In the 1980's the Korean boxing scene was well and truly alive. It had a host of big names and the sport was looking like it was going to be a major one in the country for years to come. Sadly the 1990's saw that hope end, with the sport pretty much getting the rug pulled from under in the country, and struggling through to where it is now.
One of the many Korean fighters to win world titles in the 1980's was Jum Hwan Choi (20-3, 8), who was a 2-weight world champion and one of the few fighter who managed to move down in weight late in their career to achieve success. He was never the clear #1 in a division, but he was certainly a notable figure at both Light Flyweight and Minimumweight and is someone who fans perhaps aren't too aware of. Today we're going to look at the 5 most significant wins for... Jum Hwan Choi, encompassing his world title wins and another major fight for the often forgotten Korean. Cho Woon Park (December 7th 1986) In 1984 Choi came up short in an IBF Light Flyweight title bout against Dodie Boy Penalosa, losing a clear decision to the Filipino. That was his first notable bout, and a huge step up from the opposition that he had been facing earlier in his career. Thankfully for Choi he got his second shot just over 2 years later when he faced fellow Korean Cho Woon Park for the title that Penalosa had vacated. The bout was an ultra competitive one, with Choi doing enough to get a narrow 15 round decision win over his countryman to win the IBF title and claim his biggest win, by far, up to that point. Not only was this a huge win for Chou but it was pretty much the start of the end for Park, who went 3-3-1 afterwards and retired having never won a world title. Tacy Macalos I (March 29th 1987) After winning a world title the next toughest thing to do is to keep the title. Around 3 months after winning the belt Choi took on Filipino challenger Tacy Macalos, with Choi looking to make his first defense of the belt. Heading in to the bout Macalos was the Filipino champion and had been unbeaten since going 2-2-2 in his first 6 bouts. Although he hadn't proven himself as a world level fighter up to this point he was a legitimate contender and he showed that by pushing Choi all the way in a very competitive and close 15 round bout that resulted in Choi taking the split decision victory and his first defense. The competitiveness of this bout left the door open to a rematch and we got that in 1988 when Macalos dethroned Choi, but lets not get too far ahead of ourselves! Azadin Anhar (August 9th 1987) Although Choi would twice world titles he really didn't do very well on his travels, and had almost all of his success at home. In saying that he did travel a few times during his career. In fact all 3 of his defeats came on the road. The only bout he won outside of South Korea came in August 1987 when he made his 3rd defense of the IBF Light Flyweight title. The talented Korean travelled to Indonesia for the bout and made light work of Azadin Anhar, who he stopped in 3 rounds. Anhar really wasn't a world class fighter. It appears his boxrec is probably incomplete, but he had done nothing to deserve a world title fight and this was very much an easy defense for the Korean. As his final defense, and his only win on foreign soil this is a significant win, but the competition was lacking. Rolando Pascua (January 28th 1988) Choi didn't score too many wins over internationally recognisable opponents, but in early 1988 he did manage to get a controversial decision win over the then 14-0 Rolando Pascua in a non-title bout. The bout saw Choi being dropped but battling back to get a split decision in Seoul. At the time Pascua was an unbeaten hopeful on the Asian scene, making his international debut, but less than 3 years later he scored one of the biggest upsets in boxing, as he stopped Humberto Gonzalez for the WBC Light Flyweight title. Whilst this victory was a controversial one, before Pascua was well known, it did age very well when Pascua shocked Gonzalez, who was then 30-0. It's easy the biggest win for Choi outside of his two world title wins, and is very much a win of note, especially on reflection more than 30 years on. Napa Kiatwanchai (November 12th 1989) After losing the IBF Light Flyweight title to Tacy Macalos, in their second bout, Choi dropped down in weigh to challenge the then unbeaten WBC Minimumweight champion Napa Kiatwanchai. The Thai had taken the title from Hiroki Ioka, and had defended it twice before travelling to Korea to take on Choi, who proved to be too good for the Thai southpaw. Choi took the lead early and broke down Kiatwanchai, who was gutsy and gave his all but was stopped in round 12. The gutsy Thai was dropped hard early in the 12th round and then stopped with Choi wailing away on him against the ropes as the Korean became a 2-weight world champion. This would actually turn out to be Choi's final professional win, not only one of his best but also his last. Sadly for Choi his second reign was a short one as he lost the WBC Minimumweight title to Hideyuki Ohashi in his first defense just 3 months after winning it. He then retired from the sport.
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On November 22nd in Toyonaka we'll get the chance to see a novice take on a former world title challenger, and with that in mind it seems a perfect time to discuss the novice in question as he moves towards the biggest bout of career so far. By some distance. The bout is one that few are giving him a chance in but, if he wins, he'll be rocket boosted towards a title fight, and a chance to make a name for himself.
The man in question is Ryosuke Nishida (2-0, 1) who faces former world title challenger Shohei Omori in just his third professional bout. It might be too soon for Nishida, as many seem to suspect, or it could be right place, right time, for a relatively unknown prospect looking to announce themselves as the next big thing. Nishida, who fights out of the Mutoh Gym in Osaka, was a stand out amateur who was always regarded as a contender in domestic amateur competitions. Whilst tournament wins weren't something the regularly win he did pick up a National Polity crown in 2014. He was also a major player in the Kindai University team in 2018, winning the MVP award. Although he never regularly won competitions, he was always regarded as one of the main contenders and was a skilled fighter, with clear potential to be a success in the professional ranks. After impressive in the amateurs he left the sport for a while before returning and heading to the professional ranks last year, taking part in his B license test opposite fellow prospect Yusuke Mine. Sadly, for someone with clear promise, Nishida didn't debut in Japan. Instead he debuted in Bangkok, on a small show that featured Nishida, Yusuke Mine and very, very few fighters of any note at all. The excuse given was that Takashi Edagawa and team couldn't find anyone suitable for a 6 round bout with Nishida. Despite the underwhelming event of Nishida's debut the youngster did what he needed to and took out the hapless Sakol Ketkul in just 2 minutes. In his second professional bout Nishida did actually fight in Japan! In fact he fought in Osaka, in a 6 round bout against Filipino visitor Pablito Canada, and this has been the only chance we've had to see Nishida in a professional ring, as it was made available on Boxing Raise. In this bout Nishida looked legitimately class, like a genuine prospect worthy of following. He looked sharp, relaxed, super comfortable in the ring, had great timing, good footwork, solid balance and impressive handspeed. There were areas that he needed work on defensively, but for a fighter in just his second fight it was almost impossible to complain. After 6 rounds against Canada Nishida took a wide decision. In fact it was 60-52 on all 3 cards, and Nishida seemed to be very much within himself, happy to get rounds under his belt and some ring time, rather than feeling the need to take his man out. Whilst Nishida did look like a really good prospect last time out there is a difference between looking good against Pablito Canada, whilst fighting at third gear, and even having a chance against someone like Shohei Omori over 8 rounds. Nishida's up coming bout looks like a huge gamble for the skilled, young, southpaw. From what we've seen Nishida is a natural boxer. He's very happy on the backfoot, moving around the ring, making opponents come to him, making them miss and punishing them. Omori has seen that before however and we'll need to see more from Nishida for him to beat Omori. We like what we've seen from Nishida, who's a very talented Super Bantamweight, but we can't help feel like is team are unable to really build prospects. This isn't just a step up in class, but is more a case of being thrown in at the deep end of a pool and seeing whether Nishida can sink or swim, after only previously being in a bath tub. Saying that however if he swims Japan have got almost certainly got new star on their hands and Nishida will be in the mix for regional titles in 2021. Lets start this be being totally honest. This past week was terrible! There was a lack of action, issues with health, bouts cancelled, and some awful garbage going on with a Top Rank show, that has left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. The past 7 days are certainly not going to stand out in the memory of many, at least not for positive reasons. We will, as always, start with the positives, and then go through the bad, and the downright ugly.
The Good 1-Dangan announce double header for January This past week Dangan announced that they would be promoting two Japanese title bouts in January, on the same card, giving us a sensational double header to look forward to. And seriously we are looking forward to this card so much right now! The bouts in question will see the always fun to watch Yusaku Kuga defending the Japanese Super Bantamweight title against Gakuya Furuhashi and the Japanese Super Featherweight champion Kosuke Saka defending his belt against Takuya Watanabe. If these two bouts go off without a hiccup, we will forgive the boxing gods for this crap week. 2-Female lead card in the UK We don't get to sing Matchroom praises a lot here, but well done to them for having a female dominated show on Saturday night in the UK. It seems Eddie Hearn is going all in on female boxing, signing some major international talent, and putting on a triple header of female fights, headlined by Katie Taylor. Not only did the show get treat like a special event, and promoted hard, but it was also made available for free on YouTube and Facebook, and promoted like it was a major change in how boxing will be done in the UK. We're just hoping that this is the next step towards something bigger and better, and not just a fad during the no-fan era of British boxing. Although the card was great for female boxing, it wasn't perfect and Hearn will need to step up the quality of match ups if he does something similar in the future. It's a good step, but there is a lot of improvement needed for female boxing to catch on with a British audience. The Bad 1-Luke Campbell and Nordine Oubaali (among others) testing positive Covid19 Early in the week it was announced that Luke Campbell, Nordine Oubaali and several un-named fighters in Japan had tested positive for Covid 19. This has forced Campbell's bout with Ryan Garcia to be pushed back, if not cancelled, Oubaali's with Nonito Donaire to be put on ice for now, and a trainer in Japan to be isolated in hospital. It's clear that current protocols aren't 100% effective anywhere, and things perhaps do need a major over-haul to try and prevent more spread through out the boxing world. Thankfully it appears Campbell's result was a few weeks ago, rather than this week, but it's still come to light this week with the delay of his bout. A bout that was supposed to help the global launch of DAZN. Oubaali on the other hand has been promoted to WBC "champion in recess" whilst Donaire will face Emmanuel Rodriguez for the vacant world title. Well done to the WBC, for once, for making the best of a bad situation, credit where it's due. 2-Top Rank and ESPN's timing If you're from the UK and you stayed up to watch Terence Crawford's TKO win over Kell Brook, you probably went though have a jar of coffee, and some matchsticks to keep your eyes open thanks to ESPN completely shitting the bed here. There under-card flew by on ESPN+ but instead of going to the co-feature when they could have, they essentially paused the broadcast with Joshua Franco and Andrew Moloney waiting in the rings. The reason for this was to take the broadcast to ESPN. A great idea until you consider that there was almost quarter of an hour of a college football game to get through first. Not just that, but the game was over a competition by then, with a score of 56-28. They were in garbage time, and the boxing was going to wait. Then we got the Franco and Moloney fight and had an issue with replay, more about that later, then we had national anthems, and promotional videos, for the fight we had tuned into watch! By the time the fight started the sun was rising in Brook's homeland, and even the American audiences were complaining about the start time. Come on ESPN you can do better. Much better! Given this was on pay TV in the UK, though Premier Sports, it would have left a really nasty taste in the mouths of fans. 3-ESPN's general lack of professionalism Yeah we're ragging on ESPN again, and it won't the last time so if you work for the "Global Leader" you may want to just forget about this week. But what the fuck were their team doing? Seriously that was one of the least professional broadcasts we've ever seen, with both Joe Tessitore and Mark Kreigel coming across as despicable, unprofessional arseholes. Tessitore's comments about Brook taking his $2,000,000 came across as crass, underhand and almost as if Brook had spent his isolation in a room having his way with a close relative of Tessitore's. Kreigel on the other hand asked pretty much the same question of Brook several times, trying to get the Englishman to run with his narrative, rather than accepting the answer given by Brook. We've really tired of Kreigel, who might be a fantastic "essayist" but he's a terrible broadcaster, and ESPN really need to think about getting someone else on board, maybe someone less obsessed with fighters parents. The Ugly 1-Replays cause confusion and a fucking mess of things! And we go for the tri-fecta on the ESPN card, although in fairness this wasn't all down to them but it was on their show. Let us start by saying that technology in sport is a good thing, or at least it can be. The video replay in NFL is great, Hawkeye in Cricket and Tennis is fantastic. The idea is that a decision can be rendered correctly and quickly, and everyone can see where the decision has been made, and how the officials have reached their conclusion. Sadly however technology isn't the answer for incompetence, as football fans are seeing with VAR and now boxing fans are seeing with ringside replays. The Joshua Franco Vs Andrew Moloney rematch was stopped due to swelling over Franco's eye, that Russell Mora had ruled, in real time, was due to an accidental headclash. In reality had that call stood we wouldn't be complaining, whether it was right or wrong it "looked" right, and was understandable. Instead we had imbeciles sitting around a monitor watching replays over, and over, and over, and over...for more than 20 fucking minutes, before rendering a decision. And with all those replays they concluded the referee was right. As fans watching, we couldn't see a headclash that caused the cut, and from the replays it seemed a clear punch, albeit with an accidental but legal thumb in the eye, caused the issue. Their was confusion, there was anger, their was a waste of time, and their was, seemingly, an injustice. We've mentioned this in the past, but if a replay is to be used in boxing it should be used as "live", and give the ringside officials the 1 minute between rounds to make a call based on what they see. That allows the fighters to know where they stand and alter their tactics. For example, if Franco had been told his injury was from a punch it would have given him a chance to go all out, but he was fighting under the assumption it was a clash of heads. We are for replay in boxing, but it needs to be sorted out. Nihito Arakawa's bout with Daniel Estrada saw it being badly used, and more recently Jose Pedraza's bout with Mikkel LesPierre saw it being fudged. Get it fucking sorted guys, or can it off. On Saturday night we were treat to a very public joke by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which again showed that replays in boxing are a long, long way from being an effective solution to modernise the sport and bring it in line with elite level Tennis, Cricket, Soccer and American football. In fact we saw it come under such scrutiny and questioning that it's perhaps better to be put on the side line and worked on quietly before trying to be re-introduced, much like Open Scoring. The bout in question was the second bout between Joshua Franco and Andrew Moloney, which ended in a No Decision following serious swelling around Franco's eye, very early in the bout. Afterwards the cause of the swelling was reviewed, over and over and over....taking more than 20 minutes to make a decision on the call. And then they still got it wrong. This has lead to some hilariously bad takes online, such as some suggesting it was the "worst robbery in history", unless you've just started following boxing you know that's crap. And others saying "fuck Las Vegas", including the show's promoter Bob Arum. Lets just take a few steps back and look at things. Is it the worst robbery in history? No. Flat out no. We do a "Controversial Clashes" series and that often covers worst decisions, and we're considering just bouts with Asian fighters, ignoring travesties like the first bout between Juan Martin Coggi and Eder Gonzalez, or James Toney Vs Dave Tiberi, Paul Williams Vs Erislandy Lara. This was the wrong decision, but it's not even going to break into the top 50 worst robberies. So lets stop the hyperbole, before the entire conversation falls on to an untruth and devalues the actual issues at hand. Lets be honest folks, this probably isn't even the worst decision you've seen in the last few weeks. Unless you are very, very new to boxing. If you are, go check out that Coggi Vs Gonzalez bout to see something hilariously bad and that will make you feel a lot less angry about this week's action. Fuck Las Vegas?This is the more interesting one, and the one that we really want to discuss in two parts. Firstly if the bout was ANYWHERE but Nevada the bout would have been a No Contest when it was stopped. The referee called the incident that caused Franco's injury an Accidental Head Clash, whether rightly or wrongly. In any other state that would have been it. There wouldn't have been replays. There wouldn't have been a 20 minute delay. That would have been the call and it wouldn't have been called to question in the way it was here. The referee's call would have stood. Had the bout been held outside of Las Vegas we'd all be talking about wanting a rematch, and that's exactly what we should be pressing for now. That's the right thing to do, it's the thing the fans want, the fighters should be wanting and their teams should be looking to force. It's not often boxing can get an easy win, and that is an easy win. Re-hold the bout, and lets see them go again in an unofficial rubber match match. Their first one was great, and the second should have been great. Now we have even more intrigue going into a third bout. But it was in Las Vegas, and they do have replay in action!Indeed it was. It was in possibly the only regional using replays with any regularity, in fact this wasn't the first time during the current Top Rank in the Bubble run of shows and again it showed the issues with replay, which were laid very bare here. It's not replay it's self that is bad, but it's the unclear aim, and use of replay which is an issue. Back in July, I know some boxing fans have short memories, we saw replay being used in the bout between Jose Pedraza and Mikkel LesPierre. Originally LesPierre has a knockdown called in his favour, in round 5, and then we entered round 6 before the referee left the ring and was convinced he had made a mistake, over-turning his original decision. That was a farce, and in the end didn't actually matter. But at least they got it right. They should have had the decision made before we entered round 6, and in reality the ringside officials should have the power to over-rule the referee if there is a clear error. And this was a clear error. In October we saw an improvement to the system, albeit still a flawed system. In October, for the bout between Arnold Barboza Jr Vs Alex Saucedo, we saw a ringside replay official look over a potential knockdown and over-rule the referee during a time out, ruling that a knockdown took place. The referee called a slip and he was quickly corrected, with Joe Cortez watching the replay and correcting the call from Celestino Ruiz. Ruiz then told the judges to score the knockdown, allowing them to correct their cards. It still wasn't PERFECT, but it was a massive upgrade on what we had had just weeks earlier and it lead to Joe Tessitore, working for ESPN, to proudly state "by the way for everybody who has spent the entire day watching college football and getting angry at the TV as it takes 3 minutes and 5 minutes and 6 minutes for a review boxing just did it in about 10 seconds after the round...Well done by the Nevada State Athletic Commission". Joe was right. This was impressive, it was timely it. It worked. It got it correct and it put the two fighters both clearly in the position that they knew what the ruling was, and could change their tactics accordingly. It was corrected within moments, and most done between rounds, with a time out being called before the action resumes for the referee to instruct the judges. This is how it should be done. A decision should be made, it should be clear, and it should be explained to both the judges and the corners if need be. Everyone should be on the same page and know where they stand. They can they adapt their tactics if needed. Right so they work, and they are improving!Of course the system is improving, but those are the only times it's been used in boxing, and it's been used with mixed success in the past. There are three other notable examples, two where they got it right and one where they got it very, very wrong. The wrong example is probably the least well known, and that's a 2012 bout between Nihito Arakawa and Daniel Estrada. A cut was caused on Estrada that was ruled, by the referee, to have come from a headclash. Due to the WBC accidental foul rule Arakawa was deducted a point before replays showed it was a punch that caused the cut and the point deduction was removed. Then the replay call was over-ruled, when the cut that was caused earlier in the bout stopped the contest, leading to a technical decision in favour of Estrada. Not the TKO win to Arakawa that the replay call, earlier in the bout, should have lead to. This lead to confusion in both corners and lead to massive confusion with the referee yelling that it was an elbow that caused the damage. The WBC knew this was wrong and tried to sort out a rematch between the two men. Estrada declined it and we ended up getting Arakawa's bout with Omar Figueroa as a result. It was a complete cluster fuck of a situation. Another example, where they got it right, also involved a Japanese fighter. That was Koki Eto's first bout with Jeyvier Cintron, when Cintron was dropped and out on his feet from what, initially, looked like a clean punch. It was then reviewed and showed an elbow had caught him and sent him loopy. The original decision, of a TKO1 for Eto, was rightfully over-turned, we had a rematch and Cintron won, securing a bout with Kazuto Ioka. We also saw the review process kick in for the WBC Flyweight title bout between Charlie Edwards and Julio Cesar Martinez, with that bout being in England. This bout ended in round 3 after Martinez hit Edwards with a shot when the Englishman was on a knee. Originally ruled a KO3 win for Martinez it was later over-turned to a No Contest on review. The right call was made following the review. This was the right decision, got the wrong way. As prior to the No Contest being delivered it was stated that replay wasn't in use, and then it was. And then it was used in a way that helped the promoters fighter. Something we need to worry about with retroactive reviews (more about these later). Not only were these decisions very different, in terms of outcome of the review and the review it's self, but they also make it clear that not all reviews can be done the same. However that doesn't mean we can't have a general understanding of how review can be done correctly. So they work, what's the problem? Why didn't they get it right?Firstly we need to ask what is a review ACTUALLY for? Is it to get the result right or is it to clear up obvious mistakes? This might seem a really silly question but if it's to get the right result, then in reality we should see all bouts go through a post fight review with post fight scoring. The biggest issue in getting the right result is rarely the single call of a referee but instead the judges. Yes referees have got it wrong, as we show regularly in out Controversial Clashes series, but more often it's the judging that is giving us the wrong result. Sure we have cases like Gujelmo Ajor completely botching the Danny Lopez Vs Fel Clemente bout, or Armand Krief messing up the result of Hyung Chul Lee's first bout with Alimi Goitia, but by far and away the judge needs sorting first. As a result we need to assume it's to tidy clear and obvious errors. The knockdowns that should have been rules a slip, or vice versa, the cuts that might have been from a headclash, and the borderline low blows. This would follow the line that VAR was brought into football, soccer for our American readers, with decisions only being looked at when there was a "clear and obvious error". We're not going to turn this into a rant about VAR, because that's for someone else, but the principle was clear. Only clear errors should be over-turned. In our eyes a "clear" error is one that should be spotted quickly and effectively. Ideally between rounds, like the call of Joe Cortez in the Arnold Barboza Jr Vs Alex Saucedo bout we mentioned earlier. That left both men knowing where they stood entering the next round. There was no long and arduous task of correcting things and we were all ready to go within seconds. What we saw at the weekend wasn't anything like that. What we saw at the weekend was a calamity of errors. What do you mean?What should have happened was in round 1 Russell Mora called an accidental clash of heads that caused a swelling around Joshua Franco's eye. The call should have been reviewed by ringside officials during the rest of the round, and there was a good chunk of it, and in the break between rounds 1 and 2 to clear up a "clear and obvious error". If they couldn't spot an a "clear and obvious error", the two fighters should have gone into round 2 with the referees call. This would have allowed both men to alter tactics to try and give a result, knowing that if the bout doesn't go beyond 4 rounds there will be no result. For example had Moloney known the swelling was caused by a head clash he could have tried to leave the eye alone, racked up points attacking else where and then pressed the fight in round 5 to force a conclusion and take the technical decision. It would have been a hard ask, of course, but he would have known that if the bout was stopped due to the eye that would have been it. He'd not take the victory. Likewise had Franco been under the illusion the damage was from a punch heading into round 2 he may have felt he had to put it all on the line, and go out swinging. Otherwise a loss was imminent. Likewise he may have realised he'd have to fight one-eyed and saved himself from further damage, whilst a accidental head clash ruling was going to work in his favour. The problem was that heading into round 2 everyone was under the belief it was an accidental clash of heads. The call wasn't really looked at until after the fight. This was too late. This had left a material change on how the fight played out. The two men were clearly made aware it was being treat as a headclash, whether that was right or wrong, during the fight. The post fight antics, multiple replays, and eventually getting the wrong decision is heart breaking for Moloney. Though had Franco lost his title due to following the referees instructions, we'd feel he was in a heart breaking decision. By reviewing the bout after the contest, in this manner, there was no way boxing was going to come out as a winner. Only a loser. So what's the solution?We hope, more than anything, that the outcome of this leads to a rematch and to the entire replay system being overhauled. The way it was used was a disgrace to boxing. If it's to be used, it should only be used at the end of the round of the incident in question. Whether that's a knockdown call the previous round, or a knockout in the current round. Trying to retroactively correct errors from previous rounds isn't a workable solution. It isn't a fair solution, and it isn't the right solution. It's a slippery slope to chaos, to controversy and to bailing out referees and fighters, and potentially further helping favourites get their way. Sit with us a moment longer and ponder this scenario. Fighter A is dropped in round 1 from a low blow, and in round 2 from a low blow. Both are called legitimate shots and give fighter B a couple of 10-8 rounds to start the bout. Fight B is then deducted points for low blows in rounds 9 and 10. Would it be fair to go back and review those earlier knockdowns, and deduct further points whilst over-ruling the knockdowns from earlier in the fight? Maybe even disqualify fighter B in round 11 for repeated low blows based on what he had done earlier in the fight? It might seem silly, but that's what retroactively reviewing could cause. In fact we could see a small decision win, a 114-113 for example, swing the other way based on a point deduction correction, or a knockdown correction retroactively applied. For the sake of our sanity we need to accept that whilst the replay officials may have taken 26 minutes to make a wrong decision on Saturday night, they also made the "right decision". They made it clear that this is a farce, it allows bouts to be altered retroactively, and that they are still not implementing a system that works. We don't NEED replay in boxing. We would maybe like it, but we'd only like it if it was clear, it worked, and the decisions could be rendered in real time, or similar. So far it has felt like a half baked idea, badly implemented. It has been revised, but it still leaves much to be desired and a lot of work to do. Just as VAR does in football. Technology in sport can be slow to progress, but can revolutionise how sport is done. Tennis and Cricket have used Hawkeye amazingly well, and maybe a similar, multi-camera, multi-replay system is needed in boxing, rather than this half baked thing we have. Or maybe we shouldn't have replay at all, and the referees decision is final, not a take we'd go with but a valid all the same. Maybe full fights should regularly be reviewed to get the right decision. Fighters, camps, promoters, officials and fans all need to be fully in the loop of how it will be used, when it will be used, and what it's purpose is. This weekend showed that more than ever. Everything needs to be transparent. Moloney was denied the title!One final point to end this one, and one that we have seen echoed, a lot. "Moloney was robbed of the title", "that belt belongs to Moloney", "Franco is a fake champion", "Give that belt back". We get the point, Moloney should hold the WBA Regular Super Flyweight title.
Or should he? Fans talking about that belt, at all, are legitimising another issue in boxing. The WBA's multiple titles. That belt shouldn't be Moloney's for the simple fact that that belt shouldn't exist. The WBA should recognise ONE champion per division, and the line of Roman Gonzalez, the WBA "Super" champion should be the only one we, as fans, care about. The belt that Franco has was created solely for the WBA to collection sanctioning fees. If you choose to recognise the belt, you lose the validity of arguing there's too many belts in the sport. Roman Gonzalez's line as the WBA Super Flyweight champion goes back to 2014. He beat Kal Yafai, Kal Yafai beat Luis Concepcion, who beat Kohei Kono, who won the belt when he beat Denkaosan Kaovichit on March 26th 2014. The title Franco has appeared 3 months before Gonzalez beat Yafai for the belt, when Moloney beat Elton Dharry for the "interim" title, which was then upgraded to the "regular" title in June for the first bout between Moloney and Franco. Lets not legitimise the WBA's bull crap by ignoring history. The stronger case is that Moloney may lose out on an opportunity down the line. That case can be answered by everyone doing the right thing and sorting out a rematch. Alternatively Moloney is a Top Rank fighter. Top Rank have another fighter in the same division, with a world title, Jerwin Ancajas. There is an opportunity waiting in the wings for Moloney to fight for a legitimate world title. If he's denied both of those chances, then boxing has a lot to answer for, and that should be the bigger issue. In June 2019 we featured talented Teiken youngster Shokichi Iwata (then 2-0 (1), now 5-0 (4)) in our "Introducing..." series. Since then his career has progressed nicely with 3 bouts, all wins by stoppage. He has moved from making his Japanese debut to taking strides towards a Japanese title fight, and although his rise has been slowed down by what's happened in 2020 the future is still incredibly bright for the 24 year Light Flyweight. We when looked at Iwata in "Introducing..." his only professional bouts had been an underwhelming debut in the US, against Joel Bermudez, and an easy win over Japanese domestic foe Daiki Kameyama. Although it was clear he had some pop, he didn't seem all that destructive, and looked like the sort of fighter who was going to have to rely on his boxing to go places, rather than his power. Now however things seem a little bit different, despite the fact he's still not 1-shotting opponents. A few weeks after we introduced Iwata he scored his third professional win, stopping Filipino foe Paolo Sy in 5 rounds on the under-card of Ryota Murata's rematch with Rob Brant. It was a low key win, but one that gave Iwata some more ring time as he continued to develop his skills and get some experience of being on a big show. Just 4 months after Iwata had beaten Sy he would again feature on a big show, featuring on the under-card of the WBSS Bantamweight final between Naoya Inoue and Nonito Donaire. In his bout on that card Iwata stopped Mexican fighter Alejandro Cruz Valladares, who sported a 5-1 record at the time. It was another chance to Iwata to get ring time, get experience on a big show, and go up against a fighter from a different nation. Despite the bout not being a big one it was actually televised in Latino regions, and Iwata looked really good. He was hammering Valladares with solid shots and finally broke him down. Interestingly with the win over Valaldares we had seen Iwata getting rounds with fighters from 4 different countries, each with a unique style. He had shared the ring with an American, a fellow Japanese, a Filipino and a Mexican. He had racked up ring time against all 4 and had managed to learned a lot from all 4 men, before lowering the hammer and breaking them down for the stoppage. The hope, going into 2020, had been for Iwata to race through another few opponents and then sit on the verge of his first title fight. Sadly that hasn't come. Like many fighters Iwata's 2020 has been close to a wash due to the on going global situation. That situation put boxing on the back burner for around 4 months in Japan. As a result we didn't see Iwata in the ring until October, 11 months after his win over Valladares, when he took part in an 8 round bout with Ryo Narizuka. The bout wasn't a particularly competitive one, but was another chance for Iwata to answer some questions, as we saw him go into round 7 for the first time, then close the show by stopping the rugged Narizuka. On paper it seems like Iwata needs to break opponents down, with all of his wins going into either the final round or the penultimate round. In reality however we get the feeling that Iwata wants to answer questions before progressing. He's proven he has the stamina to go 8 rounds, he's been getting ring time, and he's getting a chance to test things out in the ring before facing stiffer tests. He's proven he can box, fight or brawl and although his competition will need to be stepped up sooner, rather than later, he's proven a lot in just 5 bouts. At the moment it's unclear when Iwata be back in the ring, though we do expect him to be fighting regularly in 2021 with the aim being to pick up a regional or Japanese title, before bigger and better things in 2022. Like many prospects his 2020 has been a frustrating one, but it's unlikely we'll see him this active again any time soon. Note - At the time of writing Boxrec lists the wrong Alejandro Valladares as Iwata's 4th opponent. Former Super Flyweight world champion Masamori Tokuyama (32-3-1, 8) is probably best known, at least internationally, for his political views rather than what he achieved in the ring. In the eyes of many he was the first and only North Korean world champion, and was a North Korean sympathiser, despite living in Japan. He was one of the Japanese fighters who reached out into a hostile political climate and managed to succeed, becoming a multi-time WBC champion. Whilst we could talk in depth about Tokuyama, his political views and his controversies outside of the ring that's not what we are here for at the moment. Instead we're going to discuss the 5 most significant wins for... Masamori Tokuyama. During his 36 fight career Tokuyama certainly scored some massive wins, and we're not going to fit all of his big wins into these 5 we're including here, but we feel we have picked the 5 with the most significance. Hiroki Ioka (December 19th 1998) We start with one that is significant, but perhaps less so for Tokuyama than for the man who lost, Hiroki Ioka. The talented Tokuyama had failed in his 3 biggest fights up to this point, with set backs against Manny Melchor and Nolito Cabato. Despite those set backs Tokuyama put it all together and stopped former 2-weight world champion Hiroki Ioka in 5 rounds at the end of 1998. The win certainly helped put Tokuyama on the boxing map, with a win over a former world champion, but also ended Ioka's career and the former champion would retire afterwards. Notably this was the only loss Ioka had in a non-world title bout. Pone Saengmorakot (September 17th 1999) Less than a year after beating Ioka we saw Tokuyama claim his first title, as he out-pointed once beaten Thai Pone Saengmorakot for the OPBF Super Flyweight title. Just 3 months prior to this bout Pone had challenged WBC world champion In Joo Cho and this was a chance for Tokuyama to prove he belonged in the world title mix. Although Tokuyama couldn't stop Pone, like Cho had, the win was still a major one for Tokuyama who took a huge step towards landing his first world title bout. In Joo Cho I (August 27th 2000) Tokuyama got his first world title fight in August 2000 when he travelled when he managed to lure In WBC Super Flyweight champion In Joo Cho over to Japan for the first bout between the two men. The champion was 18-0 (7) at the time and had racked up 5 defenses of the title, including one in Japan against Keiji Yamaguchi. Despite Cho's form he was unable to keep up with the speed and tempo of Tokuyama, who was too quick, too sharp and too smart for the defending champion. Tokuyama took a clear decision over Cho and was crowned the new WBC Super Flyweight champion. The win saw him become the first "North Korean" world champion, and put him on the map globally as a boxer. Notably he was boxing under the North Korean flag here, whilst Cho was under the South Korean flag, adding a real odd feel to the fight. In Joo Cho II (May 20th 2001) During his first reign as the WBC Super Flyweight champion Tokuyama scored a number of notable wins, including beating Gerry Penalosa twice, both controversial decisions and Katsushige Kawashima. For us however the most significant, not to be confused with the best, came in a rematch with Cho just 9 months after their first bout. This time Tokuyama had to travel to Cho's back yard, with the fight in Seoul. As with their first bout there was more to this than just two world class fighters, with Tokuyama fighting under a unified Korean flag. The bout was Tokuyama's international debut, in fact it was his only fight outside of Japan and ended with with him landing the punch of his career, a huge right hand, that knocked out Cho. The bout would end Cho's career whilst giving Tokuyama's a huge boost. Despite his recognition as a North Korean Tokuyama's win here could be regarded as the second time a Japanese fighter managed to retain a world title on foreign soil, given he was born and raised in Japan and fought the rest of his career in Japan. If we give the win that recognition he was the first since Jiro Watanabe back in 1985. Katsushige Kawashima III (July 18th 2005)
In 2004 Tokuyama's reign as the WBC champion came to an end, when he was stopped inside a round by Katsushige Kawashima, in what was the second bout between the two men. Around 13 months later they would go again in a rubber match and Tokuyama wouldn't have too many problems here as he took a clear and wide decision over the Ohashi gym fighter. Kawashima put up a solid effort but was too crude for the talented Tokuyama who used his feet and avoided getting caught, as he had in June 2004. This win would see Tokuyama becoming a 2-time world champion, and sadly he only fought once more after this win, defeating Jose Navarro and retiring as the WBC champion. Honestly Tokuyama is such an interesting figure and we would fully under-stand fans suggesting we should have included his wins over Gerry Penalosa, who to the significance of the Penalosa name, and even Jose Navarro, due to Tokuyama then becoming only the second ever Japanese world champion to retire whilst still a champion. The truth is that there is some real debate with Tokuyama's wins, and his place in history is going to be a very interesting one to focus on in the future. He's certainly a talented boxer, a success in the ring and a captivating tale away from the sport. This series has always been about trying to get fans to pay attention to someone you've probably not heard of, or if you have you know too much about them. With that in mind we've managed to get some pretty notable names featured on this series before they've managed to make a mark, and other fighters who have perhaps failed to live up to the potential we thought they had.
For this week's "Introducing..." we are going for someone we don't know a lot about, though we are looking forward to see them in action in December, and from what we do know, they are certainly worth making a mental note of now, before their next bout. They might be a star in the making, but they are certainly a fun fighter to watch! With that in mind let us introduce Japanese Middleweight hopeful Kazuki Kyohara (4-0-2, 3). We suspect even the most hardcore of fight fans aren't familiar with Kyohara. They might have seen him once or twice, but we really doubt they'd remember much about him. Despite that the 23 year old shouldn't be over-looked, and instead he should be regarded as someone under-the-radar, for now. Unlike many fighters we talk about Kyohara doesn't have the backing of a notable gym. In fact he's part of the Kurume Kushima & Yuki Beppu Gym, a gym so small that it's the name of it's current star fighter, and doesn't have it's own website. It is a tiny gym in Torimachi in Kurume, with only 3 active professional fighters affiliated with it, including Yuki Beppu and Kyohara! Of those Kyohara is the youngest, by far. Kyohara made his debut in October 2016, on a small card in Fukuoka headlined by stable Yuki Beppu. Aged 19 at the time Kyohara left a mark on the sport as he stopped Yuji Oshiro in the third round of their scheduled 4 rounder. Some 8 months later Kyohara returned to the ring for his second bout, and stopped Shuhei Hisatomi in 2 rounds. Kyohara was in trouble early in the bout but quickly recovered, bit down on his gum shield and managed to unload on Hisatomi in round 2. Sadly it would be 11 months between Kyohara's second and third professional bouts. As a result Kyohara's third bout wouldn't come until May 2018, when he clashed with Atom Higashi in the Central Japan Rookie of the Year final. The almost long lay off won't have helped Kyohara, and he took a very narrow decision win over Higashi, who was making his debut. For those wanting to watch this, this bout is on Boxing Raise and is a brutal, hard hitting battle, that should be watched by those with the service. Kyohra was then supposed to fight in November 2018, to decide who would represent West Japan in the All Japan Rookie of the Year final. Sadly however that bout was cancelled when Kyohara's scheduled opponent, Hammer Gorilla, was forced to pull out of the bout. As a result Kyohara progressed to the All Japan final in December, where he faced unbeaten Nath Nwachukwu, The bout was a crazy, wild brawl, with both men really coming to fight. The technical flaws and youthful exuberance from both was on show in what was a truly sensational battle between two crude, confident, young men, both trying to take their opponents head off. The intense, and often wild, action was thoroughly engaging but there wasn't a winner on the scorecards, with all 3 scorecards reading 38-38. Sadly for Kyohara he was denied on the tie-breaker rules, which resulted in a Rookie of the Year win for Nwachukwu. In his first bout following the Rookie of the Year draw Kyohara took on Hammer Gorilla, the same man he was scheduled to face in 2018, in April 2019. The bout was a short one, with Kyohara taking an opening round win over Gorilla. The bout saw Kyohara take control almost instantly, and he ended up dropping Gorilla twice, with the bout being stopped after the second knockdown. Sadly for Kyohara he would suffer his second draw in September 2019, when he was surprisingly held to a 6 round draw by the limited by experienced Toshihiro Kai. This was Kyohara's first 6 rounder, and his inexperience showed as he struggled with the toughness and durability of Kai. The bout showed up Kyohara's flaws, but did also help him get some valuable ring time, and was a good learning experience. In December we're expecting to see Kyohara in the ring with Yuta Ashina, in a bout that should be absolutely sensational. Both men are limited but have very exciting styles, that should gel well, and give us a barn burner. In terms of his style Kyohara is a crude, wild, strong and aggressive fighter. He's very much in need of polishing before being described as a prospect, but he's a fun fighter and someone who is going to be a lot of fun to follow, win or lose. This past week has been a really, really strange one. We've had some great highs, and some awful lows, and it feels like a week where boxing lost a lot of the momentum it had been building in recent weeks. Despite that feeling the sport actually had a lot to celebrate, and that ekpt coming right through to this morning when we had some really great news break in Japan.
So, lets ask our selves, what were the good, the bad and the ugly's for this week? The Good 1-Junto Nakatani announces himself on the world stage Lets start with a real high and talk about the new WBO Flyweight champion Junto Nakatani who put on a star making performance on Friday at Korakuen Hall. The excellent Japanese youngster, who's still just 22, battered and beat down Giemel Magramo in a very one sided show case. This was supposed to be a legitimate 50-50 type fight, Magramo was expected to be able to hold his own, and make the most of his big shot at the top. Instead however Nakatani beat him every which way. The tall and lanky Japanese fighter showed he could win up close, win at range, and was better in every way. This was a man who was given a platform, and made a statement. 2-Amnat Ruenroeng Vs Pungluang Sor Singyu When we saw Amnat Ruenroeng and Pungluang Sor Singyu stand in the ring opposite each other a few weeks ago to announce their bout we knew to expecting something interesting. What we didn't anticipate was a legitimately fantastic bout between two veterans who were despite to win, and put on one of the most interesting and entertaining bouts of the week. If you missed this one it is genuinely worth watching, and was the perfect mix of styles. It was match making at it's finest, pitting two guys who were stylistic opposites but very evenly matched against each other other. Pungluang brought the heat through out and Amnat countered through the bout, giving us a really brilliant, high tempo, and exciting fight. More like this please! 3-Thitisak Hoitong shines on debut! Staying in Thailand we really need to rave about Thitisak Hoitong, who looked like a star in the making. The 24 year old debutant looked sensational on his debut, completely schooling Samartlek Kokietgym over 6 rounds, in a performance that allowed the youngster to show a bit of everything. It can be easy to get over-excited about Thai hopefuls, and we have done it a lot in the past, but it's hard to look back on Thitisak's performance and not think that Thailand have unearthed a new world champion here. The guy looks sensational. 4-Canelo is free! After being out of the ring for more than a year news broke this past week that Saul "Canelo" Alvarez is a promotional free agent and that his deal with Golden Boy Promotions has come to an end, as has his broadcast deal with DAZN. This is all an ugly affair, that now appears to be over, and talk seems to be that Canelo will be back in the ring in December. On one hard this is really bad news for DAZN, which needed some major names on it's platform for it's global release in December, on the other hand it does mean that we'll see Canelo in action, and it appears that DAZN will have more budget for better shows, something that it desperately needs given how poor 2020 has been for the service. 5-Kazuto Ioka Vs Kosei Tanaka is a done Deal! On Monday morning we awoke to the great news that a deal is now done for the WBO Super Flyweight title bout between Kazuto Ioka and Kosei Tanaka, who have now put pen to paper to face off on December 31st in Tokyo. This isn't really a surprise, but more the relief that some normality can exist in boxing, and we can still enjoy a huge end of year bout from Japan. For Ioka this will be his second defense of the title, that he won in 2019 by stopping Aston Palicte whilst Tanaka will be looking to become a 4 weight champion at the age of 25. This is the match up we all wanted, and one to get really, really exited about! The Bad 1-Hiroto Kyoguchi suffers Covid19 The first bad of the week came at the start of the week and saw the WBA Light Flyweight "Super" title bout between Hiroto Kyoguchi and Thanongsak Simsri being cancelled at late noticed after Kyoguchi, and a trainer, both tested positive for Covid19. This was bad on a number of levels, including the fact the fight was off and Simsri's 2 weeks in quarantine seemed to be all for nought. But since then it appears the virus has really gotten into the Watanabe Gym, and that is a bad in it's self. It's unclear where the cluster came from, but it's a real shame that it struck when it did and we hope everyone makes a full recovery, and that the bout is rescheduled for later this year. 2-Povetkin gets Covid19 In for a penny, in for a pound with the Covid stories! Not only did we lose Kyoguchi Vs Simsri this week but we also saw a serious delay being put into the planned rematch between Alexander Povetkin and Dillian Whyte. That was because Povetkin tested positive, and it's now forced the bout to be posted until 2021. Given that Povetkin is already 41 we do wonder just how much of him will be left by the time the rematch takes place. Yes he scored a win in the first bout with Whyte but he is very much an old fighter and if the illness has any lingering effects on him it could end up pushing the bout further and further back. 3-PBC show on Saturday Night PBC promised us a card of Heavyweight action on Saturday night with a card of completely comprised of Heavyweight bouts. Sounds great we thought! Going to be fun! Going to be knockouts and big guys swinging shots at each other. Sadly it turned into a complete farce with the combined 5 bouts lasting a combined 11 rounds. Only 1 of the bouts got beyond round 2 and there wasn't a single round of actually competitive action on the show. As for the action, we saw Carlos Negron and Rafael Rios both look like they'd done a marathon before stepping into the ring, and both looked exhausted by round 2, Joey Abell injured his arm to suffer his 11th loss and Alexander Flores seemed to injure himself when caught by the wind of Luis Ortiz's punches. This was a disgraceful show of boxing and it didn't belong on TV. 4-DAZN show stinks Okay we mentioned the PBC card, and that was bad. It was really bad. Embarrassingly however the DAZN card was even worse. As if that was possible. There was no redeeming factor here at all. We again had the insufferable DAZN commentary, and we really do wonder what their team have on the DAZN owners to keep their jobs, the match ups were all garbage, we don't think a B side won a single round on the card. With DAZN around a month away from their global launch they really need to put some quality control in place and prevent garbage like this being shown on their service. Their service isn't free, it's a premium. It's a luxury. A luxury that laid a giant shit on the floor this week and tried to pretend that it was a worthwhile show. Not a single bout on this card was interesting, exciting or worth watching. If you missed this to get your colon examined, you missed nothing. It also had a very dreary, unexciting, and dull main event that saw further shine being taken off one of the big hopes of US boxing. Sorry folks, if you tuned into the boxing on Saturday night in the US you really were let down. No wonder neither promoter did much to promote their events! The Ugly 1-Kaokhor Galaxy's crash Over the weekend news from Thai was that former world champion Khaokor Galaxy had been involved in an automobile accident. Khaokor, the twin of Khaosai, was in the car with his wife when the accident occurred, crushing a good portion of his car. Images from the accident looked terrible, though thankfully reports are that no one is badly hurt and it seems like everyone was very fortunate not to be seriously injured. This could have been so, so much worse. The past week has been an interesting one in Asian boxing. We had expected two world title fights but sadly Covid19 struck, removing one of those fights from the schedule the day before the bout was supposed to take place. Despite that we actually had a really good week. It was a week full of great stories, surprisingly good action, and a week that is worth look back over quite happily. It may not have been the biggest week we've had but it was a really good week!
Fighter of the Week Junto Nakatani There really was only one man in the running for the Fighter of the Week and that was Junto Nakatani, who announced himself on the world stage with a TKO win over Giemel Magramo. The 22 year old from Japan shone as he outboxed, out fought, out punched, out though and generally out did Magramo in every which way to claim the WBO Flyweight title. After talking about Nakatani for years, following his Rookie of the Year success, we are so proud of seeing Nakatani getting plaudits from around the boxing world and it's well and truly due! Performance of the Week Junto Nakatani Not only did Nakatani get the biggest win of the week, which is generally what our Fighter of the Week award is for, but he also put in the performance of the week. He made a very dangerous, talented fighter look third rate. Magramo isn't a bad fighter but if that was the first time you'd seen him you were left with the impressed that he was completely inept. Nakatani didn't just beat Magramo at range, where he could have made life very, very easy, but beat him on the inside too, showing how effective he can be at either range. It wasn't quite a flawless performance, but it wasn't far off from the brilliant youngster. This was a complete performance and a star making one! Fight of the Week Amnat Ruenroeng Vs Pungluang Sor Singyu We'll admit that we had high expectations and genuine excitement when we saw the announcement that Amnat Ruenroeng and Pungluang Sor Singyu would face off on a WP Boxing show. What we didn't expect was for the two men to put on something truly brilliant. This 8 round bout was marred with controversy before hand, with Amnat citing a hand injury, changing the weight of the bout and the length of the bout, but in the ring the two veterans put on a show and over-delivered. They was 8 rounds of fantastic action, with styles that gelled perfectly. Pungluang was the aggressor through out, pressing and pressuring whilst Amnat played the role of counter puncher, making for a sensational bout with brilliant back and forth. If you've a bad taste in your mouth after the DAZN and PBC cards give this one a watch, it'll remind you why you follow this sport! Round of the Week Junpei Tsujimoto vs Daiki Ogura (Rd2) Whilst the Amnat Vs Pungluang bout was the best bout it didn't have the best round. That honour belonged to round 2 of the bout between Junpei Tsujimoto and Daiki Ogura. In fact this goes down as one of the best rounds of the year. The round started slowly but about 40 seconds in an Ogura left hook buckled Tsujimoto's knees and a follow up dropped him. To his credit Tsujimoto got to his feet and took a pounding whilst trying to survive. He was holding, spoiling, and doing anything to buy time to recover, whilst Ogura landed a number of big left hooks. It seemed almost certain that Tsujimoto would be heading down to the canvas again but he managed to shake the cobwebs and, 2 minutes after being dropped himself he knocked Ogura down and out with a huge right hand, turning the tables in a must see round. Fantastic stuff! KO of the Week Thananchai Charunphak KO4 Pigmy Kokietgym We had some dramatic finishes this week, including the one between Tsujimoto and Ogura, but few were as painful looking and devastating as the brutal body shot KO scored by Thananchai Charunphak, who damn near gutted Pigmy Kokietgym. To his credit Kokietgym came to win, he just wasn't good enough to be competitive with the very highly skilled Thananchai who took control early on, and then started hammering Pigmy in round 3 and 4. In round 4 Pigmy was down twice, with the second knockdown being the finish. It came from a single, devastating, left hook tot he mid section that left Pigmy in pure agony on the canvas. This was what a body KO is supposed to look like and is a real treat for those who like to see bouts finished with gut busters and rib wreckers. Prospect of the Week Thitisak Hoitong When a promoter matches a novice with a former world title challenger that tends to mean one of two things. Either the novice is there to lose, and lose quickly, or he's seen the real deal. Thitisak Hoitong falls firmly in the category of "real deal". The 24 year old debuted on Sunday morning in Samur Prakan, Thailand, and boy did he leave an impression. He out boxed 2-time world title challenger Samartlek Kokietgym with ease and looked like a veteran. On his debut. Thitisak moved around the ring with ease, picked his punches perfectly, looked relaxed and calm throughout and showed all the touches of a future star. This may have been his first bout as a professional but we dare say his future is looking incredible and he really could be fighting for a world title in the next year or two. He looks like a very, very special fighter and if you missed his debut we really suggest hunting it down at some point this week. We suspect you'll be very impressed by the debutant, just like we were. If we're being totally hones the month of October felt really, really, really long. That sounds like a complaint, but it really isn't it was just so packed with great action, interesting fights and we seemed to get something worth talking about every few days. We had numerous great fights, we had a lot of free content, we had massive shows in the West and we had so much action that we, as fans, were left swimming in in joy at some of the stuff we were getting. October was a great month for boxing and today we look at the highlights for Asian fights with the latest in our Monthly awards.
Fighter of the Month Naoya Inoue We begin this with an obvious award and that is the Fighter of the month. That honour easily belonged to Naoya Inoue, with the pound-for-pound claimant showing what he could do in his Las Vegas debut. The talented Inoue, who fought in one of the very last bouts of the month, was in with the very credible, and decent Jason Moloney. He was coming in after suffering a nasty injury last time out to his eye, and after almost a year away from the ring. He was coming in to the bout with pressure, and plenty doubting him, and also with history against him, having seen the last two Japanese champions in Las Vegas losing their world titles. Despite that he put on a fantastic performance, stopping in 7 rounds, and breaking the durable, brave and tough Aussie. Following the win Inoue made it clear he wanted to unify his WBA "Super", IBF and Ring Magazine titles with the other belts in the division and doesn't want to relax on his laurels. It was fantastic, once again, for the Monster. Fight of the Month Toshiki Kawamitsu Vs Kenshi Noda The month of October really had some tremendous bouts, and we could reel off maybe a short list of 20 bouts from October featuring an Asian fighter worthy of your time. None, however, were as good as the war between Toshiki Kawamitsu and Kenshi Noda. These two youngster put on a show. From the opening round this was a technical, high speed, phone booth war. They were both sharp and accurate, they wanted to hurt the other man, and also show their skillset. As the bout went on both men were hurt, the action continued to be intense and there was no let up until one of the men began to lag. It's not the longest bout from the month, but it was, for us, the most enjoyable bout in Asia. Sadly it was quickly overshadowed globally by the front runner for the global Fight of the Year with Jose Zepeda and Ivan Baranchyk giving us something other-wordly in the US. KO of the Month Janibek Alimkhanuly Vs Gonzalo Gaston Coria We had a lot of really good KO's this past month, and they came from all over the place. We really were treated to some brutal finishes and the short list for this award was a fairly lengthy one. In the end however the stand out came from unbeaten Kazakh Janibek Alimkhanuly, who absolutely destroyed Argentina's Gonzalo Gaston Coria in the second round of their bout. This was brutal and nasty. Alimkhanuly dumped Coria on the canvas with a huge left hand, bloodied his face in the process and left Coria with no chance of getting up. It maybe wasn't the most eye pleasing, but it was the most brutal. A sensational finish by a very, very talented Kazakh hopeful Prospect of the Month Nonthasith Petchnamthong When it comes to prospect of the month it's hard to judge who deserves the honour. Is it the fighter who looks the best, or is it the fighter who scored the most impressive result? This month we went with the second of those options with Thai novice Nonthasith Petchnamthong really impressing us in just his second professional bout. The talented Thai not only won his second professional bout, but did it against a former world champion, as he out pointed Kompayak Porpramook. Whilst it is fair to say that Kompayak is best his best, and fighting above his best weight, this was still a really impressive performance from the Thai novice against an awkward and aggressive fighter. Whether Nonthasith goes on to be a star or not is unclear, but we were certainly impressed by his performance here, and we're looking forward to seeing a lot more of him in the future. Upset of the Month Viktor Kotochigov vs Maxi Hughes Although some categories has a lot of bouts to choose from we didn't really get too many upsets this month. The most notable of the ones we did get saw Kazakh fighter Viktor Kotochigov lose his record in a betting upset to the under-rated Maxi Hughes. The result was a surprise in it's self, with Hughes taking a decision, but it was the manner of this contest that was most startling. The light punching Hughes dropped Kotochigov early in the bout and had him reeling in round 4. The Englishman bossed it through large portions of the bout and was well deserving of the victory here. Round of the Month Toshiki Kawamitsu Vs Kenshi Noda (Rd2) We close this by going back to the brilliant bout between Toshiki Kawamitsu and Kenshi Noda, for the round of the Month. Whilst their bout was tremendous, and genuinely we would advise anyone who missed it to watch the entire thing, round 2 was the one that stood out as the most must watch round. This was top tier action between two young novices who both dug deep, let their hands go and gave us one of the best 3 minutes of the year. The was something really special, and we implore you all to give the bout a watch and enjoy this round, and the others in the bout. Tremendous stuff from both youngsters. |
Oriental Opinions
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