In boxing there are a number of reasons to be fast tracked. For some fighters, such as Naoya Inoue and Kosei Tanaka, the reason to be fast tracked is to make a statement and make the world sit up and take note. For other fighters it's a case time not being on their side, effectively it's now or never. One fighter who falls into the second category is female fighter Nana Yoshikawa (4-0, 2) who, on April 29th, challenges for her first world title in what is just her 5th professional contest. The 36 year old from Osaka turns 37 in June and she really doesn't have time to develop her professional experienced any more than she already has. Unfortunately for Yoshikawa she's not just fighting for a world title in late April but she's going up against a woman who is widely regarded as the best in weight class, Anabel Ortiz (16-3, 3). Not only is Ortiz the WBA champion but she also has a very good record against Japanese fighter with 3 wins and just a single loss, which came to amazing Naoko Fujioka. Yoshikawa, for those who haven't followed her career, has been moved fast following a successful amateur career that saw her winning 55 of 77 bouts. Those wins came across a number of weights, starting at Flyweight in 2005 and going all the way up to Featherweight in 2012, and saw her claiming 3 weight titles on the Japanese national scene. As a professional she began her career in August 2013 fighting in 6 rounders. In her second bout she claimed an OPBF ranking and just a fight later she claimed the OPBF female Light Flyweight title in just 101 seconds. Since winning her OPBF title Yoshikawa has fought just once, scoring a 2nd round stoppage over Kledpetch KKP, a former Flyweight world title challenger who went 8 rounds with the world Shindo Go. The last 2 wins for Nana have been been at Light Flyweight and both have shown her power, something we didn't see in her first 2 bouts which were both fought at Super Flyweight, The fact she's dropping to Minimumweight to fight Ortiz suggests that she will be the bigger fighter, though do wonder how she will look losing those 3 extra lbs. Whilst Yoshikawa is only known by the hardcore of the hardcore, fans may actually recognise Ortiz's name. She is a 2-time world champion who has faced a who's who of female boxing. She her first world title back in 2009 with a win over Carina Moreno and successfully defended it in Japan against Nanako Kikuchi before being beaten Fujioka. Since that loss Ortiz has gone 8-1 (2) with her only loss coming to Argentinian star Yesica Yolanda Bopp. In those 8 wins she has twice beaten Etsuko Tada, albeit in 2 razor thin decisions with the second being a much disputed bout. In the ring Ortiz is a nightmare to fight. She comes forward, throws a lot of shots and makes everything into a war. Technically she's flawed but she's like a pitbull and once she gets her teeth into an opponent she is almost impossible to force backwards. It takes a very special fighter to beat her and a sensational to look good doing it. At 5'0” Ortiz is short, even for a Minimumweight, but she's all fighter and when she gets into the ring she's not going to back down. Her size often becomes and advantage and with her aggressive mentality she's absolutely vicious on the inside, despite a lack of power. As well as her style she's also experienced, tough and and the type of fight who will give anyone a nightmare. For Yoshikawa this is a baptism of fire. She was a good amateur but there is a world of difference between being a good amateur and being one of the best fighters in your division. Ortiz has shown the ability to gut out a few bad rounds and turn things around. For Yoshikawa she needs to keep her boxing at range, she needs to make the most of her 4” height advantage, and most importantly she can't get discouraged by Ortiz's work rate, aggression or toughness. If the challenger can't keep Ortiz at range then we suspect the title will be going back to Mexico. Unfortunately we suspect Ortiz will just know that bit too much and be that bit too good for Yoshikawa, though we wouldn't be surprised to see this being very close on the cards with Yoshikawa having a good start before Ortiz takes over in the middle of the fight and does enough to retain her title. (Image courtesy of http://www.ynana.jp)
0 Comments
We know that some fight fans really look down on female boxing though we'll admit that a bout between two highly skilled female fighters genuinely excites us. Sadly many female fights are mismatches with one fighter a clear favourite over the other and very few female world title fights can be described as a "super fight". This coming weekend however we get a sensational female bout which really does deserve the tag of being a "super fight".
The bout in question will see Japan's sensational Naoko Fujioka (12-0, 6), one of the best pound-for-pound female fighters on the planet and the current WBA Super Flyweight champion, travelling to Germany to take on the European queen of the lower weights Susi Kentikian (33-2-0-1, 17), the current WBA Flyweight champion. It's a clash of cultures, a clash of two elite fighters, a clash of champions and chance for both fighters to score a genuinely career defining victory. It's as close to to a perfect bout as can be made in female boxing. Fujioka is, to us, the most naturally talented and technically proficient female boxer on the planet. If you're a boxing fan Fujioka is a joy to watch and despite being 39 years old she still appears to be fresh as a daisy. She's a sharp and accurate fighter who has all the tools to impress any fan watching. It was in the amateur ranks that Fujioka first made her name though since turning professional in 2009 she has really been nigh on unbeatable, in fact nobody has even run her close in what has been a sensational career. She claimed her first title, the OPBF Minimumweight title, in just her 4th bout, her first world title, the WBC Minimumweight just 2 fights later and, last year, she jumped from Minimumweight to Super Flyweight to win a second divisional world title. The most impressive thing about Fujioka however isn't her title achievements but her opposition. In just 12 fights she has beaten several world class fighters such as Naoko Shibata, Anabel Ortiz, Victoria Argueta and Naoko Yamaguchi, a phenomenal foursome. The big question for Fujioka isn't her talent, and in fact it's not even her age, it's how she will fight on the road. This will be her first fight outside of Japan and just her second bout outside of the Korakuen Hall. How she will fight in Germany is a really big issue given that German judging has been often been questioned over the years with many suggesting it's the worst in the world. Will Fujioka fight like she'll need a stoppage or will she fight like her usual and box intelligently? More importantly she'll know this is her chance to impress a whole new audience to become a 3-weight world champions, just the second in Japanese history, those may well drive her on and neutralise the crowd. For those who haven't seen Fujioka we have managed to track down the footage of her sensational performance against Yamaguchi, a fight that shows just how talented the Japanese fighter is Germany's popular Kentikian, popularly known as the "Killer Queen" has long been one of the figureheads of German female boxing and is one of the most popular female fighters in Europe. Not only is she popular but she's also talented, hard working and a fighter who often fights at a hectic and exciting pace. She lacks power but more than makes up for it in sheer determination and limitless energy. Aged 27 it does seem like Kentikian has been around for years and in fact she has been. She won her first world title, the WBA female Flyweight title, way back in 2007 and would later unify it with WBO title as she racked up defense after defense after defense. Some of those defenses were genuinely class and came against the likes of Nadia Raoui whilst others were little more than stay busy fights, such as her defense against Nadia Hokmi. Sadly for Kentikian she came a cropper in 2012 losing back to back decisions to Melissa McMorro and Carina Moreno. Since 2013 however she has run 4 successive wins and reclaimed the WBA Flyweight title whilst scoring a revenge victory over Carima Moreno and notable victories over Simona Galassi and Dan Bi Kim. That performance against Kim can be seen in full here for those who haven't got around to see the German in action. In the ring Kentikian is popular, fights like a whirlwind but is diminutive, light hitting and has a lot of miles on the tank for a 27 year old. She's also not the most technically skilled preferring work rate over accuracy and accumulation over sitting on her shots. It's worked for her on the whole but her two losses do stand out to suggest that she's not unbeatable and that she's not the untouchable fighter she once looked. Going in we're viewing this as a boxer against a swarmer. Typically those stylistic matches favour the swarmer, but the boxer here is the bigger fighter, the naturally stronger fighter and the one with more to gain in terms of reputation. On the other hand the swarmer, Kentikian, will be the fan favourite, will have home comforts and will possibly even get the edge with the judges. With those things in mind we are expecting something a little bit special with both looking break down the other fighter in a potential female FOTY. Usually we'd favour a German champion at home but we really think Fujioka is on a different level to Kentikian and we suspect she'll show that class late to wear down a tiring Kentikian in the later rounds of a genuine thriller. If you're a boxing fan we need to advise you not miss this one. A real female superfight takes place this coming Saturday in Mexico as Japan's Etsuko Tada (13-1-2, 3) attempts to avenge her sole defeat and reclaim the WBA female Minimumweight title in her rematch with Mexico's talented Anabel Ortiz (15-3, 3). The bout, which comes a little over 15 months after their first clash, will be Tada's first in Mexico and will give her a huge opportunity to reclaim the position as the best female fighter at 105lbs on the planet. When the two fighters first met, in later July 2013, it was in Japan and Ortiz claimed a very narrow split decision win. It was the type of bout that could have gone either way though judges from Mexico and Panama gave the bout to Ortiz with scores of 96-94, which over-ruled the Japanese judge who had it 97-93 to Tada. It was one of those bouts that was competitive enough to have come to either of those scores though it did seem like Tada would have been the more deserving winner. For Tada the loss was a painful one and ended her championship reign that had began more than 4 years earlier when she had defeated the then unbeaten Cho-Rong Son. That 4 year reign had included 9 defenses of the title prior to the loss to Ortiz and had seen Tada fight to draws in unification bouts with then WBC champion Naomi Togashi and then WIBA champion Ria Ramnarine, as well scoring wins over Ibeth Zamora Silva, Naoko Shibata and Yuko Kuroki, all of whom currently hold world titles themselves. Sadly for Tada she is now 33 and her 11 world title bouts have seen her take part in a staggering 110 world title rounds with many of those rounds being tough ones, despite her skill and very sharp southpaw jab. In comparison to compatriot Naoko Fujioka, aged 39, Tada is a relative baby however Fujioka, who fights Susi Kentikian in the other female super fight of the night, has got the power to make her life easier. Tada's lack of power has sadly seen her recording just a single stoppage in the last 6 years and that has seen her number of rounds climb as she's been forced to go the distance time and time again. At her best Tada is talented boxer who can fight when she needs to or rely on her height and reach to get her southpaw jab in to play. There flaws, obviously her power, but she can do a bit of everything other than bang opponents out and, with this fight being in Mexico, we may see her putting more meat onto her shots to try and convince the judges that she deserves the win this time around. As for Ortiz she's another fighter who has been in with a who's who of female boxing. In her 18 fight career she has shared the ring with Ibeth Zamora Silva, Carina Moreno, Naoko Fujioka, Yesica Yolanda Bopp and of course Tada. The only fighter to have stopped her is the previously mentioned Fujioka whilst Bopp took a dominant 10 round decision against her, other than those two losses, to two of the best out there, she has proven her ability as a fighter. Wins over Moreno, in 2009 for the WBC Minimumweight title, and Tada, in 2013 for the WBA title, have seen Ortiz become a 2-time world champion. Since beginning her second reign she has gone 3-0 (1) and defended her title twice, though a joke defence against Hye-Soo Park, on the under-card of Koki Kameda's bout with Jung-Oh Son, really was scraping the barrel for what should be considered a defense. Stood at 5'0” Ortiz is a diminutive fighter, even in the Minimumweight division, though makes up for it in heart, desire and determination. She's scrappy and hard working, and refuses to accept defeat. In fact in her loss to Fujioka she was down 3 times before finally being retired at the end of round 8 needing a KO with no chance of getting it. Whilst stylistically different from Tada she too lacks the power that's sometimes needed to gain the opponents respect but she has the fire that often makes up for her relatively feather fists. Due to the fact this is a rematch and it's in Ortiz's native Mexico we are expecting a somewhat fiery encounter with Tada knowing she'll really need to make it clear she's winning rounds whilst perhaps being forced out of her usual style of fighting. We still suspect to see the Japanese fighter using her sharp jab but we imagine she'll have to follow it through more with flurries and whipping in more straight lefts. Sadly we're unsure she can convince the judges that she deserves the decision in her opponents back yard. In her only previous fight outside of Japan Tada was held to a very unfair draw and we wouldn't be surprised if Ortiz took a debatable win here, like she did in their first meeting. (Image courtesy of notifight.com) At one point earlier this year Ohashi Gym had 3 world champions. They had Akira Yaegashi, who at the time held the WBC Flyweight title, Naoya Inoue, the WBC Light Flyweight champion, and Ayaka Miyao, the WBA Atomweight champion. On paper they could end the year with out a single world title. We already know Yaegashi has lost his belt to Roman Gonzalez in a thrilling contest earlier this year and we also know that Naoya Inoue is set to vacate his world title. That means the world title hopes of the gym now lie, at least for now, on the tiny shoulders of Miyao. Miyao (18-5-1, 3) will be defending her title for the 5th time this coming Saturday as she takes on fellow Japanese fighter Satomi Nishimura (7-1, 1), a fighter who will be challenging for a title for the second time in her career having previously fallen short in an OPBF title fight earlier this year. The story of the bout however is that this will be Miyao's first title bout in Nagano, the city in which she was born. The challenger, as mentioned, has fought in 1 prior title bout. In that bout she fought against the recently usurped Saemi Hanagata for the vacant OPBF female Minimumweight title and was stopped in 5 rounds. That bout however was fought at Minimumweight, 105lbs, whilst this coming bout will be at Atomweight, or 102lbs. It might not seem like a lot but to the fighters at these weights that can be a big difference between winning and losing. Prior to the loss to Hanagata the challenger had won 6 straight, though against limited foes whilst since the loss she has score a single win, again at a very low level. Whilst the challenger is lacking wins of any note the champion is a well established top tier fighter at 102lbs. In her brilliant career the 31 year old has beaten the likes of Masae Akitaya, Mari Ando and Gretchen Abaniel whilst coming up short against the likes of Nao Ikeyama, Samson Tor Buamas, Tenkai Tsunami and Naoko Shibata all world champions and very, very good fighters. For those who haven't seen Miyao she's a whirlwind of energy in the ring throwing relentlessly in a manner similar to stable Yaegashi. Although diminutive in stature she has a huge engine that powers he insane work rate. She may not have the power to go with that work rate but she does grind opponents mentally and physically, whether she stops them or not is beside the point. We suspect the class and work rate of Miyao will be the telling factor here with the experienced champion having a bit too much of everything for the challenger. That's not to say Nishimura wasn't put up a fight but we don't think she'll put up enough of one to make the bout competitive, especially not with Miyao looking to impress fans in her return to Nagano. The challenger will try but this is a domestic contender fighting a world champion and the levels of the fighters will be apparent in the ring. (Image courtesy of Ohashi Gym) Earlier this year we saw a rare WBA unification bout as WBA female Light Welterweight champion Ana Laura Esteche (now 10-3-2, 2) traveled to Russia and to defend her title against WBA female interim Light Welterweight champion Svetlana Kulakova (now 9-0-1, 1). The bout, which really was a case of little against large, was a fight of two very different halves, though it resulted in a highly controversial split decision draw leaving Esteche as the champion many fans were unhappy at the result.
For fans in attendance they were left annoyed that their fighter, Kulakova, had twice been deducted points that effectively cost her the unified title. As for fans around the world there was questions as to how Esteche didn't get the win, especially considering the point deductions. The result saw the WBA order a rematch and that's where we are now with less than a week to the fight. Early on in the first fight it was the Russian who was in charge. She used her longer reach to get her jabs and straights off and managed to establish a clear lead with her pure boxing from range. Unfortunately for Kulakova she was unable to keep that up for the whole of the fight and in the second half Estche came on strong winning the vast majority of the rounds from the second half of the 10 rounder. What made things contentious was that Kulakova was deducted points in rounds 5 and 8. For many those should have been enough for Esteche to secure a clear win with a score of 95-93 being the closest. The judges however returned cards of 95-94 Kulakova, 96-92 Estesche and 94-94 draw. This time around Kulakova will have to employ the same tactics she did back then. Boxing from range, using her reach and movement and hoping to control the distance and pace of the fight. The one big change she'll need to make isn't her game plan but her preparation and she will need to be able to box and move for at least 8 rounds and rack up the points with out tiring in the way she did last time. She will know that Esteche is like a terrier and will be on her all fight so will need to have trained for that and need to have made sure that she can handle the pressure Esteche will bring. For the Argentinian she also knows what she needs to do. Apply constant pressure form the opening bell, target the body and take the wind out of Kulakova early on. This time around Esteche is unlikely to see the referee deducted points from the Russian and will likely need to get 7 or 8 rounds to get the win, especially seeing as she's the away fighter. That's not easy against a significantly bigger fighter though Esteche will also know that Kulakova doesn't have the power to keep her honest and that if she can slip the jab, or walk through it, she can really get the chance to drown the Russian fighter in the middle and later rounds. Aged 24 Esteche is coming into her prime and although Kulakova isn't an old 31 that is still a notable age difference that could help the visiting Argentinian fighter. We know this won't be easy for either woman though we tend to feel that Esteche has to be given the slight edge. The Russian atmosphere won't be as terrifying this time and the Argentinian will feel she has matured over the last 3 months and that she deserved the win last time. She'll know that she needs to dominate every round to get the win and we suspect she'll attempt to score a whitewash over the tall Russian fighter. This coming Saturday in Mexico fight fans will be treat to a triple header of inter-continental bouts between Asian fighters and Mexican's. The headline bout is a fantastic clash between former world champion Rodrigo Guerrero and unbeaten Japanese fighter Takahiro Shigee though before that clash we get a female world title fight between talented Mexican Anabel Ortiz (14-3, 2) and little known Filipino challenger Norj Guro (7-3-1, 4). Ortiz is a name who will be known to Asian fans, specifically Japanese fans, courtesy of her fights with Nanako Kikuchi, Naoko Fujioka and Etsuko Tada. Those bouts all showed Ortiz to be a very competitive fighter and despite losing to Fujioka she has bounced back very well to establish herself as one of, if not the, best female Minimumweight on the planet. Sadly for Ortiz she hasn't been able to prove herself too much since beating Tada for the WBA female Minimumweight title in what was viewed as a very narrow and close contest. It was a great win Ortiz, especially as it came in Japan, but it was one that should have seen the women rematching rather than both moving on to battle much lesser foes. Whilst it's harsh to describe any fighter as an undeserving challenger it's a description that does fit for Guro who really has done little to deserve a shot at the WBA female Minimumweight title that Ortiz currently holds. In fact there are few challengers less worth than Guro who doesn't just lack notable wins but also lacks bouts with notable opponents, other than Riyo Togo who stopped Guro in 4 rounds. Whilst the Togo bout is the most significant one in the 11 fight career of Guro it's also one that brings something else to our attention, Guro has never fought at 105lbs before. In fact her lowest bout, her only one at 108lbs, was more than 2 years ago! Looking at her career so far there is nothing that Guro has that Ortiz can't handle. Guro hasn't got world class power, speed, skills or any other attribute that could defeat Ortiz who, in front of her own fans, will put on a show. We're hoping that Ortiz will, following an almost certain victory over Guro, rematch Etsuko Tada or move on to bouts with Ayaka Miyao, Su Yun Hong or Yuko Kuroki. Those fights would actually matter unlike this one, and if it was a higher profile bout we're certain that their would be outrage over Ortiz fighting Guro just like their was outrage surrounding the Danny Garcia Vs Rod Salka bout in the US. (Image courtesy of notifght) We know many fight fans, especially those in the west, don't think highly of female boxing. Fans, for whatever reason, tend to feel that female boxers lack the fundamental skills of their male counterparts and that sport is certainly a man's only world. Despite that thought being prevalent in the UK and the US we tend to disagree fully and in fact we recommend every fan who thinks female boxers are limited to watch Naoko Fujioka (11-0, 6), a fighter whose skillset is similar to that of some top male fighters and her domination is nothing short of impressive. Fujioka, the current WBA female Super Flyweight champion, impressed us all last year when she ditched the WBC female Minimumweight title in search of a challenging opponent. Fuijioka's search lead her to Naoko Yamaguchi, a bigger fighter with a reputation as being a monstrous puncher. Despite being the smaller fighter jumping up the weights Fujioka dominated Yamaguchi, dropping her once on route to a very clear decision victory. On July 7th Fujioka will be attempting to make the first defence of her Super Flyweight title as she takes on the younger, taller, naturally bigger and fresher Tomoko Kawanishi (9-1, 4) in a bout that is very interesting looking despite our very genuine admiration of Fujioka and her skills. Fujioka, at 38, is a fighter who is likely to begin showing signs of declining in the ring. She looked sharp, fast, powerful and excellent last time out but we know fighters do become worse with age and we're unsure how long Fujioka will remain the fighter that we love watching. At just 27 Kawinishi is not just younger than the champion but she is more than a decade younger than Fujioka. She also boasts a staggering 5" of height advantage and began her career fighting at Bantamweight, some 13lbs heavier than where Fujioka made her name. That sort of natural size and youth will certainly do Kawanishi the world of good as long as she can use those advantages, keep her jab busy and effectively force Fujioka to break inside of her reach. One thing was cannot say about Kawanishi is that she is experienced or proven. He most telling bout was her sole loss, a decision loss to the hard hitting Riyo Togo. She proved her toughness in that bout and gave Togo a very tough fight but, in fairness, Togo is a crude slugger whilst Fujioka is a skilled boxer-puncher and the two cannot really be compared together. Whilst we know plenty about Fujioka who combines excellent pure boxing with speed and power we don't know nearly as much about Kawanishi. From what we have seen of her though she's a fighter who uses her reach well, fires off a busy jab and has sharp hooks, however her defence looks limited and she doesn't look anywhere near as rounded as Fujioka. There is talent there but it lacks the polish that she likely needs to reach make her advantages count against a fighter with Fuijioka's skills. In our eyes this will be a fight that starts competitively with Fujioka learning to cope with the size disadvantage for the first round or two. As soon as the champion figures out the size of the challenger she will begin to dominate and quite probably break down the challenger inside the distance in a very interesting bout that shows just how good Fujioka is. Kawanishi will almost certainly bounce back from a loss to such an accomplished fighter as Fujioka, and will likely win a title down the line, but this isn't her time, she lacks the experience at the highest level and the polish to over-come a fighter as exceptional as the champion here. (Image courtesy of boxmob.jp) When people think of this weekend's boxing a lot of the focus is, rightfully, on Macau and the UK. Both of those places have huge cards on Saturday, genuinely those two shows could very easily over-shadow almost any other she we're getting this year and will certainly over-shadow the action we're getting over the rest of the weekend. Despite being over-shadowed however we do have some pretty decent action on Sunday in Russia with two world title fights, including a very, very interesting Female Light Welterweight title fight that will see Unbeaten Russian bombshell Svetlana Kulakova (9-0, 1) attempting to unify her WBA interim title with the WBA regular title held by Ana Laura Esteche (10-3-1, 2). Although technically the "challenger" Kulakova will be strongly favoured for this fight considering she is fighting at home in Russia, is unbeaten and, from what we understand, the taller and rangier fighter as well as the more traditionally skilled fighter. Despite her advantages she is also the fighter stepping up, notably, in class and is fighting an opponent who is a nightmare for someone with her style. At her best Kulakova is a technically strong boxer. It may sound over the top by stylistically she bears a resemblance to Wladimir Klitschko with her rangy attacks, good work at distance and frustrating ability to neutralise an opponent. It may not be exciting but it's a winning formula which has helped her claim and interim world title and a 9 fight winning run to begin her professional career. The one big difference between the Russian and Klitschko is power. Whilst Wladimir Klitschko has thunder like power in his right hand Kulakova is a relatively light puncher. She doesn't put her weight, which admittedly is no more than 140lbs, behind a shot like Klitschko does with his 250lb frame though she does seem to be able to get respect of her opponents more often than not. In Esteche we have a fighter who is like a terrier in the ring. Technically she's crude, she's basic and fundamentally flawed though she makes up for that in her refusal to back down attitude. It was this attitude that saw her defeating Argentinian compatriot Monica Silvina Acosta back in January, going into that bout Acosta was an unbeaten fighter who had been a long reigning champion prior to fighting Esteche. Esteche's aggressiveness, toughness and determination makes her a genuinely tough opponent for anyone. She's always been happy to take a shot to get inside and inside she's a really tough foe who is going to unload shots in an attempt to break down an opponent. Her power, as with Kulakova, is lacking but her work rate is much higher than that of the Russian and it's that work rate, as well as her Latin spirit, that could swing the fight in her favour. With Esteche's style we're expecting her to Kulakova her toughest test to date though we've got to favour the Russian's style, size and strength to help her take home a very well earned and hard fought decision in a bout that could well put Kulakova in the running for a fight with Norwegian boxing queen Cecilia Braekhus in a fight that could well be one of the biggest ever female fights out there right now. (Image courtesy of VK.com) This coming weekend is one of the craziest we've known since we first started this site last year. There are so many big fights, so many big shows and so much action that it's easy to forget at least 1 or 2 fights, it's inevitable that when you get too many fights one slips through the net. One fight that almost slipped through was this weekend's WBA female Flyweight title fight between Korea's Dan Bi Kim (9-2-1, 2) and the defending champion Susi Kentikian (32-2-0-1, 16), AKA "The Killer Queen", one of the truly sensational female fighters and one of the most popular in Europe. It's surprising that Kim could ever slip through the net due to her memorable 2009 contest with Nongmuay Kokietgym for the WBC interim female Light Flyweight title. That bout was everything detractors of female boxing point to when trying to make their point. Kim, who looked little more than a street fighter, had 5 points deducted for fouls that included biting her opponent in a contest that was less "boxing" and more a no holds barred fight. In that fight Kim rushed with her head, wrestled, used head locks and every dirty trick in the book. In fact Kim could well have taught the likes of Bernard Hopkins a few new tricks which aren't in the book. Since the first fight between Kim and Nongmuay the two women did fight again, this time in a more orthodox contest which saw an improved Kim giving a decent account of herself, especially compared to her first fight with her first fight against the Thai. Unfortunately though there is nothing to suggest that Kim has become world class, despite the fact she did win the very lightly regarded IFBA Minimumweight title earlier this year with a decisive decision win over Dorkmaipah Kiatpompetch, herself a total novice in the ring. Kim's best opponent so far is Nongmuay, the woman who holds both defeats on Kim's record. To call Nongmuay world class however is really stretching the definition of "world class" and she's not much better than the Korean. Unfortunately for Kim she is going from fighting the likes of Nongmuay and Dorkmaipah to fighting the truly world class Kentikian, a fighter who is on the fringes of being one of the elite female pound-for-pound fighters. Although not a big puncher Kentikian has all the other tools a fighter could wish for. She is fast, intelligent in the ring, has great stamina, fantastic movement, always has a plan B and can box either going forward or going backwards. She's not flawless but she is very, very talented as shown by her very impressive record which includes wins over a notable who's who of female boxing such as Simona Galassi, Carina Moreno, Teeraporn Pannimit, Nadia Raoui and Ana Arrazola. Whilst Kim's style is a nightmare for anyone due to her unpredictability and flat out roughness she's unlikely to be able to intimidate Kentikian who will likely use her accurate punches and movement to great effect as Kim rushes in only to get tagged repeatedly. We'd love to see Kim with a good trainer as she has the toughness to match the likes of Momo Koseki though at this point in her career a good trainer likely doesn't want her and another loss here could see no one in boxing wanting her. She's a real handful for all the wrong reasons and will likely give Kentikian a headache despite losing clearly. (Picture, of Kim, courtesy of http://www.koreaboxing.co.kr/) Although WBC Atomweight champion Momo Koseki is the most dominant fighter in the history of the 102lb division she isn't the only world champion there. She is joined by WBA champion, and fellow Japanese fighter, Ayaka Miyao (16-5-1, 1) a fighter who has arguably faced better competition than Koseki in recent contests. Miyao, who fought in Japan several times before the JBC recognised female boxing, has had an outstanding career after a wobbly start between. She debuted way back in 2004 and although she lost 4 of her first 9 contests she has since become one of the real forces in Japanese female boxing, especially in the last 3 or 4 years. Over the last 6 and a half years Miyao has gone 12-1 (1) and generated some real name value for herself under the guidance of Hideyuki Ohashi and the Ohashi gym. It's been under the Ohashi banner than she has claimed the WBA Atomweight title, defeating the rugged Mari Ando and defended it 3 times. In her defenses Miyao has over come a trio of accomplished and talented fighters. They have included Ando, for the second time, Masae Akitaya and most recently Filipino Gretchen Abaniel. This trio is probably better than what Koseki has been beating in recent defenses. On March 3rd we get to see Koseki and Miyao on the same card together. Although not fighting each other we do know that comparisons will be made. Koseki, defending her title for the 13th time, will be fighting against the unbeaten Angor Onesongchaigym whilst Miyao will be taking on Angor's stable mate Buangern OnesongchaiGym (10-4-1, 1) in what we think is the more competitive match up. Miyao is a busy fighter. She lacks power, as do most Atomweights, but her work rate is incredible and when she gets going she is really like a whirlwind inside the ring. As well her work rate she is tough, experienced and having been in the Ohashi gym she is well schooled and knows how to fight. That's not to say she's perfect, far from it, but she is very hard to beat and may well prove, one day, to be the best 102lb fighter on the planet. In Buangern we have a fighter who is just 20 years old and so young and hungry. Sadly however Buangern is also limited and came unstuck in 5 rounds against Su-Yun Hong in her only previous world title fight. Whilst that bout was a Minimumweight and this is at Atomweight we don't think the slight size difference will really help the Thai challenger. What we expect to happen here is that Buangern will start with confidence though she will quickly be swamped in the work of Miyao which will see the Japanese champion retaining via a clear decision. It'll be competitive for a few rounds but by rounds 4 or 5 the action will have swung almost entirely in the direction of Miyao. Whilst we thing Miyao v Buangern is more competitive than Koseki v Angor that's more down to the fact so little is known about Angor and it's always impossible to favour a complete unknown fighting against a dominant champion like Koseki. This bout will be part of "G Legends 6" a show on "Doll's Day" which features only female fighters. |
PreviewsHere we preview the key female title bouts involving an Asian fighter. Archives
October 2022
Categories
All
|