This past has been a long one, a really, really long one, hence why this is being posted later than usual. Despite being long it has also been a pretty damn good week, and one we've enjoyed. With that in mind we have a good mix of things to talk about in this weeks The good, the bad and the ugly
The Good 1-Masayoshi Nakatani Vs Felix Verdejo The big good from the weekend was the brilliant bout between Masayoshi Nakatani and Felix Verdejo on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Man what an amazing, dramatic, exciting and enthralling bout it was, with 4 knockdowns and a major come from behind win. We won't see many bouts with more drama than this one this year. Genuinely brilliant and well worth tracking down if you missed it live. 2-Ryoji Fukunaga vs Kenta Nakagawa Talking about great bouts Monday's triple title unification bout between Ryoji Fukunaga and Kenta Nakagawa was another barn burner. The battle started somewhat slowly, with the two men trying to figure out how to fight in a southpaw vs southpaw bout, but warmed amazingly well and rounds 8 and 9 were just phenomenal. If you missed this one and have Boxing Raise check it out as soon as you can! Great action, great drama and great desire from both. 3-Misako's Double Header announcement Every so often a show gets announced that has us instantly excited, and that happened this week with Misako announcing a show for February which will feature Ryu Horikawa Vs Yudai Shigeoka and Ryo Sagawa Vs Hinata Maruta. If those two bouts end up both taking place on the card, as announced, man what an amazing double header that's going to be! It's fair to say that 2020 hasn't been a great year, but the line for 2021 is already starting to take shape, and already starting to look amazing. 4-Florian Marku's rant It's rare for a post fight interview to outshine the fight, but Florian Marku ripping the shit out of scoring referee Marcus McDonnell was one of those exceptions. He seemed to clearly earn a victory over Jamie Stewart on Saturday in the UK, though the referee some how had the bout even after 8 rounds, giving us the draw. Rightfully McDonnell was toasted by the fighter, and fingers crossed he'll not have any repercussions from the BBBofC for stating what everyone was thinking. Marku take a bow young man, and lets really hope this is the end of scoring referees in the UK. The Bad 1-Marcus McDonnell's score card We mentioned Marku's rant, and it was spot on, but that doesn't ignore the fact that Marcus McDonnell has continued this growing trend in the UK, where officials seem unable to fucking score bouts! How he got a score of 76-76 for that bout is a mystery and he should be dragged in front of the BBBofC to explain his score. Sadly, as we saw recently with another British official, explaining a score in the UK is as simple as saying that's how you saw the bout. If the BBBofC don't start acting now, the sport in the UK will continue to be a joke when it comes to scoring. 2-DAZN commentary DAZN covered the British show on Saturday night and they were dreadful. Again. Really awful. The repeatedly ignored the action in the ring, spent almost an entire 10 round fight talking about other fights. This was so disrespectful to the fighters on the show, the audience, the profession, the sport and the service they were working for. Brian Kenny, Chris Mannix and Sergio Mora really do need to be pulled to the side and given their marching orders. Just terrible. We complain about commentary every week, and DAZN's continues to be among the worst, of the worst. 3-Hyun Mi Choi's opponent Earlier this year, before the world changed, we were supposed to see a sensational match up between Hyun Mi Choi and Maïva Hamadouche. Their bout was postponed, and then cancelled, and then both women signed with Matchroom. The bout seemed the obvious one to make. Instead the two have gone in different directions with Choi's opponent being announced around 8 days before her bout. Not only was her opponent announced late on, but it was also the very limited Calista Silgado. Not good enough from Matchroom, who have repeatedly under-delivered for Asian fighters in recent months. Just pathetic. The Ugly 1-Donaire's false positive Last week Nonito Donaire got a positive Covid19 result from one of his tests, forcing him out of a scheduled bout with Emmanuel Rodriguez. A bout that many were looking forward to. In the days that followed however it was seemingly shown to be a false positive with Donaire paying for extra testing of his own and negative results. This is a really ugly story that strangely mirrors the issues Reiya Konishi had earlier in the year and proves there is need for a confirmatory test after a positive, especially given the fact false positives are known about. This has been further complicated by the slow response time of the labs used by PBC for Donaire's testing.
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With the East Japan Rookie of the Year final's coming up on December 20th we felt it made sense to focus on one of the finalists for this week's "Introducing". After looking over the match ups on the card we decided the man who made the most sense to look at was hard hitting Flyweight Shugo Namura (4-0, 4), who promises excitement every time he steps in the ring, and will be a very interesting match up at the East Japan final. But more about that contest a little bit later.
Born in Matsudo City, in Chiba Prefecture, Namura isn't from an area with a hotbed of professional boxers. Whilst some fighters from Chiba have become stars, they have pretty much all had to move away from the region to build there career. Namura is no different and he has fought out of the SRS gym since turning professional last year. Whilst the SRS gym is certainly not a huge name, like Teiken, Ohashi, Watanabe, Misako or Kadoebi, it is very much a gym rooted in letting youngsters reach their potential and is run by former multi-time world title challenger Hiroyuki Sakamoto, one of the most inspirational fighters in Japan. Unsurprisingly you can actually see a lot of Sakamoto in Namura's style. For those who can't remember Sakamoto himself he was a he was a Lightweight contender in the 1990's and 00's, who challenged Stevie Johnston, Cesar Bazan, Gilberto Serrano and Takanori Hatakeyama, making a name for himself as a man of few words outside of the ring and heavy hands inside it. Stylistically Namura is very similar to his mentor. Like Sakamoto we see Namura throwing everything with bad intentions, and he really loads up on his power shots whilst sometimes neglecting his jab. That however makes him real fun to watch and an explosive monster. Before we discuss his career so far we need to remember that Namura, like many fighters involved in the Rookie of the Year, doesn't have a strong amateur background. In fact none of our usual sources reported any sort of an amateur record for him and to be fair that does show in his style. As mentioned it's almost certainly been moulded by Sakamoto and the folks at the SRS gym, rather than an amateur coach, and it's actually a style that appears to work for him. He's a strong, powerful, hard hitting brute, with a huge hand right and real desire to find the range for his hooks and uppercuts, just like Sakamoto. Namura made his debut back on September 8th 2019, when he stopped Tatsuya Kawaguchi in just 74 seconds. Namura was on the offensive straight from the off, pressing forward and dropping his man with a left hook around the minute mark. Kawaguchi beat the count but was stopped during the foll up barrage. The youngster was back in the ring just 3 months later, making his Korakuen Hall debut against Shunsuke Miyauchi. This bout had a competitive opening round but as the two men traded shots in round 2 Miyauchi ended up hurt and needing to be saved by the referee, who jumped in when Miyauchi was rocked. Sadly Namura's rise, like that of many, was slowed in 2020 by the ongoing global situation. As a result he waited almost 10 months for his return, which came in September 2020 against Kei Fujita in an East Japan Rookie of the Year qualifying bout. This was our first chance to see Namura in action and sadly it was over almost before it began with Fujita coming out aggressively and then having the tables turned when Namura's power began to be felt. After about 30 seconds a huge right hand from Namura dropped Fujita who was stopped after 41 seconds. Having won his qualifying bout in September Namura returned to the ring for the East Japan Rookie of the Year Semi final in November, where he faced Teppei Saito. This looked a great matchup with a 3-0 (3) Namura taking on the 3-0 (2) Saito. As with his previous bout however Namura had too much power. Saito came out with ambition, used his jab well, but then got forced to back up and the pressure from Namura, along with some work inside dropped Saito. It wasn't a hard knockdown but did enough to leave Saito worse for wear and when the bout resumed he was dropped again, with the referee waving the bout off after just 53 seconds. In his Rookie of the Year final the 4-0 (4) Namura will be up against unbeaten 24 year old Akira Hoshuyama (3-0, 2) in what should be a thriller. Hoshuyama is the more technically skilled fighter, and has twice as many rounds to his name than Namura, but the power and destruction of Namura is likely to swing things his way if he can get inside. For fans wanting to watch Namura's next bout it will be shown on G+ on December 27th, on tape delay. Win or lose it's going to be a great one to watch given what we've seen of both men. *Note at the time of writing Boxrec.com list Namura's win over Fujita as a 4 round TKO. It was actually an opening round win, and people wanting to watch it can do so over on Boxing Raise, which has Namura's bouts with Fujita and Saito. This past week has been an odd one, not a bad one, but an odd one, with of the action only really taking place, or becoming possible to watch, very, very late in the week. There was fights early on the week that weren't televised until Saturday, the biggest bout featuring an Asian took place on Saturday night in the US, there was two touted Uzbek's in action on Saturday night and a lot of action took place in Osaka on Sunday. Due to that these awards are going out a little later than usual, though we suspect we all know who's sweeping most of the awards this week!
Fighter of the Week Masayoshi Nakatani It's fair to say there was only one fighter in the running for the Fighter of the Week award and that was Japan's Masayoshi Nakatani, who scored a notable upset win as he stopped touted Puerto Rican hopeful Felix Verdejo. Not only did he win however, but there was so many under-lying stories before the bout and during the bout. Nakatani, who hadn't fought in 17 months, had retired in September 2019, had then refound his love for the sport, signed with Teiken, and was dropped twice en route to a great comeback. This week was Nakatani's week, and hopefully a world title fight in 2021 will follow. Performance of the Week Masayoshi Nakatani Had Nakatani just won a pretty dull fight we'd have had to find someone else for our performance of the week, but lets be honest his performance was great, gutsy, determined and full of hunger. The things we had questioned before the bout. He had been dropped in the opening round, as Verdejo couldn't miss him with the right hand, and he was rocked several more times by huge right hands from the Puerto Rican. He was dropped to a knee in round 4 as a loss looked like a formality. Then he gritted it out, and turned it around, turning the bout on it's head with one of the greatest comebacks of 2019. It was a performance worthy of rave review and this weeks Performance of the Week. Fight of the Week Masayoshi Nakatani Vs Felix Verdejo We're sad to do this, but we need to continue raving about the sensational bout between Nakatani and Verdejo which had it all. The fight had drama, it had action and it had intrigue. It wasn't a high tempo bout. It wasn't a slugfest, and it likely won't be on any Fight of the Year short lists, but as a contest it was truly compelling, utterly fascinating and high drama. A must watch, even if, at times, it did lack the intensity of our favourite style of fights. Round of the Week Rentaro Kimura Vs Thunder Teruya (Rd3) Whilst the drama and excitement of Nakatani Vs Verdejo will linger for a long time we don't actually think it had any amazing rounds, and was instead a great fight due to the over arching drama. As for a great round however round 3 of the bout between super prospect Rentaro Kimura and the amazingly named Thunder Teruya was great. The tempo was solid through out, saw both men land some solid blows and even saw the prospect stumbling backwards before turning the tables and hammering Teruya late in the round. It wasn't a round of the year contender, but was very intriguing and entertianing round. KO of the Week Elnur Abduraimov KO1 Abraham Oliva A very easy award here goes to Elnur Abduraimov for his brutal KO of Abraham Oliva in Mexico. This was a sensational one punch KO that had Oliva collapsing in a disgusting fashion with his legs buckling under him. If you've managed to see this one we seriously advise giving it a watch. Brutal. Prospect of the Week Takahiro Tai There was a lot of prospects in action over the last week, but for us the most impressive, and interesting, was the debuting Takahiro Tai, who put on a showcase in clowning, and made us sit up and take not. Tai's debut wasn't flawless, he didn't beat a big name, or score a win of note, but his performance will certainly have caught the eye with a very un-Japanese style. He was show boating through out, closed the show well and certainly proved to be a fighter worthy of attention. In July 2019 we covered a young fighter from the Mutoh Gym in our "Introducing" series. That was Yusuke Mine (then 0-0, now 3-0 (1)), who was set to take part in his debut just a few days later. At the time he was being spoke about as the new star of the Osaka based Mutoh Gym and the biggest hope Takahashi Edagawa's gym had at time. He was being compared to former world champion Nobuo Nashiro, and even dubbed "Nashiro II" in the Japanese boxing press. He seemed like the type of youngster who ticked the boxes needed to be a star.
Mine was a former amateur standout. He had gone 51-12 (10) in the unpaid ranks, he had made a mark at every level of the domestic amateur scene and even made a mark in international competition, winning cold at a tournament in Taipei. He not only had good amateur results and foundations, but also had a well known boxing mentor to rely on, that being Nashiro. He was essentially being groomed as a star when he turned over to the professional ranks. Sadly in his debut Mine didn't look like the star he was supposed to be. He didn't look bad, as he took a 4 round technical decision over Filipino Jesel Guardario, but he also didn't look like a super star in the making. Of course it was his debut, and way too soon to judge his full potential, but he didn't look outstanding. He looked very capable, a decent boxer, with nice movement and a nice jab, but not a sensation in the making. Given the talk about him before his debut we were left a little bit underwhelmed by how he looked against an opponent who really didn't off much of anything early on, and then had success when desperation sank in. What also took shine off the debut for Mine is that he ended up cut from the clash of heads that ended the fight, which strangely excited Guardario who celebrated as if he had scored a TKO win. Around 9 weeks after his debut Mine returned to the ring and scored an easy 2nd round TKO win in Thailand against Kamon Singram, who fell to 0-30 following Mine's win over him. This was an easy win on the road to get Mine some extra ring time and it came on the same card as stable mate Ryosuke Nishida's professional debut, with Nishida stopping Sakol Keykul inside a round. In his third professional bout Mine took a big step up, and got a really big scare as he took on Ardin Diale in December 2019. It was clear this was a major step up for Mine, with Diale being a former world title challenger, OPBF champion and a man with more than 50 bouts to his name and it showed. Mine was down, twice, against Diale who's experience, composure and shot selection gave Mine nightmares. After going into a big hole, due to being dropped twice, Mine changed tactics and went from boxer to fighter, out working and pressuring Diale, turning the action on it's head and doing just enough to pull victory from the jaw of defeat. After 8 rounds against Diale we saw Mine take home the decision victory and answer a lot of questions about his toughness, resilience, determination and will to win. It also saw him show that he could chance tactics when he needed to, and really dig deep, adapt and think on his feet. To kick off 2020 Mine was supposed to fight former 2-time world title challenger Masayuki Kuroda, with that bout planned for March 30th. Sadly however 2020 happened and that bout, which was announced in February, was cancelled just weeks later due to Covid19. As a result of the Kuroda bout falling through, and issues with the Mutoh Gym over summer, we've not actually seen Mine fight this year. Sadly he has lost the momentum from his 3 early career wins, and it's currently not clear when he'll be back in the ring. It's a shame that his career has hit the roadblocks hard in 2020 but it's certainly not the end for him. Thankfully at just 24 years old Mine does have time to get his career back on track next year, and we really hope that happens. It seems likely his team are hungry to put him on the map and we wouldn't be surprised at all for him to face a notable name in early 2021. With just 29 bouts to his name Muangchai Kittikasem (25-4, 17) had a brilliant career. He was a 2-weight world champion, won his first title in just his 7th professional bout, fought in the US, scored a massive win in Korea, won a 2-fight series with a major domestic rival, and faced a number of notable opponents. He may never have been regarded as one of the sports truly elite level boxers, but he was still a fantastic fighter who had a short yet fantastic career. Today we're going to look at the 5 most significant wins for... Muangchai Kittikasem, covering the wins that mean the most, even if they weren't necessarily the biggest or best wins of his career. 1-Tacy Macalos I (May 2nd 1989) The first big win for Kittikasem came in 1989, less than 11 months after his professional debut, when he claimed his first world title. The Thai's team managed to get IBF Light Flyweight champion Tacy Macalos over from the Philippines to defend his title against the then 6-0 Kittikasem. The talented Filipino had won the belt 6 months earlier, when he defeated Jum Hwan Choi and not only had the title but alsoa significant edge in experience. That however wasn't enough to over-come Kittikasem in Thailand, where two of the judges game numerous 10-10 rounds leading to a split decision victory for the Thai. This was a controversial decision, not helped by cards that included 118-115 and 117-115, but saw Kittikasem put his name on the world stage. 2-Tacy Macalos II (October 6th 1989) Given the bizarre scoring of their first fight between Kittikasem and Macalos, and the controversial nature of result, the two men would have an immediate rematch 5 months later. This time the judges weren't needed as Kittikasem stopped Macalos in 7 rounds to record his first successful defense. Whilst Macalos certainly had a legitimate complaints about the judging in the first bout there was no blaming the judges for this rematch. Sadly it was the start of the end for Macalos, who would later go 4-6 after this loss before retiring in 1994. 3-Sot Chitalada I (February 15th 1991) Kittikasem's IBF Light Flyweight reign was a relatively short one, consisting of 3 successful defenses before he lost the belt in 1990 to brilliant American Michael Carbajal. Just 7 months after being dominated by Carbajal we saw the Thai move up in weight and battle against fellow Thai Sot Chitalada, the then WBC Flyweight champion. The two Thai's ended up putting on a war with both men being rocked, but it seemed like Kittikasem was the one landed the bigger shots on a more regular basis than Chitalada, who was dropped several times. In round 6 Kittikasem managed to see off Chitalada who needed saving whilst taking bombs against the ropes. 4-Jung Koo Chang (May 18th 1991) Many of Kittikasem's big wins came at home in Thailand, there is however one that stands out, coming in South Korea, against an all-time great...in a truly special fight. The bout saw Kittikasem stop Jung Koo Chang in the 12th round, to make his first defense of the WBC Flyweight title. It wasn't just the win that stood out here, but the nature of the win, which was something amazing to watch. Chang had dropped Kitikasem 3 times during the bout, and it seemed like the Thai was set to lose the WBC Flyweight title to the Korean great. Chang was hunting a finish in the final round before Kittikasem caught the Korean Hawk and dropped him with less than a minute left. Chang beat the count but was dropped again and stopped. This wasn't just a big name on Kittikasem's record but was also a truly spectacular fight that needs to be seen to be believed. 5-Sot Chitalada II (February 28th 1992) In Kittikasem's third defense of the WBC Flyweight title he rematched former champion Sot Chitalada. As with their first bout this was fun, and both men landed some huge headshots, but in the end the strength, power and hunger of Kittikasem was too much for Chitalada who was again saved by the referee after Chitalada's legs buckled. This was actually the end for Chitalada, who retired following this loss and never returned to the ring, despite only being 29. Despite beating his fellow Thai in their rematch Kittikasem would himself struggle afterwards, losing the WBC Flyweight title 4 months later, to Yuri Arbachakov, and the lose a rematch to the Japanese based Russian. He continued on all the way up to 1999, after an ill fated comeback, before retiring having left a very big mark on the lower weights, and on the Thai boxing scene. It's fair to say that December is the best month of the year and over the next 2 weeks or so we are getting a great run of fights up to Christmas, with several notable names and big shows set to take place all over the world.
December 14th Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan Ryoji Fukunaga (12-4, 12) vs Kenta Nakagawa (19-3-1, 12) In a bout for all the regional and domestic marbles at 115lbs we'll see JBC champion Kenta Nakagawa battle WBO Asia Pacific champion Ryoji Fukunaga, with two title the men hold, as well as the OPBF title, up for grabs. The two men are a long way behind world class, but against each other they are very well matched, and both men can punch, so this should be a genuinely thrilling shoot out. A very hard one to call and a potentially very exciting match up, with both men being hurt. Hiroki Okada (19-2, 13) vs Izuki Tomioka (7-3-1, 2) The out of form Hiroki Okada returns to a Japanese ring for the first time since May 2018 as he takes on the talented and slick Izuki Tomioka. Coming in to this Okada has lost his last 2, by stoppage, in the US and will known that a loss to a domestic foe could spell the end of his career. Tomioka, who is in his early 20's, has proven to be a very talented and tricky fighter, but very much a work in progress and has lost his 3 biggest bouts to date. Style wise this is a very interesting match up and it really could go either way, depending on how Okada is mentally following his recent set backs. Mikio Sakai (2-0) vs Toshihiro Kai (6-11-3, 2) It's not often we get to talk about Japanese Middleweights so with that in mind we felt it was worthy of giving this bout some attention. Mikio Sakai was a former Japanese amateur standout who has looked very good since turning professional. He'll be strongly backed to pick up win #3 here against the limited and somewhat fragile Kai, who has been stopped a number of times recently. Given the lack of depth on the Japanese scene at Middleweight a win here would likely leave Sakai only a fight or two away from a domestic title bout. December 16th - Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan Aidos Yerbossynuly (14-0, 9) vs Issah Samir (19-0, 16) Unbeaten Kazakh hopeful Aidos Yerbossynuly looks to extend his unbeaten record and take another step towards a potential world title bout as he takes on fellow unbeaten Issah Samir, from Ghana. This bout will see Yerbossynuly defending a number of minor titles and taking on his most dangerous foe to date, with Samir certainly being able to puncher and boasting an unbeaten record of his own. Although Yerbossynuly is stepping up it's also fair to state that Samir is taking on his toughest test to date, and will be doing so as the under-dog, in his first bout outside of Ghana. On paper one of the most attractive bouts in this pre-Christmas period. Bek Nurmaganbet (2-0, 1) vs Emmanuel Danso (32-5, 26) Touted Kazakh hopeful Bek Nurmaganbet fights for the third time this year as he takes on Emmanuel Danso, who like Samir is from Ghana. Danso has an imposing looking record and looks like a real danger man for the unbeaten 22 year old Kazakh former amateur standout. On paper a major test. Sadly however looking beneath the numbers Danso is perhaps a calculated risk and the "Kwahu Tyson" has been stopped in 4 of his 5 losses and has come up short every time he's left Africa for a bout. Despite, probably, being a mismatch it is worth noting that Danso has shared the ring with Umar Salamov, Ruslan Fayfer, Feng Manlong and Robin Krasniqi, so Nurmaganbet will be able to compare himself to some notable contenders after just 3 professional bouts. Bekzad Nurdauletov (1-0, 1) vs Kabiru Towolawi (13-2, 10) The sensationally talented Bekzad Nurdauletov returns to the ring for his second professional bout as he takes on Nigerian 40 year old Kabiru Towolaw. On paper this is another bout that looks dangerous until you dig below the numbers and realise that Towolawi hasn't beaten a fighter with a winning record, though has proven to be tough. We expect to see nothing other than an easy win for the Kazakh here, who will likely be looking for a second stoppage win. Microsoft Theater, Los Angeles, California, USA Eumir Marcial (0-0) Vs Andrew Whitfield (3-1, 2) Talented Filipino amateur standout Eumir Marcial will kick start his professional career as he takes on fellow professional novice Andrew Whitfield in a scheduled 4 rounder. Marcial is tipped for an Olympic medal at the Tokyo games and has turned professional to staty busy and get some rounds under his belt before the Olympics, and a subsequent full professional career. Whitfield shouldn't be much of a test, but will be there looking to pick up a win upset the very highly regarded Pinoy pugilist. December 17th - Wild Card Boxing, Los Angeles, California, USA Madiyar Ashkeyev (14-0, 7) Vs Charles Conwell (13-0, 10) Staying on the subject of Kazakh's the unbeaten Madiyar Ashkeyev takes a major step up in class he faces fellow unbeaten Charles Conwell on December 17th's edition of Ring City, the brilliant new idea to put on events with 50-50 match ups in the US with out promotional bias. Similar in some ways to some of the DANGAN cards in Japan. This is a really mouth watering bout with the 32 year old Ashkeyev now being given a chance to sink or swim. Conwell is a very highly regarded American prospect and a win here will shoot the 23 year old to within touching distance of a world title fight. A fantastic match up and one we are really looking forward to. In fact we're really looking forward to following the Ring City project in general as it's a brilliant concept. December 18th - Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Hollywood, Florida, USA Gennady Golovkin (40-1-1, 35) vs Kamil Szeremeta (21-0, 5) Remaining on the subject of Kazakh fighters, the biggest name in Kazakh boxing returns as Gennady Golovkin looks to defend the IBF Middleweight title against relatively unknown Polish challenger Kamil Szeremeta. We are of the opinion that Golovkin is a shadow of the fighter he once was, but at 38 he's only coming down the other side of the hill, and has got tot he bottom yet. With that in mind we suspect he'll be too big, too strong and too powerful for Szeremeta. On the other hand Golovkin has been in tough fights recently and they are clearly taking a toll on him, with numerous injuries in recent years. This should be an easy one, but if he struggles we suspect Golovkin will consider 2021 as his final in the sport. Ali Akhmedov (16-0, 12) vs Carlos Gongora (18-0, 13) Another Kazakh on this card will be Ali akhmedov, who is in a really interesting looking match up against Ecuador's Carlos Gongora. The exciting Kazakh has run out his record to 16-0 but hasn't really been tested since his 2016 debut, with his toughest bouts being a wide 8 round decision win over Mike Guy and a wide 10 round decision over DeShon Webster. Gongora on the other hand was a 2-time Olympian who competed 3 times in the World Amateur Championships, but has sadly been matched very softly since turning professional. Gongora certainly has the amateur pedigree to suggest he's a talent, but the 31 year old has been matched even softer than Akhmedov. For both men this is a step up in class, and one that feels over-due for both fighters. Hyun Mi Choi (17-0-1, 4) vs TBA Unbeaten Korean Hyun Mi Choi makes her international debut though at the time of writing her opponent is unknown. She was originally slated to be rematching Mexican foe Jessica Gonzalez, though it appears that Choi's team have had to look elsewhere for an opponent and have seemingly offered the opportunity to vocal fighter who made it clear the offer wasn't suitable for her. Sadly what should have been a chance for Choi to increase her international profile has seen her become the latest fighter to sign with Matchroom and have her opponent be a mystery. Sadly this is becoming a trend with Matchroom in the both the UK and the USA December 19th - Mohegan Sun Casino, USA Nonito Donaire (40-6, 26) Vs Emmanuel Rodriguez (19-1, 12) On December 19th Filipino boxing legend Nonito Donaire will face off with Emmanuel Rodriguez for the vacant WBC Bantamweight title. Originally we were supposed to see Donaire battle Nordine Oubaali, but Oubaali has contracted Covid19, forcing him to pull out of this bout and be given the WBC "champion in recess" tag and leaving the WBC title vacant. Interestingly Donaire and Rodriguez were both last seen in the ring losing to Naoya Inoue, though in very different fashion, with Donaire last 12 rounds with Inoue and Rodriguez being blasted early on. Donaire will be the favourite, but it's going to be interesting to see just how much the 38 year "Filipino Flash" has left more than a year removed from his excellent performance against Inoue in the WBSS final. Reymart Gaballo (23-0, 20) Vs Jose Velasquez (28-6-2, 19) On the same show as Donaire Vs Roodriguez we get another interesting Bantamweight bout as unbeaten Pinoy puncher Reymart Gaballo takes on Chilean veteran Jose Velasquez in a bout for the WBA "interim" Bantamweight title. For Gaballo this is a chance to become a 2-time "interim" champion, having won the title in 2018 with a win over Stephon Young, though his first reign lead nowhere. For Velasquez this is a huge match up and his first shot at any form of a world title. On paper Gaballo is the favourite, but his wild, free swinging aggression may get him in some trouble against his tough Chilean foe. December 20th Olive Convention Centre, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Moruti Mthalane (39-2, 26) vs Jayson Mama (15-0, 8) The final big fight before Christmas sees us focusing on South Africa as unbeaten Filipino fighter Jayson Mama challenges Moruti Mthalane for the IBF Flyweight title. The 23 year old Pinoy is really taking a huge leap up in class here, going from bouts against faded contenders, like Fahlan Sakkreerin, and domestic fighters, like Dexter Alimento, up to genuine world class. Mthalane, now aged 38, is certainly fighting father time, but the "Babyface" has defied age over and over. Interestingly this will be Mthalne's first bout in his home town and we do wonder if he plans to wave good bye to the sport, win or lose, with a chance to bow out on top at home. Notably it has been almost a year since Mthalane beat Akira Yaegashi in Yokohama and we do wonder if age and ring rust will be an issue against a young and hungry fighter like Mama. On December 13th we see the debut of another promising Japanese youngster, as Takahiro Tai (0-0) begins his professional campaign at the age of 23. The youngster was a former standout amateur and is someone that we feel is worthy of the "Introducing..." treatment, especially with his debut being just a few days away, and his debuting an historic one for the RST Boxing Gym, run by his father.
Born in October 1997 in Hiemji City Tai's first combat sport wasn't actually boxing. Instead it was Kyokushin Karate, he then entered the Takasago Gym before beginning to training at the RST Boxing gym, where he learned to box as an orthodox fighter. He then learned, during college, how to fight southpaw and quickly became a capable switch hitter, something he's prided himself on. Tai was getting attention for his amateur exploits rather early on and those exploits grew more when he represented his University Team. He wasn't just part of the Ashiya University Boxing team however, but actually went on to be the captain of the team and impressed regularly in 2018, in his third year at University. During his days in the unpaid ranks Tai went 43-14 (15), and impressed in the 2019 All Japan Championships, reaching the business end of the competition. He also managed to have a notable rivalry with Jun Ikegawa, who beat Tai 2-1 in their 3 fight series. Notably Tai has declared revenge in the professional ranks against Ikegawa who recently turned professional himself with the Kadoebi Gym. As an amateur Tai was a switch hitter, with long levers, clean, accurate, fast punches and a good understanding of the ring. There was a certain sense of flare to his work, an almost cocky confidence, and an exciting exuberance to his work. At times he did move too much, and even taunted opponents, but it was clear he was a natural talent, and he looked incredibly comfortable in the ring, even if he looked too comfortable at times. It was clear he was having fun in the ring, win or lose he wanted to entertain fans and himself. Earlier this year Tai became the first fighter the at the RST Boxing Gym to turn professional, after the gym it's self got professional certification earlier this year. That might not seem big news, though it is worth noting that the gym is owned and run by Tai's father, and it's clear that Takahiro's professional dreams were a big reason why the gym became a professional boxing gym. He will be their sole professional focus here, and is the man they are pinning their hopes one for the foreseeable future. Tai passed his B class license test back in September, on September 26th, just a month after the gym became a professional one, Tai isn't getting a gimme on debut. Instead he will be up against the 6-6 Ryosei Hamaguchi, who has lost 4 of his last 5, but is a very capable fighter at this level and scored a very decent win just a few fights back against Hiroyuki Takahara. Although no world beater Hamaguchi has been in the ring with some genuinely talented fighters, including the very highly regarded Toshiki Shimomachi, who he faced in the 2017 Rookie of the Year. We suspect Tai will have too much, given his amateur showings, but this should still serve as a decent test on his debut, against a fighter who has been a professional for a few years now. Given Tai's personality, his style and his comments to the media, we're expecting him to be a very entertaining fighter in the professional ranks. There is certainly an air of confidence to him, and in interviews he has spoke about wanting to increase his profile and make a name for himself. With that in mind we can't but feel excited about what Tai may have to offer over the coming years. The past week has been one that saw a lot of focus on two cards, one in the UK on Friday night and one in the US on Saturday. In reality for many fans they were the two things to concentrate on but, in reality, they were certainly not the only things taking place this past 7 days and, in all honesty they didn't really live up to the hype and hope of the promoters. In fact we'd go as far as to say they, for the most part, went as expected by the cynical fans out there. Despite that there was a lot to enjoy as we'll cover as we go back over the good, the bad and the ugly from this past week!
The Good 1-Japanese novices shine on Saturday We're going to complain about under-cards a little bit later on, so with that in mind we need to congratulate Yokohama Hikari for putting on a surprisingly fun under-card on Saturday featuring novice bouts that stole the show. Heading into the weekend we never expected to be raving about bouts between Kanta Kawamura and Koyo Nakayama, Kenshiro Ishimori and Tomoya Tanaka or Takumi Hashimoto and Soshi Goto but these were genuinely great fun to watch. What these bouts showed was that you don't big names on under-cards, instead give us entertaining well matched bouts and we will sit there and enjoy some fun, back and forth action. In the West the under-cards, for years, have been used to pad records of prospects rather than paying much attention to fan entertainment, but bouts like these flipped that script and made for a real fun watch at Korakuen Hall. 2-Etsuko Tada with a female KO of the Year contender One other thing we don't tend to see are female KO's but this past week we saw an absolutely beauty by Etsuko Tada, who iced fellow veteran Ayaka Miyao in a WBO female Minimumweight title bout. The two women had fought to a draw in February and it was expected that this one was going the distance as well until seconds into round 9 when a brutal left hand from Tada dropped Miyao face first. This was a sensational ending and the type of finish that makes it clear that even the little ladies can turn out the lights when they land the perfect shot. Prior to the bout it seemed like a loss would spell the end of Tada's career but instead she delivered something amazing here. It was brilliant to see. 3-Donte Dixon and Chris Bourke take chances to shine Whilst the vast majority of the UK undercards from Friday and Saturday were forgettable affairs, of predictable mismatches, and even some incredibly dreary match making and stylistic clashes we did get 2 fighters who stood out. The first of those was Donte Dixon, who put in a thrilling, eye catching and exciting performance in his 6 round win over Angelo Dragone. Dixon's fight got moved to TV at late notice and he did everything he could to excite fans and etch his name in to the brains of fans watching. A brilliant fight with a great performance from the youngster. Just a night later Chris Bourke put on a scintillating performance to get rid of the teak tough Michael Ramabeletsa in 2 rounds, in an eye opening win. A tip to fighters being given these opportunities, especially during the current climate, is to make yourself stand out and make fans remember you so well done to Dixon and Bourke! 4-Ricards Bolotniks performance and post fight interview Talking about making fans remember you the best example from the week was Latvian mad man Ricards Bolotniks who put in a stirring performance to stop Serge Michel in 10 rounds. The performance was a stellar one from the Latvian, who has turned his career around so much in the last few years and he was the worthy winner of the Golden Contract. Unlike most fighters who spend their post fight interview thanking everyone under the sun Bolotniks was raw joy, excitement and happiness following a career best win. He got the microphone and took his moment in the sun, roaring with joy. His performance and interview really did make fans remember him, and it's fair to say fans are going to really look forward to seeing more of him! 5-Eduardo Ramirez's KO over Miguel Flores Another man who made their screen time matter this week was Eduardo Ramirez who fought like a man possessed from the opening bell of his bout with Miguel Flores. He set a high work rate, forced an exciting fight from the moment dot and never looked like he was there for anything but a big and impressive win. What few would have expected however was the finish, which was just brutal and seemed to almost rip Flores' top lip off his face. This was brutal, eye catching, bloody and exciting. With his win Ramirez is expected to get a world title fight, and although he would be the under-dog against any of the champions he certainly has the aggression and tenacity to be a nightmare for the top guys at 126lbs. The Bad 1-The under-cards from the Big 2 in the UK We've mentioned Chris Bourke and Donte Dixon putting on memorable performances. Sadly the rest of the under-card bouts from those two shows really weren't interesting at all. Lerrone Richards was up against a man who wouldn't fight in Timo Laine, Shannon Courtney was in with a woman who looked like she had learned to box by watching play with each other, Josh O'Reilly looked out of his depth from the opening seconds against James Tennyson and the touted Dennis McCann was given a test but looked pretty poor for such a touted fighter, who had been compared to Naseem Hamed before, and after, the bout. Really disappointing pair of shows. 2-Anthony Yarde, Tunde Ajayi and the Lions in Camp Of course it wasn't just the under-cards that were disappointing but also the performance of some of the main events. That was most notable by the performance of former world title challenger Anthony Yarde who looked lost against a 1-handed fighter. Yarde might be a power puncher but this performance was that of a very confused fighter lacking the tools needed to make the most of his power. He was also completely let down by his trainer, Tunde Ajayi who seemed completely confused at what to do. His advise was terrible, he was very slow to cotton on to the fact Lyndon Arthur was fighting one handed, forgot his man's gumshield, twice, and spent more time shouting about Lions in camp rather than giving his man the advice he needed to push forward and increase the tempo. This were then made worse by Yarde bitching about the decision going against him. On that subject, what the hell was Ian John Lewis watching? 3-Saunders Vs Murray again show Saunder's lack of fitness Staying on the subject of main events in the UK the Billy Joe Saunders Vs Martin Murray bout did, slightly, exceed the very low expectations had of it. But it still stank and again showed why Billy Joe Saunders won't beat the very top guys. His fitness level. For 6 rounds Saunders looked great and beat up the old, slow, very shop worn Murray, who should never have been offered a world title fight at this point in his career. And then Saunders did his usual thing of running out of gas and taking his foot off the pedal for the last half of the fight. If the Englishman thinks this sort of tactic will cut it against the likes of Canelo or Andrade he needs to think again. 4-Musheg Adoian's injury Sadly Lyndon Arthur wasn't the only man fighting with 1 arm as Thai based Russian Musheg Adoian also fought most of his rematch with Apichet Petchmanee 1-handed. The Russian seemed to injury himself in round 2, and never looked comfortable again. It's been reported that he injured his left elbow and it did show. Sadly this injury essentially killed off what was a very interesting match up and left him a human punch bag for Apichet. This wasn't a bad injury, in terms of visuals, but it did ruin what had promised to be a very good fight. The Ugly 1-Neal Young, Santana's corner and Brian Kenny On Saturday we were really impressed by Josesito Lopez' performance against Francisco Santana. The 36 year old Lopez looks really impressive here. What wasn't impressed by the officiating by Neal Young who was seemingly happy for Santana to take life altering punishment. Santan had been down in round 1, and had struggled to ever make a mark on the fight afterwards against a busy, accurate, and energetic Lopez. Santana was down again in round 9 and that should have been it. The referee and Santana's corner should both have called a halt to the bout there. It was pointless going on. Santana didn't have the power needed to affect Lopez, nor the energy needed to catch him, or the accuracy needed to time him. Instead they allowed him to wobble to his corner at the end of the round and head back out for round 10, in which he took further punishment. Brian Kenny, working for the broadcast, defended the referee for "doing his job", ignoring that part of his job is fighter safety, not for the bout to go the distance. All in all a disgusting ending to the fight that should have been stopped much earlier. Absolutely appalling by all involved. 2-Commentators over-hyping fighters We've already mentioned Dennis McCann being compared to Naseem Hamed but that wasn't even the most outlandish thing said this weekend. That honour goes to the crazy Johnny Nelson who suggested that James Tennyson would stop Gervonta Davis. What the fuck is this guy doing on TV? There's supporting a fighter, there's blowing smoke up a fighters arse, and then there is complete and utter delusion. Nelson, and John Rawling, both fall well into the deluded category at times and need replacing, as do a lot of others calling fights. Brian Kenny, who defended Neal Young's terrible refereeing and was obsessed with punch numbers was also terrible this week. Come on TV channels, time for a clear out of the dull deadwood and hyperbolic halfwits. 3-Viviane Obenhauf's arrest To end this we need to sadly get into the realm of the very serious, and worrying story out of Switzerland concerning former female fighter Viviane Obenauf who was arrested last week following the death of her 61 year old husband. Details are worrying with her husband dying from "massive injuries due to blunt instrument". Obenhauf appears to be the prime suspect in the case which has also brought up her history, which includes several other cases of out of the ring violence. We'll await the investigation to see how this ends up, but it is still an ugly situation for one of the more popular female boxers of recent years, and a fighter who was certainly notable for facing some of the best out there. This past week has been a strange one, it feels like we've had a lot happen and whilst it was a busy week, it was the under-the-radar stuff that really stole the limelight. We had novice bouts in Tokyo really shining a light on how great they are, a fantastic KO by a female, something we rarely see, and it was just a genuinely low key but entertaining week. With that in mind lets find out where out weekly awards are heading!
Fighter of the Week Masataka Taniguchi The newly crowned Japanese Minimumweight champion Masataka Taniguchi has had a few rough years in the sport. He turned professional along with Hiroto Taniguchi and was expected to pretty much lead the Watanabe gym with Kyoguchi. Since then he has come up short in a number of high profile bouts, and his most notable win was a low key WBO Asia Pacific title win in Thailand. He was 0-3 in title fights in Japan and he needed something big this week. Thankfully he got what he needed, dropping Hizuki Saso in the opening round and winning every minute of the fight after that until forcing a late stoppage. Fantastic week for a man who might, now, kick on and have the career we expected him to have. Performance of the Week Phongsaphon Panyakum We head over to Thailand for our performance of the week, which was scored by Thai youngster Phongsaphon Panyakum, who broke down the tough nosed Kompayak Porpramook on Saturday's WP Boxing event. The performance wasn't flawless from Phongsaphon but it was exactly what he needed, breaking down the smaller man and neutralising Kompayak's pressure. His his credit the veteran tried, as he always does, but met a stronger, younger, hungry man who just has too much in every area. This was the performance that suggested Phongsaphon has star potential, and fingers crossed we see him able to get a notable international opponent in 2021. Fight of the Week Tomoya Tanaka (0-2) vs Kenshiro Ishimori (1-0) In a week that big name fighters stole attention in the US and UK it was a hidden gem on a Japanese card that left us feeling fuzzy and warm inside and with good cause. There really wasn't another bout that we saw that matched the drama and excitement of the scheduled 4 rounder between Tomoya Tanaka and Kenshiro Ishimori. From the moment this started it was clear both men were confident they could pick up a win and they fought with that belief. The opening round saw them trading jabs and straights with a right hand from Tanaka dropping Ishimori. The tide was turned in round 2 and Ishimori dropped Tanaka. Yes these were novices, but man this was great! We often rave about novice bouts on social media and it's because of bouts like this! Round of the Week Takumi Hashimoto Vs Soshi Goto (Rd3) We're going to speak about Takumi Hashimoto in a bit more detail later on, but we need to give him credit here for the third round of his bout with Soshi Goto, which was 3 minutes of thrilling action. After taking the first two rounds Hashimoto looked to finish off Goto who realised the tide was well and truly against him. During round 3 he stood his ground more, partly a result of all the body shots he had taken, and it made for a great round of Hashimoto pressing forward like a baby terminator and Goto trying to create space and get his respect. This wasn't a hugely dramatic round, but it was a thoroughly entertaining one with both men needing to take some solid leather. A real joy to watch. KO of the Week Etsuko Tada TKO9 Ayaka Miyao We mentioned a women's KO in the opening paragraph and it really was the standout finish of the week. It was scored by veteran Etsuko Tada who landed a short, counter, straight left hand that dropped Miyao face first. It was genuinely one of the best female KO's we've seen in terms of both quality of finish and quality of opponent. This was perfect and a great ending to their 2 fight series, which had seen the women fight to a draw in February. If you missed this one it's worth hunting down on Boxing Raise, a true beauty! Prospect of the Week Takumi Hashimoto Sometimes the key to winning Prospect of the Week is to score the highest profile win by a prospect, other times however it's about the fighter who has left us most excited about them, and with that in mind we need to have Takumi Hashimoto as this week's prospect. The debutant was in an all novice bout, against Soshi Goto, and despite being in such a low profile bout Hashimoto made his TV time count. He was all action from the off, pressing forward with hunger and a high octane pressure style. Within a round he had caught the eye and then he kept it up for 4 rounds. He was giving up size, height, reach and physical maturity here, but really impressed. Make a note of his name going forward Japanese-Korean fighter Ryol Li Lee (20-4-2, 10) fought between 2005 and 2013 and although he didn't have the most distinguished of careers he was a fairly notable figure on the Japanese and Asian scene. In fact he even held the WBA Super Bantamweight title. Whilst his world is reign was a short one, with him losing it in his first defense, he certainly left a mark on the sport. Rather than going in hard on the utterly weird time the WBA Super Bantamweight title had around 10 years we're instead here to talk about the 5 most significant wins for... Ryol Li Lee. Unlike some fighters featured in this series he's not the most well known, or the most successful, but he did score some solid wins before his career wound down. Hiroyuki Enoki (July 18th 2009) The first win of Lee's we're going to talk about came in the Summer of 2009, when he faced the then 28-1-2 (20) Hiroyuki Enoki. Coming in to this bout Lee was 12-1-1 (7), 27 years old and needed to make a statement to move his career forward. Enoki on the other hand was just 9 months removed from a world title fight, losing to Chris John, and 15 months removed from a draw against Takahiro Ao. Despite being the less proven and less experienced fighter Lee would do enough to take a split decision over Enoki and claim a world ranking. This was the win that put Lee on the track to a world title fight, and helped move him forward. In fact this one win did more for his career than the previous 12, combined. Hisashi Amagasa I (June 5th 2010) In February 2010 Lee claimed the Japanese Featherweight title, taking a close decision over Kazunori Takayama, and typically that would have been included in this type of list. That however was a close win over someone who never really went on to do anything afterwards, and never really did a lot before Lee beat him. Instead it's worth talking about Lee's first defense, which was was something worthy of noting. That was against future world title challenger Hisashi Amagasa, who Lee took a clear decision over to retain the belt. The win saw Lee retain the Japanese title and take another step towards a world title bout, which came later in 2010. At the time of this bout Amagasa was best known for his upset win on the domestic scene over Manabu Fukushima. In the years that followed Lee's win, we saw Amagasa claim the Japanese and OPBF Featherweight titles, beating Lee in a rematch, and then go on to face Guillermo Rigondeaux, putting the Cuban down twice. This was a win that aged brilliantly. That's the opposite of Lee's title win over Takayama however, which was little more than stepping stone for Lee's career against someone who was never more than a footnote in Japanese boxing history. Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym (October 2nd 2010) Around 4 months after Lee's win over Amagasa he finally got a shot at a world title, as he dropped down in weight and took on WBA Super Bantamweight champion Poonsawat Kratingdeanggym. Poonsawat had won the title a year earlier, when he stopped Bernard Dunne, and then defended it in Japan against Satosho Hosono, with a decision, before stopping Shoji Kimura in his second defense. He was returning to Japan in hunt of his third defense as he took on the unheralded Lee. Despite being the under-dog Lee would use his foot work and long reach brilliantly to prevent the hard hitting Thai from dictating the tempo in the way he usually did. After 12 rounds Lee was the winner on all 3 cards as he claimed the biggest win of his career. This wasn't pretty, it wasn't exciting, but it was a career defining win for the Japanese-Korean and a genuinely notable upset, in what was a close and competitive bout. Rikiya Fukuhara (August 6th 2011)
Sadly Lee's reign with the WBA Super Bantamweight title was a short one, lasting less than 4 moths. In his first defense he was dropped 3 times on route to losing a wide decision to Akifumi Shimoda. Following that loss he bounced back with a bout against former Japanese Super Bantamweight champion Rikiya Fukuhara. At the time Fukuhara was struggling for form, and had lost his two previous bouts, however with Lee himself losing the WBA title he needed to bounce back just as much as Fukuhara. What ended up happening was Lee got straight back to winning ways as he stopped Fukuhara in 5 rounds to rebuild some momentum and get his career back on track, with a win over the popular, and explosive, Fukuhara. Sadly for Lee he would lose the momentum of this win just 5 months later, when he was beaten by Shoji Kimura. Ryo Takenaka (June 11th 2012) With Lee's career stumbling, following losses to Shimoda and Kimura in the space of 12 months, he knew he needed a win when he went into his 2012 bout with Ryo Takenaka. The talented Takenaka had been beaten 4 months earlier, with a technical decision against Masayuki Wakimoto, but had never been stopped. That was until Lee stopped him in 5 rounds. On paper this win, at the time, wasn't too noteworthy but just over 3 years later Takenaka won the OPBF Featherweight title, and racked 3 defenses of the belt. As with the win over Amagasa this was one that aged well, rather than being a significant win at the time. |
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