 Once again we're back to looking at the Good, The Bad and The Ugly of the week we've just had, and if we're honest the lack of in ring action has left us with not too much good, and quite a lot of indifference, which thankfully isn't a header here! The Good 1 - CBC confirm Kento Hatanaka's next fight will be streamed globally for free! With the growing number of payment services in boxing, and PPV's again becoming more and more prevalent, it's great to see that CBC are again showing some common sense. The Japanese broadcaster confirmed this past week that the WBC Youth Flyweight title bout between Kento Hatanaka v Roland Jay Biendima will be streamed worldwide for free. The channel have helped make Kosei Tanaka a star, streaming a number of his fights, and seem to know that getting eyes on their product is key to their fighters becoming more notable. They've done it with Tanaka and are now doing it was 21 year old Hatanaka. Well done CBC and fingers crossed others see the logic behind what they do, and try to replicate it for emerging hopefuls. 2 - Junto Nakatani Vs Giemel Magramo, sign us up! Although not officially confirmed the reports that Junto Nakatani and Giemel Magramo will battle for the WBO Flyweight title was certainly good news. In fact it was really good news! We're expecting the bout to be confirmed next week, following the report from the gondol that the bout was set. This is the sort of match up that the sport needs more of, and the type of bout that we're always going to get very, very excited about! Two young, up and coming fighters, who could go in different directions, clashing head on for a world title! Yes please. This is the type of match up that title vacancy's should be filled by, and the type of bout that instantly gives the new champion some legitimacy, even if the title had previously been vacant! 3 - Ioka Vs Tanaka in the works! One of the few real good points from this week was the WBO ordering Kazuto Ioka Vs Kosei Tanaka. On one hand it did feel odd that they were ordering back to back mandatory defenses for Ioka, who defended the belt against a mandatory in December, but on the other hand what an amazing match up, and this is something to get really, really excited about for later in the year! It is worth noting that Tanaka didn't seem to be expecting it to be ordered immediately, and neither did we given Ioka's last defense was a mandatory, so we wouldn't be too surprised to see the WBO delay this, as the the teams try to set it up late the last half of the year.  The Bad 1 - Dubois Vs Joyce on PPV British fans really are unlucky right now. It seems that over the coming months they are going to be getting shafted by the powers that be. The Fury Vs Wilder rematch was expected to be PPV, and we expect the Joshua Vs Pulev bout to be on PPV, and both of those are legitimately big bouts. However for Daniel Dubois to face Joe Joyce on PPV in an all British clash, between two men who have yet to break through as any type of stars. Genuinely ridiculous for this bout to be on PPV, and a very tough sell given the lack of personality both men have. Don't get us wrong, we are looking forward to the match, but this shouldn't have been on PPV, and it's a missed opportunity for both fighters and for fans. 2 - Naoya Inoue picks up a fever After taking part in his typical training camp in Guam Naoya Inoue had to miss the annual Japanese boxing award ceremony last week due to fever. The fever is said to have been brought on by muscle fatigue, and it's a real shame. Not only did he have to miss the award ceremony but also take days out of training. On the other hand it has given the John Riel Casimero camp some more ammunition to help sell the fight, and credit goes to Casimero and Sean Gibbons for their entertaining press conferences this week. 3 - Korean boxing Hiatus Earlier in the year we had several events in China being cancelled due to Coronavirus and now, due to the spread of the illness, we've seen a number of Korean events falling victim, with 3 planned shows being postponed indefinitely. That included the much anticipated Hyun Mi Choi Vs Maiva Hamadouche female unification bout. Whilst we totally agree with the shows being cancelled, it's still a big disappointment.  The Ugly
1 - Jarrell Miller's comments Our thoughts about drugs cheats are that they need to be punished. They need to be given lengthy bans, prohibited from profiting from the sport, and made to actually feel like they've been punished. The entire system in boxing right now however seems to be the opposite, and seems to be more like a toddler being told to sit in the corner for 5 minutes. That is...unless you're Jarrell Miller. Less than a year ago Miller was found guilty of, essentially, being a cocktail of banned substances. This week he came out with a pro-drug message in what was a rather clear "fuck you" to the sport, and the others taking part: “Minor setback for a major comeback. I’m coming for everything and everyone. No one is safe. Say hello to the bad guy,” ...“Everyone wants to portray the superhero. We don’t live in a sunshine world. I’ll never be the superhero. In my world, the majority of the time, the villain wins.” He's not just showing no remorse for failing multiple drug tests, but is using it as part of the marketing for his return and showing contempt of the sport he's participating in. Fuck him and fuck the commissions that go on to license him. We need this sort of thing to end. 2 - Eddie Hearn admits he doesn't want to match his guys After telling us for years that "to fight X you need to sign with us" and after telling us for months that he was trying to match some of his guys, Eddie Hearn this week came out and admitted that he wants to cheer on one guy in a fight rather than two. Given the wealth of talent Matchroom have at Middleweight, Super Middleweight and Heavyweight this has really left a sour taste, especially when he's previously blamed the fighters. Given he has fingers in the purses of fighters like Gennady Golovkin, Demetrius Andrade, Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders, at 160lbs and 168lbs, and Heavyweights like Michael Hunter, Filip Hrgovic, Joseph Parker, Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora there are great match ups to be made, in those divisions. What doesn't help is he then comes out and explains that certain men are divisional "boogeymen", as he did with with Michael Hunter this week. If you have most of the top names in the division and choose not to match them, they aren't boogeymen, they are just being badly handled! 3-Guillermo Rigondeaux's Career Sabotage continues Generally we expect the most talented people in the field to be the best, make the most money and develop their reputation to a point where people want to see them show what they can do. For Guillermo Rigondeaux however we once again saw the Cuban's knack of messing things up for himself shine. "El Chacal" finally fought at his natural weight this weekend, dropping to Bantamweight at the age of 39, but once again stunk the joint out, and once again showed why HBO refused to touch him with a barge pole. Unfortunately however this time it was on Showtime, who are also now unlikely to work with him. Loud boos filled the arena for his fight against former Super Flyweight champion Liborio Solis. What didn't help Rigondeaux was that he hurt Solis several times, but refused to go for the finish, particularly in the later rounds when it was clear Solis couldn't bother him. From siding with Carbie when he Gary Hyde had something organised, to shitting the bed on HBO against Joseph Agebko to his string of B tier wins over the likes of James Dickens, Rigondeaux has made himself unwatchable in a sport that is dependent on fans and TV audience. He might be among the most gifted natural athletes in the sport, but also one of the stupidest. His ring IQ might be incredible, but his inability to see the bigger picture, really shows a complete lack of business smarts and once again he's going to find himself totally frozen out by TV and big fighters. We know the purists might enjoy his style, but unfortunately for the Cuban they aren't the people in charge of the TV companies, or the ones that the fighter needs to impress. They are a small minority, and even they seem to be realising what a truly disappointing under-achiever Rigondeaux is. (Image of Rigondeaux Vs Solis courtesy of Amanda Westcott / SHOWTIME)
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As we head towards a new year we've decided to look into our glass balls, our tea leaves and our palms to come up with 20 predictions which will be posted over the coming weeks for what we think will happen in 2020. So far our predictions haven't been the best though they've not all been wrong. In 2013 we predicted that Naoya Inoue, his brother Takuma and Kosei Tanaka would all win world titles. Between them they've won a few world titles, though Takuma has yet to win a proper world title. That same year we also predicted a growth in Chinese boxing, and this arguably happened despite the fact the Macau side of things has died off. We also predicted a growth in Asian fighters making a name for themselves in the US, this was before Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, Naoya Inoue or Kazuto Ioka had fought on US soil, and before the wave of Uzbek's had began to attract US attention. Unlike the past, where we have made all of our predictions in 1 article, we'll be spreading these ones out with 1 prediction per article, and going more in depth than we have in the past.  Prediction number 13 - Korea will develop a new Star
A bit of an outlandish one this time, but we suspect 2020 will be the year that Korea finally sees a new boxing star emerge. They may not go all the way to the top in 2020 but they will create the buzz and excitement that we've missed from the countries fighters in recent years. Whilst it does seem like a wild prediction, especially given that Ye Joon Kim is the only Korean man in the world rankings, it does feel like there is real positivity in Korean boxing right now, thanks in part to the way BoxingM have managed to add stability and structure to the Korean boxing scene. There is a lot that still needs to be done in Korean boxing to develop it to the point where the country will start churning out world title level fighters on a regular basis, but there are hall marks of a system that is working, and is developing genuine talent. In 2019 we were impressed by youngsters like Han Bin Suh, Jeong Seon Kang, Min Jang, Da Won Gang and Sung Min Yuh. As well as the youngsters we were really impressed by Jae Woo Lee, who's win over Tsuyoshi Tameda really surprised us, and he stood out as an old school Korean fighter with toughness, aggression and energy. He looked like the type of fighter who could lead a spearhead of Korean boxing renaissance. We do believe Korean boxing is still a very fractured mess, and has too many people playing too many political games rather than building the Korean boxing scene, but it is certainly showing signs of moving in the right direction and we look like we have a good generation of hopefuls emerging from the country, with a nice of styles. Thanks to how good BoxingM have been and how influential their Battle Royale tournaments are we see BoxingM becoming the dominant force of Korean boxing in the years to come, and the ones who will create the stars of Korean boxing. We suspect that begins in 2020 with at least one of their fighters making a mark internationally and breaking into the world rankings with a big win on foreign soil. Expect Korean boxing to continue it's struggle for a while, but it only takes one break out star to set the platform for fighters to emerge. That might be Jae Woo Lee that plays that role, or Ye Joon Kim or someone else entirely, but in 2020 we expect to see someone lead the charge in that very manner! (Image of Han Bin Suh courtesy of BoxingM)  With over 40 world champions South Korea is a country that has long been linked to boxing. Sadly though it's more than a decade since they had a man holding a world title and they are certainly a long way removed from their best years. Despite that it is worth noting that the country has started to, slowly, build an exciting and interesting domestic scene. That domestic scene has been lead by the rise of the BoxingM, the management that really has pumped money into the sport, run tournaments and given fighters a chance to make their mark.
One of the big hopes that has become a focus of BoxingM has been exciting teenage puncher Jeong Han Cha (5-0, 5), who is set to make his international debut on June 25th, when he takes on 23 year old Japanese foe Takahiko Kobayashi (8-3, 6) at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. This is the main event of a Dangan promoted card pitting Japanese locals against Korean visitors, as has the potential to be a very special bout. Born in September 2000 Cha didn't have much of an amateur background, with no amateur bouts. What he did however have was a track record in sports in general, having competed in baseball and was a natural athlete, before being bitten by the boxing bug. Cha made his professional debut at the age of 17, and quickly impressed as he scored a 2nd round win over fellow debutant Geon Kim in June 2018. This bout was held on a very obscure card at the Taepoong Gymnasiumm, in front of about 12 fans and took place at Welterweight. Despite the low quality of the show Cha showed some genuine promise, especially in round 2 when he began to let his shots fly. Notably he was left with a bloodied nose in round 1 but gritted it out and twice dropped Kim to secure the win. The bout saw him showing great instinct, despite some crude skills and defensive flaws. Just a month after his debut Cha would fight in the second ever Battle Royale, a Korean Rookie tournament comparable in some ways to the Japanese Rookie of the Year tournament. In his first round bout of the tournament he stopped Gun Ho Lee in the second round, unloading a 2 handed assault on Lee until he went down and the referee was forced to halt the bout. His progress through the tournament continued in October when he took on Shin Hee Min, and once again his power excited, with Min stunned in round 2 and not responding whilst Cha wailed away with clean shots. Due to issues outside of his hands Cha was essentially given a bye for the semi-final of the Battle Royale, but fought on the same card as the other semi-finals bouts and stopped Gun Ho Lee in a second bout between the two men. This time Lee managed to survive into round 3 with Cha, but was against broken down by his pressure, power and work rate In his Battle Royal final Cha would battle fellow unbeaten Yun Seong Kim, who like Cha was also a southpaw. Kim boxed really well in the first round and left Cha with a bloodied nose, much like Cha had on his debut. Cha however applied pressure, constantly, and in round 2 he broke through, stopping Kim with a series of head shots, after previously having dropped with a body shot that was ruled low. From his 5 bouts so far Cha has looked like a throw back to the Korean fighters of old. The Korean fighters who were instilled with a "come forward and punch" mentality. His defensive issues are still there, as they were on his debut, and they do need work however his offensive pressure and power are what have made him so fun to watch and have left him marked as the Korean hopeful to watch. He really does hit hard, his combinations are excellent and the way he jumps on an opponent when he has them hurt has been incredible so far. Against Kobayashi, himself a punch, we're expecting to see Cha given a real test. Although Cha has been left with a bloodied nose a couple of times we've never really seen him hurt, and Kobayashi certainly has the power to hurt him. Kobayashi is also much taller than Cha, rangier and is a very series test for Cha. If Cha comes through this with a win it's hard to imagine BoxingM doing anything but pushing thee youngster to title bouts sooner rather than later, with a potential domestic title fight later in the year. A loss would his career, but would certainly not be the end of his career and he could easily bounce back down the line. (Image courtesy of boxingm)
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Oriental Opinions
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