The Atomweight division is the most obscure division in boxing, and lacks the depth of many other divisions. Saying that however we do get some interesting fights at the weight, like 2015's unification bout that saw Momo Koseki unify her WBC title with the WBA title then held by Ayaka Miyao. That was the biggest bout in the division's short history and was a thrilling contest with both showing their ability. This coming Tuesday we see the loser of that bout, Ayaka Miyao (21-6-1, 5) attempt to claim the WBO title to become the division's first 2-time champion. Miyao however isn't the only fighter looking for a slice of history as her opponent, current WBO champion Nao Ikeyama (17-3-2, 4) looks to extend her record as the oldest active world champion and the oldest ever Japanese world champion, with the veteran now being 47 years old! Ikeyama won the title a little more than 2 years ago, becoming the oldest Japanese world champion at the age of 44. Since then she has recorded 4 defenses of the title, beating Masae Akitaya, Norj Guro and Jujeath Nagaowa whilst fighting to a draw with the vert capable Saemi Hanagata. Not only has she been defending her title but in December 2015 she became the first world champion to defend a world title in Sri Lanka. Whilst Ikeyama is 47 she is great physical shape, has an excellent engine and solid skills. She's not an amazing boxer in a pure boxing sense but she's the type of fighter who is refusing to give up the title and is seemingly getting better with age, like a fine wine. Aged 33 Miyao seems to have been around for years, originally one of the stars of the Ohashi gym she has recently transferred to the Watanabe gym and will be getting her first big fight since linking up with Watanabe. Early in her career she struggled for form, beginning 4-4-1, though has subsequently gone 17-2 losing only to Naoko Shibata and the aforementioned Koseki. Against those two losses are wins against the likes of Masae Akitaya, Mari Ando, Gretchen Abaniel and Satomi Nsihimura. In the ring Miyao has long been seen as a perpetual punching machine, though has calmed that non-stop output in recent years to land some heavier shots and stand her ground more. That change in style has made some of her fights more exciting and although she's not a puncher she has scored 4 stoppages in her last 6 and is showing an increasing amount of physicality to meet her output. Although on paper it can be easy to back an in form champion it must be said that that this is set to be one of Ikeyama's toughest bouts and with Miyao being so much younger, so much fresher and so much hungrier it's hard to see anything but a title. Ikeyama won't hand over her title but Miyao will do enough to rip it away in a really fun, action bout.
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On November 11th the longest reigning, active, world champion will return to the ring in search of their 17th world title defense, and look to extend their reign that began way back in August 2008. Sadly that champion is current WBC Atomweight champion Momo Koseki (22-2-1, 8), who hasn't just gone under-the-radar due to being a female but also the fact that she holds a world title in boxing's lowest professional division, which has an upper limit of 102lbs and is only competed in by female fighters. Whilst Koseki has been the dominant fighter at 102lbs her competition has long been questioned, despite the fact she unified in 2015 and has beaten the current WBO champion. That low level of competition rears it's head again this coming Friday when she takes on little known Chie Higano (6-4, 2), who really isn't expected to give much of a challenge to Koseki. Before we look at the hopes of the challenger a quick bit of information on the champion, who is the longest reigning champion in the sport at world level. She began her career in 2007, in Thailand, and after starting 3-2, with two controversial losses to Winyu Paradorn Gym and Samson Tor Buamas, she has gone 19-0-1 (8) beating the likes of Winyu, in a rematch, Nao Ikeyama, Jujeath Nagaowam Saemi Hanagata and Ayaka Miyao to distinguish herself as the top fighter the division has ever seen. In the ring Koseki is a rough and tough fighter who can box or fight and is the type who doesn't mind a street fight in the ring. In recent years she has shown more inclination to boxing but has had a reputation in the past for using her head if needed. She's tough, hits relatively hard for the division and has really impressive stamina forcing opponents to work at her rate through out a bout. At 34 she is certainly on the back end of her career but the southpaw from Tokyo will be inspired by the continued shows of Naoko Fujioka, the other queen of Japanese boxing, who is remaining a top level fighter into her 40's. Higano is a 32 year old who is taking part in her first title bout, and sadly her record sums up her limitations with 4 losses in her last 7, including defeats to Jun Yabuki, Shione Ogata and Saemi Hanagata. She hasn't beaten an opponent with a record above a 50% winning rate and has never fought in a bout scheduled for more than 6 rounds. Whilst Higano will know this is the chance of a life time it really is like taking a bloodied mouse and throwing it into a pool of piranha's. She has done nothing to qualify for a world title bout other than being able to make the weight, and although Koseki isn't the type to beat the snot out of an opponent she is the type who will beat an opponent up. For Higano the bout isn't about winning but more about surviving and it's hard to see how she will even do that given her record so far. To her credit she has been fighting at a higher weight than the Atomweight limit but she's never faced anyone resembling Koseki. The bout keeps the champion active, but maybe, just maybe, it's time for Koseki to move up in weight and begin to look towards a second divisional title as no one at 102lbs is fit to challenge her. Higano isn't the best challenger, but even the best won't be good enough to give Koseki a fight, barring possibly Yunoka Furukawa who is unlikely to be given a bout with Koseki anytime soon anyway. As boxing fans we want to see the best fighters facing off, we want to really know who the best is and we love seeing fights between well matched fighters. This coming Saturday we get such a bout as WBC female Flyweight champion Jessica Chavez (27-4-3, 4) defends her belt against 3-weight champion Naoko Fujioka (15-1, 6), who will be attempting to become a 4-weight champion. The two of them are both very highly regarded and are both among the top female boxers, pound-for-pound, on the planet. To fans like ourselves, this is a treat. Of the two fighters the more famous is probably Chavez. The 28 year old “Kika” is a 2-weight world champion who has faced a real who's who of female boxing including Ana Arrazola, Ibeth Zamora Silva, Yesica Yolanda Bopp, Esmeralda Moreno, Irma Sanchez, Tenkai Tsunami, Melissa McMorrow, Arely Mucino and Simona Galassi. Although she has suffered some losses whilst going that that list of names she has secured her place as one of the very best female fighters on the planet and has held titles at both 108lbs and 112lbs. In the ring Chavez is a busy, active fighter who is well schooled and knows how to use the ring. She's not a puncher, or the most physically imposing, but she is very talented and has a great engine, being able to let shots got at a solid pace through out a fight. Not only is she able to up the ante late in a fight but she has every shot in the book, and doesn't mind attacking the body, standing and trading or boxing on the foot. For the champion this will be the 4th defense of the title that she won the title a little over a year ago. She will also be looking to extend a 7 fight winning run and score another major win, further defining her career as one of the truly elite female boxers. Of course whilst Chavez is the champion she's certainly not up against a nobody with Fujioka being a 3-weight world champion who is dropping from Bantamweight to Flyweight in an attempt to become a 4-weight champion. Interestingly her only loss to date came in her only other Flyweight world title fight, a loss to Susi Kentikian back in November 2014 for the WBA title. Aged 41 Fujioka is certainly at the back end of her career, however she is a very young 41 year old with a professional career of just 7 years of professional experience. She was however an excellent amateur before turning professional and has been fast tracked. She claimed her first title, the OPBF female Minimumweight title in her 4th bout and her first world title bout in her 6th bout. In 2013 she jumped from 105lbs to 115lbs and dominated Naoko Yamaguchi to become a 2-weight champion. Since then she tested the water at 112lbs before claiming a world title at 118lbs. Whilst she may not have the depth in numbers of Chavez it's fair to say that Fujioka has a strong resume herself. She holds wins over the likes of Naoko Shibata, Anabel Ortiz, Naoko Yamaguchi and Mariana Juarez and a win over Chavez would cement her standing at one of the best of her generation. Fujioka, like the champion, is a multifacted fighter who has shown an ability to box of fight. At her best she combines both, and knows when to pick up the action, as she showed last year when she defeated Mariana Jaurez with a split decision in her only previous bout in Mexico. What we're expecting here, when these two brilliant fighters get in the ring, is something special. Both should be very even, both are the same high and both are similar fighters in the ring. We suspect the fight will be a very well boxed bout early on though become a progressively rougher and tougher bout as the rounds pass by and the final rounds will be nothing but a high paced war. Sadly for Fujioka the bout being in Mexico will likely see the home fighter being favoured, however the fight should still be something thoroughly exciting and brilliant to watch. Over the last 2 years or so we've seen several fighters emerge, improve and become credible fighters at various levels in the sport. One of the most remarkable developments during that time has been that of Japanese fighter Yuko Kuroki (15-4-1, 7). Back in April 2014 Kuroki was 10-4-1 and had gone 1-2-1 in her previous 4 bouts, in fact it seemed like she was going to toil on the fringes of the OPBF title scene. Since then however she has gone 5-0, claimed the WBC female Minimumweight title and scored notable wins over Mari Ando, Katia Gutierrerz, Masae Akitaya and Nancy Franco. This coming Monday Kuroki looks to continue her reign as a world champion as she takes on Filipino title challenger Norj Guro (7-5-1, 4), who is challenging for a world title for the second time. The champion is a fighter who has improved significantly. She's skilled, hard working, tough and knows that every fight can be a stepping stone towards becoming a better fighter. Although she has got losses on her record they have typically come to good fighters, like Naoko Shibata, Saemi Hanagata and Etsuko Tada. Those losses were set backs but they were also developmental fights allowing her to work on things, push herself and gain valuable experience in her young boxing career. The challenger hasn't yet proven herself as being a fringe world class fighter, despite this being her second world title bout. Going through her record we see no wins of note, in fact 6 of her 7 wins have been against debutants. Notably she has been fighting at higher weights than Minimumweight but has lost to every opponent with any value, such as Riyo Togo, Hee Jung Yuh, Buakaew OnesongchaiGym, Nao Ikeyama and Jessica Chavez. Although Guro has lost every time she's fought someone with a win, she has shown her toughness and has only been stopped once, by the big punching Riyo Togo. Coming into this one it's impossible to think that the title will be changing hands, this is a huge step backwards for the champion but should work as a launch pad to bigger and better fights. What will be interesting however will be the manner of the win. Kuroki could take a shut out win without any problems, but if she's looking to a chase a stoppage she could make a statement, doing what the brilliant Jessica Chavez couldn't do. That really has to be the target for the champion. On paper Japan's Mari Ando (12-8, 5) has the record of a journey woman but the reality is that she's a bona-fide world level contender who has a “win some-lose some” record at the top level. In fact coming into this weekend she is 3-4 in world title bouts, a 2-weight world champion and a fighter who has been really unlucky to actually have a 12-8 record. This weekend Ando attempts to become a 3-weight champion as she travels to Mexico to battle Ibeth Zamora Silva (24-5, 9), the current WBC female Light Flyweight champion and one of the best female fighters on the planet. Ando is a true warrior. She has limitations but the 28 year old is a real battler who has regularly made up for her limitations with a high work rate, insane toughness and incredible will to win. That will to win has her over-come the likes of Amara Kokietgym, Maria del Refugio Jimenez Cruz and Jasseth Noriega whilst managing push fighters like Ayaka Miyao, Yuko Kuroki, Su Yun Hong and Cai Zong Ju all the way. A big question when it comes to Ando is how she will cope at Light Flyweight. Interestingly she is 2-0 (1) above 105lbs, though this match up is a huge step up in class from her other two at the weight. When it comes to Zamora the 27 year old really is one of the sports best female fighters. Her record is incredible, not just the numbers but also the quality of her wins which have come against the likes of Esmeralda Moreno, twice, Jessica Chavez, twice, Anabel Ortiz, Naoko Shibata and Ava Knight. Not only has she been beating top names but she's also been a 3 year reign as a world champion and has already recorded 7 defenses of her title. In the ring Zamora can almost everything, in fact the one thing she's missing is “power” though she more than makes up for that with her ability to box, or brawl. When it comes to being adaptable she certainly has plan A, B, C and D in her locker and with a large crowd behind her and her confidence sky high it's going to take a very special fighter to beat her. Whilst we rate Ando as being much better than her record, we can't see over-coming Zamora, especially not in Mexico The final Asian world title bout before Christmas comes on December 20th with fans in Fukuoka being the lucky ones who get the chance to watch it. Not only is it the final title bout before Christmas but it is also a very well matched one, between two world class fighters looking to ensure their place among the top in their division for the start of 2016. If there is something to hold against the bout it is a female bout, but it really a brilliant one as WBC female Minimumweight champion Yuko Kuroki (14-4-1, 7) defends her title against former IBF champion Nancy Franco (14-6-2, 4). For Kuroki this will be her third defense, as she looks to continue her reign that began in May 2014, whilst Franco will be looking to become a 3-time world champion. The champion, who is regarded as one of the few fighters who really combines looks with ability, turned pro back in 2008 and surprisingly lost 2 of her first 3 bouts, albeit one of those did come to future champion Naoko Shibata. Since the less than great start Kuroki has improved, going 13-2, losing to the world class Etsuko Tada and the fringe world class Saemi Hanagata. Since those losses Kuroki has shown yet more improvement, winning 5 in a row. That 5 fight run has seen her claim the WBC title, beating Mari Ando for the title, and defending it against Katia Gutierrez and Masae Akitaya. Aged 24 the champion is still a very young fighter. Despite that she has been in 4 world title bouts, racked up 19 career bouts and 106 rounds. She is very experienced and has been fighting at the top level for the past few years, those bouts with top opponents will have helped her develop her skills significantly. She is however lacking in power and still a flawed fighter, she is also rather short at just over 5'0”. Despite not being a puncher she is a busy and tough southpaw, a real night mare to fight. Mexican fighter Franco is interesting fighter who has, much like Kuroki, come through the hard way. The 26 year old “Chatita” debuted in 2008 and in her third bout took on Arely Mucino, who stopped Franco inside a round. After just 8 bouts Franco was 3-3-2, having also been stopped by the fantastic Ibeth Zamora Silva. Since hen however Franco has been excellent going 13-3, becoming a 2-time world champion and spending the last few years mixing with top class competition. Among those that Franco has fought recently are Ana Arrazola, Kayoko Ebata, and Victoria Argueta. Of those opponents she has beaten Ebata in Japan, out pointe Arrazola and went 1-1 with Argueta. In those bouts she has proven her ability, her will to win and her desire. She's not the most technically impressive Last time out Franco won the IBF female Minimumweight title, she was however stripped of that belt meaning this isn't a unification bout. That however shouldn't take away from the fact the she is among the elite fighters in the division and is a fighter who has given up her title, travelled around the world and chosen to face another champion, when she could have chosen a much easier match up instead. Given the ability of both fighters we're expecting something very special here. An all action, high skilled, 10 round battle. Generally however those bouts go to the home fighter and we suspect that will be the case again here with Kuroki claiming a very narrow, and likely debatable, decision. One of the biggest issues with professional boxing is that we don't often get the chance to see unification bouts, especially not between long reigning champions who are regarded as the top 2 in their relevant division. Although they are rare we are getting one such bout later this month as WBC Atomweight champion Momo Koseki (20-2-1, 7), who has recorded an amazing 15 title defenses, takes on WBA champion Ayaka Miyao (20-5-1, 4), who has recorded 5 defenses of her title. They are two of only 3 champions in the 102 weight division, with the other being WBO champion Nao Ikeyama who was widely beaten by Koseki a number of years ago. Of the two fighters it is Koseki who is better known. She has essentially dominated the lowest weight in boxing for the past few years, in fact since winning the title back in August 2008 she has often looked unbeatable. We'll not say she's faced the best out there, but she does hold notable wins against the likes of Nao Ikeyama, as mentioned the current WBO champion, Teeraporn Pannimit, Saemi Hanagata, and Eun Young Huh. In the ring Koseki is a handful, she's a rough and tough fighter who knows the old pro's tricks, including liberally using her head on the inside, and it aggressive enough to put fighters into their shells. Some will question her competition but much of that has to do with the divisions dearth of talent rather than her “ducking” anyone. Although less well known Miyao is herself a more than capable fighter. She's a busy, fast fighter who really made her name with wins against against Masae Akitaya and Mari Ando, both of whom she beaten twice in just over 16 months. Her WBA reign may not be as long as that of Koseki but she is one of the genuinely elite fighters in the division. Although known as a light puncher Miyao has developed her spiteful side recently and has 3 stoppages in her last 4 bouts. It's hard to know if that power is due to confidence in her own punch or the level of competition but either way it may be worth noting that she does seem to hit harder than the numbers suggest. Coming in to this one we're expecting Miyao to take the role of the boxer whilst Koseki will be the brawler. This should see Koseki coming forward and Miyao trying to move and keep her off. The two should combine for some great action though we suspect that the toughness and aggression of Koseki will see her taking the narrow and very competitive win. (Image courtesy of Ohashi Gym) The first of 3 world title fights in May 9th comes from Japan where fans get a female world title fight. The bout may not have the excitement factor of the two male world title bouts later in the day though it does promise a lot of very competitive action and also promises to see how legitimate the defending champion really is.
The champion in question is current WBC female Minimumweight champion Yuko Kuroki (12-4-1, 6), a champion who has the looks of a model and the gutsy determination of a true fighter. She'll be needing to call on all that determination as she goes in to the second defense of her title and takes on perennial contender Masae Akitaya (9-5-2, 3), a woman in her 4th world title bout. Unfortunately for Akitaya she has always been the bridesmaid and never the bride. Aged 24 the champion is a fighter who is still in the early stages of her career, despite the fact she made her debut way back in 2008. Like many fighters she didn't look special early one and actually lost 2 of her first 3 bouts, including a decision to current IBF female Light Flyweight champion Naoko Shibata. Since then however she's gone 11-2-1, with all 3 of her set backs coming to world class fighters with a loss and a draw to Saemi Hanagata and a loss to Etsuko Tada, and none of those results are too shameful. Whilst Kuroki has come up short against most of her most notable foes she has also scored a number of solid wins. The first of those came against Amara Kokietgym back in 2011 and she has since added wins over Mari Ando, in what was her title winning effort, and Katia Gutierrez, in her only defense so far. In those wins against Ando and Gutierrez we saw Kuroki prove her toughness and she was forced to grind out the wins in bouts that saw her being pushed very hard by talented opponents. As for Akitaya she's mixed with very good company through out her career. She began 5-0 with wins over Shindo Go and Mika Oda before suffering back to back losses to Amara Kokietgym and Nao Ikeyama in 2009-2010. Since then she has struggled to get her career back on track. Although she's struggled for form Akitaya has challenged the likes of Momo Koseki, Ayaka Miyao and Nao Ikeyema in world title fights, though she has failed to win any of those bouts. Aged 37 when this fights takes place the challenger is essentially in last chance saloon and knows that if she fails to win here it's unlikely she'll get another shot. In many ways however she's lucky to even get this one considering the fact she has gone 1-3-1 in her last 5 bouts dating back more than 3 years. Part of that run has been due to her competition but losing to top fighters shouldn't be rewarded with more opportunities to do the same. Although the challenger is in poor form she has the traits to make for exciting fights. She's gutsy, aggressive and comes forward throwing a lot of punches. Those punches may not have concussive power on them but they are a nightmare due to their volume and for Kuroki to retain her title she'll need to grit her teeth and fight through the often wild storm of shots. It's going to be a gut check for the champion who is a more technically capable fighter, but one who will need to show that can fight back when she had a very aggressive against her. We suspect Kuroki will come out on top. She has the natural size advantage over a fighter who has made her career at Atomweight, though we do expect her to look less that world class here against a fighter who will make her work very hard for the win. It'll be exciting, action packed but not the highest quality for we'll see this year. Due to boxing's myriad of titles and weight classes we sometimes end up with bad fights, we sometimes end up with terrible fights and we sometimes end up with indefensible bouts. Sadly this week we get an indefensible world title bout as possibly the best ever fighter in her weight class defends against someone not fit enough to even be her sparring partner. The bout in question will see WBC Atomweight champion Momo Koseki (19-2-1, 6) defending her title for the 15th time against the hapless Aisah Alico (5-4, 4). The bout really shouldn't be a world title bout, nor should even be sanctioned in all honesty. Koseki is a brilliant fighter. She is talented, battle hardened, ever improving and a really vicious warrior. It's fair to say Koseki can be crude, especially when she wants to be, but at her best she is a sensational southpaw who is capable of finding a home for her left hand at will. In her 22 fight career Koseki has faced some questionable opponents but also a number of very credible foes. She's come up short against Samson Tor Buamas but defeated the likes of Nao Ikeyama, Saemi Hanagata, Eun-Young Huh and Teeraporn Pannimit. We won't pretend they are the top named but they are among the top fighters at 102lbs with Ikeyama actually the current WBO champion. Sadly Alico has done very little. She has lost 4 of her last 5, all by stoppage. On paper two of hose losses, defeats to Yuko Kuroki and Samson Tor Buamas, are defendable but the others, including a loss to the then 1-0 Naome Tacda, really aren't. Looking at Alico's record one may get the idea that she's a puncher. Unfortunately that appears to be an illusion with her wins coming against opponents with a combined record of 0-2 and her stoppages coming against opponents with a combined 0-1 record. To put that another way, in her 9 fights she has never beaten a fighter with a win, in fact she's never been beyond 3 rounds with an opponent with a win. To say this is a revolting match up is offensive to things that are revolting. Thankfully however it's unlikely to last long and we suspect Alico will again fail to go beyond 4 rounds, and that's despite Koseki not being a puncher. (Image courtesy of boxmob.jp) Several fighters have had a year they would like to forget this year. One of those, we suspect, is Shindo Go (14-2, 9) who has had a year that hasn't been a terrible one in terms of results but has been a year over-shadowed by out of the ring issues. She'll be hoping to put all those issues behind this coming weekend when she seeks the 3rd defense of her WBC female Flyweight title and attempts to over-come Mexico's very talented Arely Mucino (20-2-2-1, 10). If you've not followed Go's year then you've likely miss out on the drama that has followed her through much of the year and seen her announce that she would be vacating her title, falling out with her former gym and having a bout with Mucino re-arranged several times. Thankfully it does appear that since signing with Green Tsuda her boxing life has begun to get back on track though a loss to Mucino would derail her once again. In the ring Go is a very under-rated fighter who hits hard than most female fighters, is tougher than most female fighters and can bang, brawl or box. We're not going to consider her unbeatable but she's not an easy fighter to beat. On her debut she came up narrowly short against Masae Akitaya, who would later go on to fight in a trio of world title bouts, whilst a little more than 2 years ago she was very unlucky to come up short against Mexican great Mariana Juarez. One of the few flaws with Go is that she's not the most technical. She is skilled but there are technical holes in her game which she can often negate with her power and toughness. Mexico's Mucino is a proven world class fighter who has shared the ring with a relative who's who of female boxing. This has seen her fight to a no contest with Susi Kentikian, score wins over Carolina Alvarez, Melissa McMorrow and Tenkai Tsunami whilst suffering defeats to Ava Knight and Mariana Juarez. Although he level of competition has been spectacular she hasn't looked good against the top foes and her wins over McMorrow and Tsunami have both been incredibly close. Mucino's flaw has been toughness. She was stopped quickly by Knight who took her out in just 2 rounds whilst Juarez also dropped her. We suspect that Go has the power to do just that to Mucino who will almost certainly have to fight carefully, despite fighting at home. We know that Mexico has been a notoriously hard country to win a bout in as a visitor but here we think we have to go with Go who we think has the power to stop Mucino, if she catches her clean. If Go can't hurt Mucino however then this bout promises to be a tough one for the champion. |
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