The idea of these "Introducing" segments isn't just to put a light on young up and comers but also exciting fighters, fighters who are worthy of some attention, no matter their age, record or ability. If there's a reason for fans to be interested in someone they get considered for weekly feature. We say that because we're about to look at a 30 year old with a less than stellar looking record, but a man who really does excite every time he steps in the ring. Win or lose it's always worth making a mental note of when Cristiano Aoqui (14-7-2, 10) fights. The Brazilian-Japanese puncher is a flawed fighter with dynamite in his hands! Aoqui has been raised in Japan, though has strong roots to his Brazilian culture. Those roots are often shown on his shorts which usually have a combined Japanese and Brazilian flag on them. The background has seen fans from both countries following his career and his fights. Prior to turning to boxing Aoqui had been training in Karate, he then turned to boxing and made his professional debut in 2006, at the age of 17. He turned professional without having any amateur bouts, and having only been training for a couple of years at the Suruga academy. The exciting, but raw, style of Aoqui had some mixed success early on. He won his first 3 bouts but quickly saw his record fall to 3-2 by the summer of 2008. He then took more than 3 years away from the ring and seemed to retire before getting a call that inspired him to return to the ring. On his return success was quick to return and he'd go 4-0-1 over his following 5 bouts before losing in a 2013 Rookie of the Year bout to Ryuji Ikeda. The Rookie of the Year loss was a set back, but Aoqui bounced back well winning 3 of next 4 and breaking into the Japanese and OPBF rankings, thanks in part to 2 wins over Quaye Peter. That rise was stopped in late 2015 when he lost a razor thin decision to Valentine Hosokawa, in what was a brilliant 8 round fight. Less than a year after the loss to Hosokawa we saw Aoqui get a huge shot, as he faced off with the then Japanese Light Welterweight champion Hiroki Okada. Against Okada we saw a brilliant, aggressive and exciting effort from Aoqui, though sadly he would come up short, losing a technical decision to the then unbeaten Okada. The loss to Okada was followed by defeats to Noriaki Sato and Koki Inoue in 2017, with the loss to Inoue coming due to an injury that ended what seemed like a brilliant match up at that time. Notably after these loss Aoqui left the Suruga Gym and joined up with former foes Okada and Hosokawa at the Kadoebi Gym since joining the Kadoebi gym we've seen Aoqui fight 3 times and score 3 wins, all by TKO. In the ring Aoqui is a charismatic, exciting, aggressive fighter. He's flawed, and defensively not the best. In fact he often over-commits in his combinations, but this is why he's worth watching. He's explosive, a monstrous puncher, when he has opponents hurt he goes for the kill and he's a big puncher. When he lands clean he hurts opponents, if he doesn't out right clean their clock. Aoqui's next fight will be on October 21st, when he battles in a Japanese title eliminator against Daishi Nagata. That bout should be something incredibly special, given the styles of the two men. Win or lose Aoqui will be looking to put on a show and will be worth following well after the bout. Here we've included his bout with Filipino foe Anthony Marcial. This isn't the most exciting bout of Aoqui's but the brutal finish shows just how damaging his shots can be.
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It feels like September began an eternity ago, though it only came to an end a week ago. Despite being a long month, with some dry patches in it terms of top boxing, it was a month that really delivered more than expected. It gave a legitimate contender for KO of the Year, Fight of the Year and Round of the Year. It had prospects who were willing to step up and some notable upsets. All in all September was a good month, even if we did have some slumps in action.
Fighter of the Month Pedro Taduran (14-2, 11) The 22 year old Pedro Taduran will never be described as a world class boxer. The reality is that he's not a world class boxer in any way shape or form, and he will find himself being out boxed on a regular basis. What he is, is a fighter, he's a warrior, he's a world champion and he is well and truly deserving of September's Fighter of the Month award. His win over Samuel Salva on September 7th saw him needing to come back from an opening round knockdown, and boy how he came back. He turned into a raw street fighter and despite being blatantly headbutted in round 4 he just battered Salva into submission. Fight of the Month Batyr Akhmedov vs Mario Barrios The best fights, for us, swing one way then the other, with dramatic swings and changes in momentum of high tempo and high skilled action. On September 28th we got an incredibly bout that had it all. Uzbek born Batyr Akhmedov was dropped in round 4, roared back with 7 amazing rounds of high intensity action, but was dropped in the final minute by a swollen and exhausted Mario Barrios. The drama in the final rounds, as Barrios looked to survive the storm, then pulled out the late knockdown, were amazing. This was amazing and deserves to be considered at the end of the year for the Fight of the year. KO of the Month Bakhodir Jalolov KO1 Richard Torrez Amazingly the KO of the month came in the amateurs and saw Uzbek giant Bakhodir Jalolov laying out American hopeful Richard Torrez in brutally eye catching fashion. We don't often see clean KO's in the amateurs, even with the removal of head gear, but here we saw one that left a massive impression and saw the head of the WBC complain about Jalolov competing in the amateur competition. The huge left hand from Jalolov was brutal and left Torrez out cold on the canvas. This will be up there with the best KO's we'll see in boxing in 2019 and deserves a lot more attention than it has got. Prospect Taku Kuwahara (6-0, 4) Japan's Taku Kuwahara might not be a name that international fan are aware of, but the youngster is fast rising through the ranks, and his win over world ranked Filipino Jonathan Refugio on September 17th was a big step up in class, and a very impressive win. This 24 year old is tipped for big things and we suspect he'll be pushed into title bouts in the next 12 months. If he can pick up a title in the middle of next year we expect to see Ohashi strap a rocket to him and push for him to get a world title fight sooner rather than later. His performance against Refugio was excellent and we only see him getting better and better. Upset Amazingly we couldn't find a single noteworthy upset from the month, which is a genuine surprise given how many bouts took place of the 30 days of September. Round Masataka Taniguchi Vs Kai Ishizawa (Rd 6) The Japanese eliminators, for which the winners will get a title fight at next year's Champions Carnival, promise a lot this year, and the Minimumweight bout between former world title challenger Masataka Taniguchi and hard hitting youngster Kai Ishizawa delivered, in spades. The fight was an amazing 8 round war, with the 6th round being the best of them. It was back and forth, both men being hurt, both biting down on their gum shields and both giving everything they had. We could not have asked for more from the two men. An amazing round, from an amazing fight. This past week has been a bit of a strange, and frustrating, one. We've had 2 legitimately fantastic bouts shown, but we've not had much else being shown, with the major Japanese card from the week being aired next week, and there was nothing of note featured on boxing Raise. There was a Filipino card, but the stream for it was poor to say the least, and it very much feels like a week where there was only the widely available stuff to watch.
Fighter of the Week Hiroto Kyoguchi (14-0, 9) Whilst the week wasn't great overall it's hard to deny that this was a week where two bouts stood out. One of those was the fantastic IBF Middleweight title bout between Gennady Golovkin vs Sergiy Derevyanchenko and the other was the equally as good WBA Light Flyweight "super" title bout between Hiroto Kyoguchi and Tetsuya Hisada. Both bouts saw the under-dog giving the favourite all they could handle over 12 amazing rounds, and these two bouts would have been highlights in any week. Of the two winners we have to give Fighter of the Week to Kyoguchi, who enhanced his reputation with his win, whilst Golovkin seemed to show that he was one step closer to retirement than anyone had anticipated. Performance of the Week Tetsuya Hisada (34-10-2, 20) One of the things that allowed Kyoguchi to take our Fighter of the Week award was his dance partner, Tetsuya Hisada. In the eyes of many Hisada was an undeserving challenger, an old man with 9 losses on his record going into the biggest bout of his career. He had never scored a win above domestic level, and was an unknown outside of Japan, and even that it was only the hardcore fans in the country who really much about him. What he did however was put up one of the best performance of 2019, holding his own with a much young fighter. For those who were impressed by Derevyanchenko against Golovkin, Hisada's effort was very, very similar. Fight Hiroto Kyoguchi vs Tetsuya Hisada It'll come as no surprise that there were really only 2 bouts in contention for the Fight of the Week, the Gennady Golovkin Vs Sergiy Derevyanchenko and the Hiroto Kyoguchi Vs Tetsuya Hisada fight. In many ways both were very, very similar. They both had the under-dog massively out performing expectations, despite being dropped. The winner of both fights were hurt and the fights were back and forth action fights. In reality the Golovkin fight was closer, and more competitive, but for us the better fight was actually the other one. Both were fantastic, both deserve to be in the fight of the year short list, but we we found Kyoguchi Vs Hisada more enthralling over the course of the fight. Round Gennady Golovkin vs Sergiy Derevyanchenko Round 8 With 2 great fights we were treat to some amazing rounds, for this however we have to side with Golovkin's big effort in round 8 against Derevyanchenko. It was one of the few rounds that the Kazakh seemed to put his foot on the gas and was one of the few rounds that saw both men going tit for tat, rather than than Golovkin being backed up and landing the better shots. This was a great round of action, both men were hurt and both looked tired, but they dug deep and delivered a fantastic 3 minutes of action. KO No suitable contender Prospect Ali Akhmedov (16-0, 12) The week was a really odd one for prospects. There was plenty in action, but they were in mismatches, and very few of them had to answer and real questions. For us Israil Madrimov isn't a prospect but a contender, and the we almost said the same of Ali Akhmedov. Problem is that if we had, we wouldn't have had a candidate for this category, as no one faced anyone of any note. Even then Akhemdov's opponent, Andrew Hernandez, almost saw him ruled out. Akhmedov stopped Hernandez with the only notable punch and took an opening round TKO. An awful week for prospects looking to announce themselves. Upcoming fight Shinobu Charlie Hosokawa (11-4-1, 10) Vs Koki Tyson (14-3-3, 12) II The first bout between Shinobu Charlie Hosokawa and Koki Tyson had the chance to be great, but fell short, in part due to a lack of fitness from Tyson who took the bout on short notice. This time both men have had plenty of time to prepare and we are expecting this to be a genuine thriller between two fighters who can bang, can fight and can put on a show. This might not be a major globally, but it has the fighters to be a truly excellent fight. Following a pretty interesting start to the month things get really intense in the days to come with a lot of notable action, in not a lot of time. October 11 Tokyo, Japan Shinobu Charlie Hosokawa (11-4-1, 10) Vs Koki Tyson (14-3-3, 12) II - Tokyo, Japan In a rematch for the OPBF Middleweight title we'll see Shinobu Charlie Hosokawa take on Koki Tyson, with both men looking to take the currently vacant title. These two fighters fought to a draw earlier in the year and will be going in again to try and take the title that was vacated by Yuki Nonaka. Given that both Hosokawa and Tyson are aggressive, heavy handed but technically flawed fighters we are expecting a very exciting contest here, and hopefully it avoids some of the messy action that their first bout had. Shingo Wake (26-5-2, 18) Vs Jhunriel Ramonal (15-8-6, 8) II - Tokyo, Japan Former world title challenger Shingo Wake is pursuing a second world title fight, and to tick over he will eb facing former foe Jhunriel Ramonal. These two fought back in in 2013, when Wake stopped Ramonal in 3 rounds, and it's hard to imagine anything other than a repeat here. Wake should be far too good for the Filipino visitor, but it's still a botu worthy of noting given that Wake is likely to fight for a world title sooner rather than later. October 12th Dmitry Bivol (16-0, 11) Vs Lenin Castillo (20-2-1, 15) - Illinois, USA Unbeaten WBA Light Heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol was hoping for a big fight but will likely close out his 2019 with a bout against Dominican challenger Lenin Castillo. The champion has improved his resume with solid wins in recent years, but hasn't looked the dynamic and exciting fighter he once was, instead looking to win rather than to dazzle. He should have too much in the locker for Castillo, but the challenger is no "bum" and could give Bivol a genuine test herein he's being over-looked. October 17th Wulan Tuolehazi (12-3-1, 5) vs Satoshi Tanaka (7-5, 1) - Shanghai, China China's Wulan Tuolehazi has been carving out a solid resume in recent years, with wins over the likes of Jayr Raquinel, Kwanthai Sithmoseng, Ardin Diale and Ryota Yamauchi. He's now looking likely to get a world title shot sooner rather than later and will be defending his WBA International Flyweight title here against Satoshi Tanaka, a relatively weak Japanese challenger. This should be a show case for the champion if we're being honest. Xiang Li (7-2-1, 2) vs Ryu Horikawa (2-0, 1) - Shanghai, China We love seeing youngsters face off, with questions being asked of fighters when they are young, rather than seeing records padded before a fighter steps up. With that in mind we love the WBO Youth Light Flyweight title match between China's crafty Xiang Li and Japanese skillster Ryu Horikawa. This should be a real test for both, and despite the risk of some monkey business with the scorecards we're really excited by the contest, which should be a genuinely intriguing one from the first bell to the final bell. October 18th Kudratillo Abdukakhorov (16-0, 9) vs Luis Collazo (39-7, 20) - Pennsylvania, USA Unbeaten Uzbek Welterweight contender Kudratillo Abdukakhorov looks to continue his drive towards a world title fight as he takes on former world champion Luis Collazo. The unbeaten Abdukakhorov has shown a lot of promise, but has also shown flaws, and issues, and his lack of power is something has left some questioning whether or not he can make it at the top. At his best Collazo was world class, but at the age of 38 there are question marks about just what he has left in his legs. Collazo is a very skilled fighter, and should test the Uzbek in what is a very interesting match up. October 19th Tetsuro Ohashi (7-0-1, 2) Vs Suzumi Takayama (2-0, 2) - Hyogo, Japan The Japanese Youth title scene continues to give us great fights, and here we'll see the unbeaten pairing of Tetsuro Ohashi and Suzumi Takayama clash for the Youth Super Flyweight title. The 20 year old Ohashi won the Rookie of the Year back in December and this will be his second bout since that win, as he looks to build on his growing reputation. Takayama on the other hand lacks the experience of Ohashi in the pro ranks, but was a solid amateur and has looked very impressive since making his debut this past February. This will be Ohashi's boxing against Takayama's aggression in what should be an excellent match up. October 21st Yusuke Sakashita (18-8-3, 13) vs Naoki Mochizuki (16-4, 8) II - Tokyo, Japan In a really interesting rematch we'll see Yusuke Sakashita make his first defense of the WBO Asia Pacific Flyweight title as he takes on Naoko Mochizuki. These two fought back in December 2016, when Mochizuki took a clear win over Sakashita, but since then the two men have had contrasting careers. Mochizuki has gone 5-3, struggling for momentum and was stopped in February by Junto Nakatani. Sakashita however has gone 4-0-1 and claimed his title last time out in May, stopping Masahiro Sakamoto. This could be one of the real hidden gems of the month. Cristiano Aoqui (14-7-2, 10) vs Daishi Nagata (13-2-1, 5) -Tokyo, Japan Every so often we see a fight that gets us really excited due to the style match up and the mentality of the two men involved. That is the case here as the exciting Cristiano Aoqui and the rugged Daishi Nagata battle in a Japanese Light Welterweight title eliminator, with the winner getting a shot at the belt in the 2020 Champion Carnival. This bout has two men involved who enjoy a tear up, through heavy leather and should gel stylistically. One of the areas of professional boxing that has started to get more and more attention in recent years has been Japan, thanks in a big part to Naoya Inoue's growing success, and the great work CBC have done in making Kosei Tanaka fights widely available. Whilst a lot of the emerging Japanese talent is competing in the lower weight classes it doesn't change the fact the country is over-flowing with talented youngsters all looking to make their name and become one of the countries next big stars. With that in mind it seems the perfect time to try and predict who will be the next big Japanese star, and bring attention to 5 of Japan's brightest young prospects.
Although Shigeoka has only had 4 bouts it's impossible not to be impressed by what he has shown. He's an aggressive yet intelligent fighter, he presses well, has amazingly crisp punches, switches between head and body with ease and has nasty spiteful power, something we don't often see at 105lbs. Going forward the one issue will be a question of how much weight he can add to his frame, and at just over 5' he likely doesn't have the frame to hit the weights which get Western attention. Still he looks like a nailed future world champion, and we're really excited to see how his brother, Yudai Shigeoka goes with his career as well.
Kuwahara began his career as a Light Flyweight, but has now moved up to the Flyweight division and the reality is that he's grown into the 112lb weight class. It's fair to say Flyweight is currently a division that lacks in terms of depth, unlike Light Flyweight and Super Flyweight, and there's no reason why Kuwahara can't have a big 2020 and pick up a national or regional title as he climbs towards a potential world title fight in the next year or two.
Nakano looks to be a man with a real understanding of the ring, understands his advantages, and how to use them effectively. He's a very sharp puncher, a smart boxer and although he's certainly not untouchable he minimises the effect of shots when he has to take them. Fighting out of the Teiken gym it's clear he's getting top sparring, and with Kenichi Ogawa, Masaru Sueyoshi and Shuya Masaki there is real talent at the Featherweight and Super Featherweight divisions in the gym. Unlike many youngsters Nakano isn't in love with his power, but knows how to deliver it to head and body.
Although not a big puncher Iwata looks to have enough power in his shots to get the respect of his opponents, and combines that with brilliant footwork, handspeed, movement and a very smart boxing brain. There is obviously a feeling that he will be moved quickly, as most promising Japanese fighters are in the lower weights, and he's already in the JBC rankings, however we don't expect him to be fighting for a title for another year or two due to the depth at 108lbs.
Suzuki looked fantastic on debut, showing great composure, defense, stamina and clean punching to beat the dangerous Antonio Siesmundo last November. Since then he has notched 2 more wins, taking a decision over Filipino Kelvin Tenorio and stopping Kosuke Arioka. After just 3 fights he is already ranked by both the OPBF and the JBC and has proven to a be a strong fighter 140lb, never mind 135lbs. Limiting this list to 5 was incredibly difficult, given the likes of Ryota Yamauchi, Yuki Yamauchi, Seiya Tsutsumi, Rikito Shiba, Shu Utsuki, Tomoya Ishii, Kuntae Lee, Ryu Horikawa and so many others. What this proves, more than anything, is the depth in Japan and the future is very, very bright for fight fans in the Land of the Rising Sun.
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