiken card could end up being cancelled, along with other bouts in September. Way back in early May 2019 we covered the then unbeaten Tetsuro Ohashi (7-1-1, 2) as part of our "Introducing" series. At the time Ohashi was 6-0-1 (1) and the 20 year old was showing real potential whilst preparing to take on Thai visitor Kathawut Saikaew Boxing Camp.
When we "Introduced" Ohashi he had won the 2018 Rookie of the Year, at Super Flyweight, with a decision win over Shinobu Wakagi in the final. He had shown a lack of power, but some lovely skills and it was clear he had the potential to go far, but still had work to do. What he had was skills, speed, timing, footwork and size. He is also a southpaw, giving him yet another thing to like. For a Super Flyweight he was a long, tall, rangy guy, and fought to his physical strengths. Whilst Ohashi is a big guy at Super Flyweight he is still very young, lacking physical maturity. That lack of maturity was obvious in 2019, he still looked like a kid, a scrawny looking kid. Questions were always going to be asked when a fighter could get past his jab, cut the ring, and begin to physically bully him. It wasn't going to be an easy task for opponents, but was a clear area where Ohashi was probably going to struggle. Following our introduction of Ohashi he blew out Kathawut Saikaew Boxing Camp inside a round as part of the Reiya Konishi Vs Felix Alvarado under-card. The win was Ohashi's first stoppage since he defeated Akihiro Imai back in June 2017 in Ohashi's debut, almost 2 years earlier. The bout said more about the totally hapless Thai than Ohashi, though the Japanese youngster did show some nice touches and his left hands to the body were particularly potent against the Thai. After stopping Kathawut Saikaew Boxing Camp we then saw Ohashi move into his first title bout. That came in October 2019 when he took on fellow Japanese youngster Suzumi Takayama in a bout for the Japanese Youth Super Flyweight title. This was one of those bouts that is rather unique to the Japanese scene, with two talented young prospects both facing in their first 10 bouts. It was a notable amateur in Takayama taking on a Rookie of the Year winner, in Ohashi. The bout between Ohashi and Takayama turned out to be a genuine hidden gem. Ohashi was dropped in the first round but then got revenge in round 2 when he dropped Takayama, and managed to build a lead through the first half of the fight. Going into the final round Ohashi was in a lead on all 3 cards, albeit a narrow one. With the bout slipping away from Takayama dropped a tired Ohashi twice in round 8, with Ohashi's team throwing in the towel to save their man. The loss is a clear set back for Ohashi, a stoppage loss can certainly be hard to bounce back from. However this is not a loss that Ohashi should feel ashamed by. In fact if anything it showed he could fight through adversity, getting up in the first round. He could recompose himself when hurt, and he belonged at that level. The loss also showed that he needed time, he needed a chance to develop and mature physically and get used to the 8 round distance. Whilst Ohashi hasn't fought since October 2019 in part due to the global situation, we're really looking forward to seeing more of him. Unlike many fighters the lengthy break from the ring may serve him well. It's allowed him a lengthy break after a stoppage loss, and it's given him plenty of time to naturally mature. Of course gym time would have helped, but we suspect the time out of the ring will be a blessing in disguise for the 21 year old from the Shinsei Gym. (Please note - Ohashi may have had his next bout announced by the time this goes live, it was written in May) As we continue this fun little series we remain in South Korea for a second week running. Last week we looked at Hi Yong Choi and this week we move over to his Hyundai promotions stable mate Young Kyun Park (28-3-1, 16). Like Choi it's fair to say that Park wasn't the most polished or rounded of fighters but he was certainly a thrill a minute fighter with an ultra aggressive style that lead to him being dubbed the "Bulldozer". As a professional Park fought between 1986 and 1995, holding the WBA Featherweight title in the early 1990's. Although not too well remembered in the West he's the type of fighter that fans typically think of when they think Korean boxing. A strong, come forward fighter with clear technical limitations, but an incredible will to win, terrifying stamina and a jaw of titanium. With that all said lets bring you the 5 most significant wins for... Young Kyun Park Kyong-Mo Chung (December 28th 1986) One thing we mention in a lot of these, at least for Japanese fighters, is their triumph in the Rookie of the Year. The same sort of tournament is held in Korea and in 1986 Park won the tournament, beating Kyong Mo Chung in the final in late December. This was Park's first big win and was his 5th bout in less than 3 weeks. Given how harsh the Korean Rookie of the Year tournaments can be, cramming a lot of fights into a very small time frame, this was a stellar win for Park who showed off his energy and mental toughness. He had fought 11 rounds in the previous bouts in the tournament and yet showed enough in reserve to take a 6 round decision over his foe. Whilst there were much bigger wins to come for him domestically, this is the one that stands out as being the most significant. Antonio Esparragoza (March 30th 1991) Despite winning the South Korean Super Bantamweight and OPBF Featherweight titles it's hard to mention either of those as Park's wins at domestic and Oriental title level were rather forgettable. That leaves us with a bit of a gap to Park's second significant win, his WBA Featherweight world title win over Venezuelan puncher Antonio Esparragoza. Coming in to this Esparragoza was 30-1-4 (27), and had been a long reigning world champion, holding the belt since March 1987. His reign had taken him all over the world, with defenses in the US, Italy, Japan, Belgium, Mexico and South Korea, where he had beaten Chan Mok Park 10 months prior to facing Park. Park out worked the 31 year old champion, and explained that he had gotten a bit of luck in catching Esparragoza at the right time. Park's work rate, toughness and desire helped him earn a clear decision over Esparragoza and take the world title just weeks after his stable mate had taken his first, giving Hyundai Promotions two world titles and helping put them on the map. Eloy Rojas I (September 14th 1991) In Park's second defense of the WBA title he took on the then unbeaten Eloy Rojas. Rojas, sporting a 22-0 (21) record had a reputation as a heavy handed fighter and momentum of being an unbeaten fighter. Park didn't seem to care about what Rojas brought to the table and pressed forward from the off, backing up Rojas and trying to take him out. Rojas gutted out some awful moments early on and managed to ride out the storm to survive the early onslaught. Although he was brave and tough Rojas was in such a big hole that he ended up coming up well short on the scorecards as Park took a clear decision. These two would later rematch, twice, with Rojas winning both of their subsequent bouts, but without this win Park would never have had the rivalry with Rojas that he had, and that would have been a huge shame. Seiji Asakawa (January 25th 1992) If there is a single bout of Park's that needs to be watch it's his 9 round war with Japanese challenger Seiji Asakawa. This was Park's third defense of the WBA title, coming 5 months after his win over Rojas, and boy what a doozy it was. Asakawa had entered as a 2-time Japanese national champion and boasted a 19-2-1 (14) record. At the time Park was 20-1-1 (11) and it was clear that Asakawa entered the bout with the belief that he was the puncher. That wasn't the right gameplan to take into a bout with Park and the Korean broke down Asakawa in a thrilling bout. This is the type of bout where it's immediate significance is perhaps not the highest, but afterwards it's the sort of bout we suggest every fan watches as an introduction to Park, and will certainly be a bout that lives long in the memory. Sometimes having a bout that is a must watch war is every big as significant as a domestic or regional title win, and this is that type of bout. Koji Matsumoto (April 25th 1992)
The significance of a bout can be very much a debatable subject. On paper Park's 1992 win over Koji Matsumoto, in what Park's 4th defense looks fairly routine. Park stopped Matsumoto in the 11th round whilst a mile ahead on the scorecards. For all intents the bout wasn't a special defense, though it was his first defense against a southpaw. What it actually lead to however was a brilliant friendship between two men who are still close today. Park has stated that Matsumoto is the only former foe he's still in touch with, and Park has been invited to a number of fights in Japan promoted by the Ohashi gym as a result of this contest. In terms of boxing, and Park's legacy the bout isn't one of the most significant, but on a personal level this is a bout that certainly means a lot to both. It's also likely part of the reason the Ohashi gym has been willing to send fighters over to Korea. The longer term significance of this bout is really important, and something that still impacts the sport now, almost 20 years later. One thing we haven't seen a lot of over the years are all-Filipino world title bouts, and that's a real shame. Whilst we understand, begrudgingly, champions from the same country not unifying titled what we never understand it why fighters form the same country seem to rarely face off. At least for some countries. And the Philippines is the worse country for this. With that in mind we had a think about some of the bouts we wish we'd had and came up with our latest "Fight we wish we had". Unlike some fights this one doesn't have FOTY written all over it, but would still be a very, very intriguing match up.
Donnie Nietes Vs Johnriel Casimero As mentioned we don't see Filipino's fighting each other in world title bouts very often, unlike in the UK, US and Mexico, and more recently Japan. That's despite some bouts looking too obvious not to make, and this was one of those obvious ones. Not only was it an obvious match up between one of the most talented fighters and one of the most explosive, but it was also a match up but it was also one that could have taken place at any of 3 different weight classes. In one corner would have been Donnie Nietes, one of the most well schooled and technically brilliant Filipino fighters every, whilst the other corner would have had the wild, explosive and hard hitting Johnriel Casimero. It would have been a clash between a veteran and a hot young stud, and would have been a mouth watering clash, in terms of era and styles. When? The window for when this fight could have taken place really is huge, and in theory is still technically open, but appears to on the verge of closing. In theory the bout could have taken place as early as 2009, when Nietes was considering a move up from Minimumweight to Light Flyweight and whilst Casimero was a regional Light Flyweight champion. In 2010 Casimero was WBO interim champion at 108lbs and Nietes was dipping his toes at the weight. Had it been a little later they could have clashed at Flyweight. Nietes moved up to the weight in 2016 whilst Casimero had been there since 2014. Interestingly Casimero held the IBF Flyweight title in 2016, but vacated it in 2017 before Nietes won it. That would have been the perfect time, early 2017. The window for the fight then actually continues into 2018 when the two could have clashed at Super Flyweight. If they were to clash now, in 2020, the bout could take place at Bantamweight, but if we're being hones the bout has lost a lot of it's potential appeal, with Nietes now the wrong side of 40 and almost 2 years removed from his last bout. Who? Donnie Nietes is arguable the most under-rated fighter from 2000 to 2020. He is one of the most skilled and well schooled fighters out there, and someone who proved that being a defensively responsible little guy to really prolong a career. He managed to become of the very few fighters to win world titles at Minimumweight, Light Flyweight, Flyweight and Super Flyweight and did so without having lightning speed or thunderous power. He did on his ring craft, boxing skills, and IQ. Although there was a lot of potential opponents Nietes should have faced he did go in with a genuine who's who and took wins against Pornsawan Porpramook, Jesus Silvestre, Mario Rodriguez, Moises Fuentes, Francisco Rodriguez Jr, Edgar Sosa, Juan Carlos Revecco and Kazuto Ioka. Not only did he fight a who's who but he also showed a willingness to travel, picking up wins in Mexico, USA and Macau, though didn't really get the reputation of a road warrior. In terms of skills he is criminally under-rated and knew how to adapt when he needed to. A genuinely intelligent fighter. Whilst Nietes is a 4 weight world champion Johnriel Casimero is a 3-weight world champion, having taken titles titles at Light Flyweight, Flyweight and Bantamweight. Watching him you see almost the opposite of Nietes. Casimero is a wild man at times, a freakish puncher who could box, but often found himself believing more in his power than his skills. His biggest issues wasn't his belief in his power but instead his inconsistencies and professionalism, which actually resulted in his being stripped of a title, looking poor in some bouts and even losing a bout he should have won. At his best Casimero was a thunderous puncher who showed no fear. He was a road warrior who travelled right around the globe to face a who's who. He travelled to face the likes of Moruti Mthalane, Luis Alberto Lazarte, Pedro Guevara, Amnat Ruenroeng, Charlie Edwards and Zolani Tete. He's very much a throw back, but again inconsistency has been an issue, and in 2017 he lost to Jonas Sultan in a world title eliminator at Super Flyweight. When he was on point he was brilliant, but there was always the worry that we were going to see him have an off night, fail to prepare properly, as he had for his 2014 clash with Mauricio Fuentes, or just not show what he could do. How would we see it playing out? The reality here is that we see this being a bout depending on what Casimero turns up. At his very best Casimero is a very hard man to pick against. He was so heavy handed, so quick and so explosive that he had the power to pretty much taken out anyone, and was so unpredictable in his offense that he had a chance to catch anyone clean. On the other hand we know what we'd be getting from Nietes, he was Mr Consistent. He put on solid performance after solid performance, and even against the best Casimero his skills and defense could prove to be a difference maker. We would expect Casimero trying to box Nietes early on, a poor tactical choice from the younger man but one that showed he wanted to be more than a puncher. We saw that from him numerous times, including his career defining win over Zolani Tete. As the bout went on however we'd see more aggression and more power shots from Casimero, as he changed from boxer to puncher. That would leave him open to Nietes' counter shots and we sispect that those would prove to be the difference as the bout went on, with Nietes slowly breaking down his countryman. Although we do favour Nietes it should be noted that Casimero is almost a decade younger than Nietes and that age gap could be a tricky obstacle to over-come, even for Nietes. The speed and power edges of Casimero will mean he's always dangerous, he's always in the bout, and he'll only be one shot from turning things around, but Nietes is not an easy man to land that big shot on. Would history of been changed? Depending on when the bout took place history could have been very, very different. Had they faced off earlier in the window Nietes' experience and boxing skills would likely have slowed Casimero ascent drastically. He would almost certainly have done a similar job on Casimero that Moruti Mthalane did, and just mentally break Casimero. Had that happened Casimero may never have become the fighter he later became. Had the bout been in 2016 we would likely have seen Nietes claim the Flyweight title a bit earlier, sending Casimero up in weight a bit earlier and maybe even avoided Casimero's stinking effort against Jonas Sultan. Had that happened there's a good chance that Casimero may have found himself fighting for a Super Flyweight title at some point, maybe even leading the two men to a rematch at 115lbs. Had the bout been in 2017 or 2018 there's a chance that we would never have seen Casimero make an impact at Bantamweight, and we would almost certainly have not had his upset win over Zolani Tete, leading to a very different look at the Bantamweight scene. Of course had Casimero managed to beat Nietes at any point his career would have been very different and we wouldn't be talking about Nietes as being so under-rated. Instead we'd be talking about Casimero, potentially, being a pound for pound fighter. Their careers would look very different on reflection. This past week has been an interesting one. The sport has definitely taken a big step forward in returning to normal, with Sky Sports and Showtime both airing live cards for the first time in months, it has also seen more bouts being announced and a genuine sense that we are getting places in the sport. Sure we've not seen monster bouts getting announced, but we have seen strides taken!
With that said there's also been bad and some ugly, so lets take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly for the past week! Good 1-More fights and more action! Of course we've seen more fights! And actually seen a good level of fights. We had interesting bouts in the US, UK and Thailand this week and as I mentioned in the introduction it really does feel like we are taking a big step forward with the sport. We won't say that the Showtime card or the Matchroom card were amazing, but they were a solid step up from the other US and UK cards we've had and hopefully everyone now looks to match the level of shows we got this week. If we can get people putting on better shows then, fingers crossed, the sport gets better as a result! Fights like Angelo Leon Vs Tramaine Willians, James Tennyson v Gavin Gwynne Ted Cheeseman Vs Sam Eggington were really enjoyable fights and George Joseph's KO of Marcos Escudero was a beauty. 2-Global interest in a Thai card On Saturday it was really great to see the boxing world turn it's attention to Thailand for what was, for all intents, a Thai domestic card. Admittedly it did feature 2 former world champions and a number of top prospects, but it was still great to see more fans tuning into an an event from Thailand. It's a shame in some ways that fans didn't seem to be aware previously that the WP Boxing events were available globally for free, but for at least 1 week people tuned in. Fingers crossed future WP Boxing events will be available to a similar interested global audience. We're unlikely to see a bout THIS big on WP Boxing again any time soon, but the events do give some talented Thai prospects a chance to shine, and that's not a bad thing at all! 3-Funds raised for Takuya Yamaguchi We were really slow to this story, but it was revealed that after being on an A-Sign boxing video this week Japanese fighter Takuya Yamaguchi had significant funds raised to help him financially. Yamaguchi is certainly not a big name fighter, and he's never going to be a boxing star, but he's a naturally charismatic guy who we've been fans of for a while and to see others getting behind him, and getting to learn about him, and donate funds to him is amazing. It was reported that more than ¥200,000 was donated to Mr Yamaguchi. Funnily the fighter himself was apparently not aware as he doesn't use the internet and the money has been collected on his behalf by A-Sign. A big well done to the Japanese boxing world for getting behind Yamaguchi in this way! And well done to A-Sign for creating the documentary that had granted him so much attention! Bad 1-The phrase "Boxing is back" One thing we seemed to hear a lot this weekend was "boxing is back". In reality boxing has been back for several weeks now in various places, including the US, Japan, Germany, Poland, Thailand and the UK. Yet for some reason Sky Sports and Showtime seemed to want to pretend that this weekend was the start of boxing's return. It felt like a very odd narrative to drive, and one that was just wrong. Sadly it was also parroted by fans who seemed unaware that we had had so much boxing in recent weeks. Whilst we can complain about the quality of the Top Rank and Queensberry shows the reality is that boxing has been back, and for a while. 2-Teofimo Lopez and Vasyl Lomachenko in jeopardy? One bout that seemed like it should be signed and sealed, and should have been for a while, is the much talked about Lightweight unification bout between Teofimo Lopez and Vasyl Lomachenko. It appears the bout is in jeopardy due to financial demands made by Lopez. We're not going to take one side or another on the negotiations aspect of the fight, to be quite frankly honest we couldn't give a shit how much a fighter makes as we don't see a penny of it, but for the bout to be in jeopardy is not a good thing for the sport right now. Hopefully the issues get sorted and the bout is on, but if not, the sport, and fans, are the ones that miss out! 3-Tom Carusone's scorecard We mentioned earlier Joseph George's KO of Marcus Escudero and it's a good thing he scored that KO or we'd be talking about about the card of Tom Cursone a lot more. Some how he scored the bout 79-73 in favour of George, a score that was simply impossible to have. That was the direct opposite of Don Trella's score, who had Escudero leading 79-73, Steve Weisfeld had the bout 77-75 to Escudero. Most independent observers seemed to have Escudero in a comfortable lead and it was impossible to do the mental gymnastics to have George in a dominant lead. The commissions really need to have a damn look at some of these ridiculous cards and get people of the sport as it's becoming a massive joke! Ugly 1-Further "positives" in Japan The "on going global situation" has become a growing problem in Japanese boxing with the Osakan cluster growing to 16 and now a trainee in Okinawa. We hope the issues are now being isolated and stopped from getting bigger, but we do continue to worry that the issues aren't sorted and could get worse. Bringing boxing back is great, but not if boxing becomes part of the growing problem in the world. |
Oriental Opinions
This is just an opinion, maaaan! It's easy to share our opinions, and that's what you'll find here, some random opinion pieces Archives
March 2024
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