Introducing... Mammoth Kazunori

10/26/2020

The "Introducing" series has typically focused on top prospects who have aspirations of being a huge name in the sport. Typically they are of stand out amateurs, or Rookie of the Year winners, or people with some achievements behind them. Today however we are looking at someone without that type of background, but someone we still suggest fans should pay some real attention to. That is the big punching, exciting, and promising Mammoth Kazunori (6-2-1, 6).

Although Mammoth really isn't a big name in the sport the 21 year old has the tools to make a rather big mark on the domestic scene in the coming years. He might be in the talent laden Flyweight scene, but there are, very few fighters with the frighting ability to take people out in the same way Mammoth can.

Mammoth began his professional boxing journey under his real name of Kazunori Nakayama back in 2018, when he was just 17 years old. He did so under the guidance of former world champion Yasuei Yakushiji, in Nakayama's backyard of Aichi.

It was under Yakushiji that Mammoth made his debut in December 2016, stopping Taichi Ianaba in 75 seconds, fighting just above the Minimumweight limit. Just 3 months later he had picked up his second quick win, blasting out Kosuke Murakawa in 66 seconds to move to 2-0. It was immediately obvious that the teenager could bang, and fighting out of the southpaw stance he was a scare proposition for opponents. Heavy handed southpaws are no joy for opponents.

In his third professional bout Mammoth competed in the 2017 Central Japan Rookie of the Year Final, where he blasted out Nagara Mizutani in 2 rounds. Sadly for Mammoth his 2017 Rookie of the Year campaign would end at the next level, when he lost a competitive decision to Western Japan champion Tatsuro Nakajima in September 2017.

The loss could have been a major setback for Mammoth but instead he was back in the ring just 2 months later. When he returned he had moved up to Light Flyweight where he scored a 3rd round TKO win over fellow novice Alex Ota.

In 2018 Mammoth was again involved in the Central Japan Rookie of the Year, and began the tournament with an opening round win over Masato Togawa, in the Light Flyweight division. Sadly however Mammoth's dreams of winning the tournament ended in August 2018, in the final, when he was held to a draw by former foe Alex Ota, in what was brutal bout that saw both men take bombs in the opening round. Sadly Ota progressed due to the tie breaker rules in effect.

Mammoth would return to the ring 4 months after the Ota bout and take on Natsu Ohashi in a 6 round bout. The fight was fought close to the Flyweight limit and the 20 year old Mammoth, fighting under his real name for this bout for those interested, really had a nightmare of a performance. He was deducted a point for holding in round 2, was dropped in round 4 and ended up losing a clear decision to Ohashi.

After the loss to to Ohashi we saw Mammoth take a break from the ring, leave the Yakushiji gym, signing up with Chunichi Gym, and take more than a year out of action. Then he returned to the ring in spectacular fashion, scoring a late KO of the Year contender against tough Thai Lerdchai Chaiyawed in a Flyweight bout. The KO came part way through round 5 and saw the Japanese youngster land a dynamite counter left hand that almost headed poor his victim.

Sadly since win over Lerdchai we've not seen Mammoth in the ring, though thankfully we won't have to wait much longer to see him in action on November 1st in Aichi, as part of a Midori Promoted card. In the opposite corner to Mammoth will be Keisuke Iwasaki (4-2-1, 1). On paper this is a very evenly matched bout, and an interesting assignment for the 21 year old Mammoth. Win or lose he's going to be a fun guy to watch.

In the ring Mammoth is exciting, he's a big puncher, he's charismatic, and despite lacking a big backer or amateur experience we can't help but want to see more of him. Don't look at his record and write him off, but instead watch him, and enjoy a heavy handed boxer-puncher, who loves to land bombs, has naturally scary power, and will make for some great fights, and brilliant moments over the coming years.

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Asian Boxing Monthly Awards - December 2019

1/4/2020

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Generally December is a very Japan centric month in Asian boxing, with the end of shows and Rookie of the Year. This year things seemed even more Japan centric than usual with a host of cards through the month. As a result December's awards were pretty much all in Japan, though that doesn't take away from what was a very interesting month.

Fighter of the Month
Kazuto Ioka
In December we had a host of world title fights, some were competitive, some weren't but for us the guy who shone the brightest was Kazuto Ioka. Ioka was in tough with a 2-time Olympian, who was tall, longer and faster. After taking a couple of rounds to figure his man out however Ioka began to adjust and slowly broke down Jeyvier Cintron in what was an excellent over all performance in a fantastic bout. Cintron, we suspect, will win a world title in the future and this is a win that will end up looking very good in a few year's time.

Fight of the Month
Yuki Beppu Vs Ryota Yada
Few fights can truly be described as dramatic, but with 6 knockdowns, bombs being traded through out, and a huge come from behind win it's hard to suggest that anything other than the WBO Asia Pacific Welterweight title bout between Yuki Beppu and Ryota Yada was going to win this. There were other great bouts, the rookie of the year bout between Kodai Honda vs Yasutaka Fujita being among them, but nothing was every going to compete with Beppu Vs Yada. A genuine must watch war.

KO of the Month
Mammoth Kazunori TKO5 Lerdchai Chaiyawed
It seemed that December wanted to try and provide us with the best of everything, and the brutal KO scored by Mammoth Kazunori, against Lerdchai Chaiyawed, tried to steal the KO of the Year with just over 2 weeks of the year left. This was originally doing the rounds from a fan cam, but when the bout was upload to Boxing Raise a few days after it took place the KO looked even better. A single solid left hand turned Lerdchai 's lights out...and then he hit the canvas. This was as clean a shot as Kazunori will likely ever land, and the way Lerdchai hit the canvas was just nasty.

Prospect
Yudai Shigeoka (2-0, 1)
With a win against an OPBF champion in just his second professional bout, it was hard to give this award to anyone else. Shigeoka might not be as brutal as his younger brother, Ginjiro Shigeoka, but out pointing Lito Dante this early in his career was fantastic and a real statement of intent for someone wanting to be fast-tracked.

Amazingly Yudai's brother stopped Rey Loreto and Bektemir Melikuziev out pointed Vaughn Alexander, in just his 4th bout, during the month. This was an excellent month for prospects.

Upset
Renz Rosia UD8 Aston Palicte
The "Filipino fighters are involved in upsets" trend continued through December. Jhack Tepora being stopped by Oscar Escandon, Jhunriel Ramonal stopping Yusaku Kuga and Renz Rosia beating Aston Palicte were the short list for the month. For us Rosia's win gets the award due to the fact he completely out boxed, out fought and out though Palicte. This wasn't a wild shot, or beating someone before they warmed up. This was beating them round, after round, after round. This was Rosia exposing Palicte's flaws, and given where Palicte was at the start of this year was a genuine surprise. What made this really stand out is that Rosia was 1-4-1 in his previous 6 bouts! A genuine shocker.

Round
Toshiya Ishii vs Haruki Ishikawa (Round 2)
We had some amazing rounds this past month, and round 4 of Akira Yaegashi Vs Moruti Mthalane will certainly be a hard one to forget. For sheer drama and too and fro action however the pick from the month was round 2 from Toshiya Ishii's incredible battle with Haruki Ishikawa. Ishii was dropped in the opening seconds, regrouped, the two men staggered each and both were hurt several times before the round concluded. This was sheer, unadulterated awesomeness. A real round of the ages, and came in a Japanese Youth title bout, proving that even this low level of title is worth putting it all on the line for.

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The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (Week ending December 15th 2019)

12/16/2019

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As boxing fans we love to complain about the sport, and talk about the negatives. We highlight so much bad that we sometimes forget why we even enjoy the sport. This week however we remembered why we love boxing, and for one of the few times this year we had a week that had a lot more good than bad. It wasn't a flawless week, but it was a great week, both in Asia and internationally, with some great fights, amazing action and brilliant match ups. We had some bout, of course we did, but that bad was easily outweighed by the good.

As a result we've mixed up the format for this week's "The good, the Bad and the Ugly" with extra goods, and fewer negatives...after all 'tis the season to be jolly!

The Good
1 - Hironori Mishiro Vs Yoshimitsu Kimura
Seeing bouts exceed expectations is sort of a hope now a days in boxing. We don't often see it though, and more often than not a bout fails to meet the bare minimum that we'd expect. This week the OPBF Super Featherweight title fight between Hironori Mishiro and Yoshimitsu Kimura easily out did anything we'd have expected, with the two men putting on a really competitive, exciting and action packed fight. Their was a lack of drama at times, but it was a fight that was consistently good for 12 rounds and swung one way then the other. This was a captivating and truly enjoyable bout where both fighters came out looking better than they had going in.

2 - Mammoth Nakayama's massive KO against Lerdchai Chaiyawed
On Sunday in Kariya the 20 year old Mammoth Nakayama scored a late contender for KO of the year as he completely cleaned the clock of Thai visitor Lerdchai Chaiyawed. The hard hitting Nakayama had been out of the ring for over a year and was taking on an opponent who had never been stopped, and had taken some good fighters the distance, but was totally laid out by a monster of a left hand. This is as sweet a shot as Nakayama will ever land and boy did it look sensational to see Lerdchai's body instantly turn off.

3 - Yuki Beppu Vs Ryota Yada video released
A week ago Yuki Beppu and Ryota Yada battled in a FOTY contender, with 6 knockdowns, power shots from both, excitement through out and serious amounts of heart. Their was a worry that the bout wasn't going to be made available, but in the middle of the week it was finally uploaded to the A-sign boxing youtube channel and, man what a fight!

4 - Yudai Shigeoka shines
We love prospects being fast tracked, and they are rarely put on a trajectory quite like that of Yudai Shigeoka, who beat OPBF champion Lito Dante in just his second professional bout! Whilst this was a 6 round non-title bout it was clear that Shigeoka had the gameplan to beat Dante over a longer distance and it seems very clear that the Watanabe Gym will be pushing their talent youngster into a title bout of some kind in the new year. We love fast tracking, and it's hard not to love the ambition of the Shigeoka brothers.

5 - Bek Bully shows a softer side
After disposing of his first 3 opponents in just 6 rounds Bektemir Melikuziev wasn't expected to show he could box this week, but he did. And by that we mean he completely boxed the socks off the tough Vaughn Alexander, shutting out the American over 10 1-sided rounds that saw him not only land at will but essentially shut down the American, who failed to land more than a handful of shots per round. As mentioned already we love seeing fighters fast tracked and it's clear Melikuziev is being fast tracked. Better than just seeing someone being fast tracked is to see them showing something different to their game, and to see Melikuziev box and move, with the ease he did, was a real positive for his career going forward.

The Bad
1 - The WBC choose to create another Lightweight title!
It wasn't that long ago that the WBA were alone in creating new titles, but now the WBC have seen the benefit of giving world titles out like they are candy. In the space of just a few months we've gone from having 0 WBC Lightweight champions to having a Franchise champion a Champion in recess and a now vacant title, which will have it's vacancy filled in 2020. We couldn't understand why they made the decision to make Vasyl Lomachneko the Franchise champion or why Devin Haney, who has no legitimate world class win, was given the full version of the title. The WBC should have just made it clear that Haney would get a shot in 2020, either at Lomachenko or the winner of the planned 4-title unification bout. Instead they have made a mess, and it was a mess that never needed to be made.

2 - Michael Conlan Vs Vladimir Nkitin
We're trying to be positive, really we are, but it's hard to take many positives from the 10 round stinker between Michael Conlan and Vladimir Nkitin, round 8 aside. This was just purely dull, unexciting and did little to make us want to watch Conlan again. As a person the 28 year old Irishman is someone we like, he comes across as honest, and a BS type of guy, but in the ring his bouts are tediously dull and unexciting. We understand why this bout was made, and the story behind it, but did next to nothing to make us want to see either man again.

The Ugly
1 - Danny Williams's situation
The world of boxing is a strange one at times, and Saturday night in Germany it got strange, strange turn of events. British Heavyweight veteran Danny Williams had been scheduled to fight in Germany but then pulled out. Unlike most pull outs however it doesn't appear that anyone other than the fighter himself knew he wasn't going to be fighting. Most day of fight pull outs see the fighter make the promoter aware. Williams however got to the ring, dressed in street clothes, and then just flat out told the fans he wasn't going to be fighting. We understand a fighters health being the utmost priority but there are so many issues with this bout that Williams' health needs to be questioned to begin with. Why are promoters still using him? Why didn't Williams let the promoter know that he would be cancelling the bout before he got in the ring? And why the fuck is Danny Williams still fighting?

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Introducing... Mammoth Kazunori

Asian Boxing Monthly Awards - December 2019

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (Week ending December 15th 2019)

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