Female boxing in Asia has been interesting over the past few years. In Korea it's been female boxing which has essentially kept the sport alive over the past few years, with the likes of Hyun Mi Choi and Su Yun Hong whilst in Japan the females have remained a constant an entertaining niche in the sport. Arguably the best of those females is 40 year old star Naoko Fujuioka (13-1, 6) who has claimed titles at both 105lbs and 115lbs and now looks to become a 3-weight world world champion as she attempts to claim the WBO female Bantamweight title. In the opposite corner to Fujioka will be Korean Hee Jung Yuh (15-2, 6), who is herself married to Young Kil Bae who fights for a world title himself later this year. Fujioka really is one of the most talented fighters in the sport and in the course of her 6 year career she has proven she can do it all. She box, she can punch and she can fight. She has also proven she can do it on the roa, running Susi Kentikian close in Germany and defeating Mariana Juarez in Mexico. The one question she has left is just “how high can she go?” With this upcoming bout being her first as a Bantamweight. At her best Fujioka is a boxer-fighter and her resume really does stack up well against her contemporaries. She may not have the longest of careers but she already holds wins over Naoko Shibata, Anabel Ortiz, Kannitth Kokietgym, Victoria Argueta, Naoko Yamaguchi and of course Juarez Those wins have seen her go from the boxer, as she was against Yamaguchi, to a the fight, as she was in the final 5 rounds against Juarez. Yuh on the other hand is a bit of an unknown on the world stage. Coming in to this bout she's on a 14 fight winning streak but it's hard to fight genuinely notable names on her record, in fact the most notable are Norj Guro and Kledpetch KKP, hardly top tier opposition. Aged 35 the Korean does have some things going for her here. She's the younger fighter, by 5 years, she's also the naturally bigger fighters, having fought as a Bantamweight several times in the past. It's also worth noting that she is 3-0 on the road, though all those wins came in Thailand against very poor opposition. Whilst we know that Fujioka can do it all less is known about Hee though the footage of her, including a fight against Keanpetch Superchamps, makes it seem that she is a fighter who feels she is defensively strong and can apply pressure. Her power seems lacking but she has a solid output though questions need to be asked about her accuracy, consistency and of course the level of the opponent, who genuinely looked terrible. Whilst it can be hard predict fights between “known” and “unknown” quantities it's sometimes very hard to pick against a fighter as proven as Fujioka. With that said it'll come as no surprise that we're expecting a win for Fujioka who we suspect will become the third 3-weight world champion form Japan, following Koki Kameda and Kazuto Ioka. She will also become the first Japanese female to achieve the feat. (Image courtesy of boxmob.jp)
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Japanese fighters are often accused of “failing to perform” when they fight away from home. Recent examples have shown some truth to that with notable losses for Ryosuke Iwasa and Tomoki Kameda. If you looked at the record of Tenkai Tsunami (21-10, 10) you probably accuse her of under-performing on the road, where she has gone 4-8. The truth however is that she's lost some very tight ones, to some of the very best female fighters on the planet. On August 22nd we see Tsunami again take to a foreign land as she makes her Chilean debut, and takes on current IBF female Bantamweight champion Carolina Rodriguez (14-0, 1), the first ever Chilean to claim a “world title” in boxing. Although her record doesn't suggest it Tsunami is a world class fighter. Over her 31 fight career, dating back to 2005, she has shared the ring with a who's who of female boxing. She's scored notable wins over the likes of Ayaka Miyao, Zhang Xi Yan and Kayoko Ebata, whilst suffering losses to the likes of Naoko Yamaguchi, Janeth Perez, Mariana Juarez, Zulina Munoz, Jessica Chavez and Arely Mucino. Some of those losses have been clear defeats, such as the one to Juarez, others however have been unfortunate, such as the ones last year to Jessica Chavez and Arely Mucino, both of which could easily have gone Tsunami's way. In the ring Tsunami is an aggressively minded fighter who comes forward relentlessly, she's not an out-and-out pressure fight but she's an intelligent aggressive fighter who comes to fight every time she's in the ring. She can be out boxed, and she can be out fought but very fighters will ever get in the ring with her and have an easy time with her. Sadly where she is flawed is that she lacks killer power, she's not the quickest and she isn't the most accurate, however given that she's got a great engine, and aggressive mentality few will enjoy sharing a ring with her. Whilst Tsunami fights like her name suggests, always coming forward, the Chilean champion is a very different type of fighter. She has a forward gear but also a backwards gear and whilst she can come out swinging she often seems to prefer to box and move, using her legs, great timing and counter shows. She's very slick and has solid ring IQ even if she does, completely, lack power. Sadly for Tsunami we can't see any way in which the judges will give her a decision in Rodriguez homeland. She may give the Chilean fight a real nightmare in the ring but the only way the Japanese fighter will win is with a knockout. Given the ability and style of Rodriguez we can't see than ever coming close to happening. As a result we suspect that Rodriguez will retain her title with a decision win, albeit one she has to work very hard to get. So far this year boxing has been relatively disappointing. Sure we've had a few highlights but on the whole it has been pretty poor with very little in terms of notable matches. Thankfully this changes, in a big way, in March as fights start to come thick and fast at every level. One of the many interesting looking female bouts takes place on March 7th as the hard hitting youngster Honey Mae Bermoy (6-2, 6), AKA Honey Katsumata, attempts to claim the vacant OPBF female Bantamweight title. Unfortunately for Bermoy she'll not be handed the title and will instead have to go through former world champion Tenkai Tsunami (19-9, 8) in a bout that is likely to give Bermoy the toughest test of her career so far. Bermoy, aged 20, has proven so far to have venom in her hands. Despite turning professional at just 17 years old she managed to record back-to-back stoppages to begin her career in her native Philippines. In less than 3 months Bermoy had moved her record to 3-1 (3) and had shown a natural fighting mindset even though she lacked boxing knowledge. The lack of boxing fundamentals saw her falling to 3-2 when her power failed to stop the naturally bigger Leslie Domingo at the start of 2013. Thankfully for Bermoy her style, power and heart caught the eye of Japanese outfit Katsumata gym who have helped her train in recent bouts and helped her turn her 3-2 (3) record into a 6-2 (6) record which has included a very notable stoppage over Saki Yamada, the older sister of current WBO Minimumweight champion Mako Yamada. Although Saki was inexperienced as a boxer she was a well schooled former kick boxer and Bermoy was supposed to be the next stepping stone in the development of the young Japanese fighter. Bermoy hadn't read the script and managed to score the upset. Whilst Bermoy is really just a novice with 8 bouts and 25 professional rounds, none of which have been fought in a title fight, Tsunami is a genuine veteran of the ring. She has been in 28 bouts, she has fought in 8 "world" title fights, a total of 196 professional rouds and is a former WBA Super Flyweight champion. Tsunami made her debut almost a decade ago and fought her way up the rankings before the JBC even recognised female boxing. By the time she had her first bout sanctioned by the JBC, in 2008, she had participated in 15 contests, winning 12 of them. Since the JBC has recognised female boxing Tsunami has fought a further 13 times with several of those bouts taking place on enemy turf. Unfortunately it's been Tsunami's willingness to fight on the road and to only fight the best which has seen her drop from 12-3 to 19-9. On paper losing 6 of your last 13 bouts is awful but she had been in with a veritable who's who of female boxing and battles Naoko Yamguchi, Janeth Perez, Mariana Juaurez, Zulina Munoz, Jessica Chavez and Arely Mucino losing to all 6 women who have proven themselves as world class. Although she has 9 losses on her record Tsunami's last 6 losses have come to genuinely elite level fighters. We don't think that Bermoy is anywhere near that level at the moment. The young Filipino may develop into a top level fighter somewhere down the line with the right experience building fights and developmental work in the ring and in the gym, though we don't imagine that's going to happen any time soon. In fact if anything her lack of experience is going to prove to be her major undoing here against Tsunami who will look to establish herself as the boss early before taking Bermoy into deep water and drowning her. We do think Bermoy has the potential to win a title in the future, but at this moment in time she's jumping up from domestic level to fringe world level and we think she'll find that that jump is far too difficult for her at this particular moment. Will Honey Mae survive a Tsunami? Our guess, no chance. (Picture courtesy of http://www.kadoebi.com/, Tsunami and Bermoy feature |
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