Earlier this year we saw Japanese fighter Yuko Kuroki (11-4-1, 6) prove she was more than just a pretty face as she over-came Mari Ando to claim the WBC female Minimumweight title. The bout was Kuroki's second world title shot in a little over a year though the improvements in her as a fighter were remarkable. In her first world title bout she looked totally out of her depth as Etsuko Tada dominated her on the score cards. In the second she looked very good in over-coming Ando, herself a 2-time world champion. In her first defense Kuroki will find herself up against the much more experienced Katia Gutierrez (19-4, 4) of Mexico. herself a former IBF world champion with notable wins over Hollie Dunaway, Ara Arrazola, Olga Julio, Susana Cruz Perez and Gretchen Abaniel, in fact she's the only fighter to have stopped Abaniel. Kuroki is a tough fighter who, like we mentioned, is improving quickly. When she began her career she lost 2 of her first 3 bouts, both were closes losses but losses all the same, including one to Naoko Shibata. Since then however she has only lost twice, the loss to Tada and a close loss to Saemi Hanagata, who she later drew with in an immediate rematch. The improvements have come fight after fight and at just 23 years old some seem to believe she has the potential to be a cross over star given her good looks and marketability outside of the ring. With the 25 year old Mexican challenger have a very experienced and world class fighter looking to gate crash Kuroki's rise to stardom. Although she is experienced, and has shared the ring with some big names, including both Jessica Chavez and Irma Sanchez who have inflicted 3 of the 4 losses on Gutierrez's record. Notably however this bout will be her first outside of Mexico where she has fought all 23 previous bouts For Kuroki this is a bout that she needs to win to authenticate her title reign. A win over Ando won her the title but she'll need this to really make it feel real. As for Gutierrez she'll come into this bout feeling it's a great opportunity to become a 2-time world champion, something she would likely love. For us the deciding point isn't skills, style or experience of the two. We think in all honesty they are very similar fighters, both lack the power to score stoppages on a regular basis so both throw a lot and both work incredibly hard to win rounds to win fights. When it comes to winning rounds away from home, half way around the world, a fighter needs to win them cleanly. We think that due to how equal the two are, and that Kuroki is improving markedly, the champion will retain her title, though she will have to really work for it in what we suspect will be a very hard fought contest. (Image courtesy of http://yukofbg.com)
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One of two female world title bouts that take place this coming Saturday will see Japan's sensational Momo Koseki (18-2-1, 5) attempting to set a national record. Koseki, the long reigning WBC Atomweight champion, will be looking for her 14th defence of her world title, a defence that would put her ahead of Yoko Gushiken's long standing Japanese national record of 13 world title defence. Of course female and male boxing are different but it would still be an incredible achievement for the rough and tumble champion. It's not a given however that Koseki will retain her title this time around as she battles Britain's Denise Castle (2-0, 2). On paper it's a clear mismatch but in actuality this could very easily be the toughest bout Koseki has ever been involved in. Castle may be a pro boxing novice but she is a former Muay Thai legend who turned to boxing earlier this year in search of a new challenge. As a Muay Thai fighter Castle was a WBC champion and it appears that her aim in professional boxing is to do the same. Koseki is a tough, rough, nasty and mean fighter. She lacks KO power but is very much a fighter with a street fighters mentality. In fact pound-for-pound it's hard to think of a tougher female boxer than Koseki but in Castle we have an equally tough and proven competitor. Although this is a very tough bout Koseki does hold numerous advantages over her British opponent. At 42 Castle is an old fighter, she's very fit but has had a long athletic career having been a runner before turning to combat sports. Koseki will also be fighting at home and there is sure to be support for the Tokyo fighter who is fighting at home. Also Muay Thai and boxing are different sports and Koseki has the clear edge in boxing experience, not just in rounds and fights but also quality of experience having previously fought Samson To Buamas, Nao Ikeyama, Masae Akitaya and Nora Cardoza amongst others. To date Castle has fought no boxers of note. For both fighters this is a huge bout. For Castle it's a chance to leap to the top of the boxing world in her division and replicate her Muay Thai success. For Koseki it's a national record and further proof of her dominance at 102lbs. It's a really great fight. We do favour the champion here but we know she's in for a very, very tough contest. (Image courtesy of Boxmob.jp) When we talk about the best female boxers in Japan 2 or 3 fighters stand out. One of those is Naoka Fujioka, arguably the most complete female boxer on the planet and another is Momo Koseki the rough and tough WBC Atomweight champion. Outside of the genuine elite we then get to very good but not elite fights, fighters like Tenkai Tsunami, a proven world class fighter, and Shindo Go (13-2 8) the current WBC female Flyweight champion. Go will be hoping to make the second defence of her title this coming Sunday as she takes on Thailand's baby faced Kledpetch Lookmuangkan (6-2, 1), a fighter fighting in her first "real" world title fight. It's the champion we'll start with and it's the champion who will be strongly favoured here. She is, after all, a proven world class fighter with victories over the likes of Kanittha Kokietgym, Jujeath Nagaowa and Renata Szebeledi as well as a razor thin and highly debateable loss to Mexican goldn girl Mariana Juarez. Although not the most skilled, and certainly not the same level of technical ability as Fujioka, Go is tough, heavy handed, aggressive and a vicious fighter in the ring. She's the sort of fighter who hurts her opponents when she connects cleanly, as shown by her 8 stoppages from 13 wins, and although she's been taken the distance in her 4 most recent fights they were against fights with a combined 3 stoppage losses, at the time, from around 80 bouts! In Kledpetch we have a much less well known fighter and with good reason, her competition hasn't been good enough to really make her famous. From Kledpetch's 8 bouts her most notable opponents have been Hee-Jung Yuh, who stopped the Thai in 8 rounds, and Kanittha Kokietgym, who Kledpetch out pointed. Unfortunately for Kledpetch the win over Kanittha isn't really worth a lot considering Kanittha had lost to every notable name she had fought previously, such as Go, Fujioka, Irma Sanchez and Jessica Chavez. From what we've read about Kledpetch she's a gutsy fighter with nice handspeed but her lack of power is a real issue and one that will be capitalised on by Go who we think will try and force the Thai youngster into a fight. Kledpetch does have skills to make life tough for Go for a round or two but we thing, after 3 or 4 rounds the Japanese fighter will have found her range and will start to gradually break down the Thai who will be lucky to see out the 10 round distance, something she has never accomplished before. (Image courtesy of http://www.kuratokigym.jp/ Numerous fighters have misleading records. We often see it with Filipino men, like Rey Loreto and Rey Megrino, though we also see it with some Japanese women, such as Tenkai Tsunami (20-10, 9). This misleading records can arise for various reasons, for example a fighter being matched incredibly hard at some point in their career or having a few controversial decisions go against them. This coming Saturday we see two fighters with misleading records facing off in a WBC female Minimumweight title fight that really could end up being an absolute barn burner. On of those women is the defending champion Mari Ando (11-6, 5), a tough as nails fighter who has been fighting at the world level for almost 3 years. She is a former WBA Atomweight champion and has fought the likes Ayaka Miyao and Su Yun Hong, both world of whom are world class fighters The other woman is the under-rated Yuko Kuroki (10-4-1, 6) who has shared a ring with the excellent Etsuko Tada and the talented Saemi Hanagata. She may never have won a world title but she is a talented and accomplished fighter who, at just 23, is improving drastically between fights. The two women have a lot in common. Both lost some early, and close, fights which marked up their records in bouts some people felt they deserved to win. Both scored notable wins over Thailand's Amara Kokietgym and both are young fighters who have a lot more to give the sport. It's fair to say neither is close to their prime and neither is likely to be close to their prime for another few years. And, finally, both fighters have a similar amount of fights, wins and losses. An initial look at the two fighters would see many favouring Ando. She has been in with Miyao twice, giving her hell in both bouts, and has been in Hong, again giving the world class fighter a tough time. Kuroki may have been in the ring with Tada but wasn't competitive. That however doesn't tell us how far along Kuroki has come in recent bouts as she's gone from a young lady to a now mature fighter. Kuroki is still young but a drastically different fighter to the one who fought Tada. Ando is an aggressive, mentally tough fighter who comes for a fight. She applies pressure, she tries to turn fights into a tear up and makes them action packed. She may not be the most technically skilled but she's always exciting and she's always looking for a fight in the ring. Less of a boxer and more of a born fighter. Whilst Ando is a pure fighter Kuroki is more of a boxer-puncher who uses intelligent footwork to line up he straight land hands. She may not be the most technically correct fighter but she is more of a boxer than Ando. She's good speed, like Ando she's proven to be tough and, as with most southpaws, she looks like tricky fighter to beat. Going in to this fight we really view it as a 50-50 type of fight, though lean, ever so slightly, towards Ando who is the more experienced fighter, especially over 10 rounds, and is the home town fighter, though we wouldn't even dream of betting on this contest which is really, really hard to call. (Picture, of Mari Ando, courtesy of http://www.zukunft.co.jp) When we talk about misleading records in boxing we, as a site, tend to look at the Filipino's who are thrown in hard early in their careers. The same too could be said about Mexicans who can often be thrown in deep whilst only teenagers and although some top Mexicans have a lot of losses they do tend to use those early career defeats as a building block towards their future. One such Mexican is Ibeth Zamora Silva (19-5, 8) who has a record befitting of a fringe contender on paper though in reality she is one of the truly elite Light Flyweights and a very deserving WBC champion at 108lbs. The reason Zamora Silva has such an mediocre looking record is because she has fought everyone of note in and around her division. Going through her 24 fight record resembles going through a who's who of who and features fighters such as Esmeralda Moreno, Jessica Chavez, Anabel Ortiz, Yesiva Yolanda Bopp, Etsuko Tada, Irma Garcia, Naoko Shibata and Ava Knight. The fact Zamora Silva has lost just 5 times is a testament to her skill and not many fighters would have managed to beat half the fighters she has beaten as she's grown in to one of the best fighters in her division. This coming Saturday sees Thailand's Hongfah Tor Buamas (17-5, 2) attempting to dethrone the Mexican great and claim one of the biggest upsets of the year. Unfortunate for Hongfah she has the deck well and truly stacked against her. Firstly she will have to go over to Mexico for the fight, a country she has fought in once, losing to Ava Knight via 10th round TKO, secondly she lacks power and thirdly she really does have the track record of proven skills needed to defeat a fighter like Zamora Silver. Aged 20 Hongfah is already a ring veteran with 22 fights to her name though unfortunately she has been unable to really score a notable victory. She has mixed in good company fighting not just Ava Knight but also Kanittha Kokietgym though both have beaten Hongfah who has been shown to be shy of world level though she is very good as a domestic fighter. Against a fighter like Zamora Silva you need to be genuine world class, strong, tough and with either lights out power or an amazing work rate. Whilst Hongfah is tough she lacks the skill, power and energy to stand any chance of a victory here sadly. We imagine she'll be game through out though never really capable of putting a dent in the very talented Mexican youngster. (Photo courtesy of boxrec.com) When it comes to talking about under-rated female fighters it's fair to suggest that Shindo Go (12-2, 8) is one of the most under-rated female fighters on the planet. Although she's the WBC Flyweight champion few really know about Go or her talents. Born in 1987 Go turned professional when she was just 20. Although she lost on debut, a very close decision to Masae Akitaya, her talent was clear and she'd follow up the debut loss with 10 successive victories 8 of which came by KO. Those victories not only saw her building up a reputation for herself in Japan but also claiming the much coveted OPBF Flyweight. Go's winning run came to an end in 2012 when she lost a close and very hard fought decision to Mariana Juarez in California. Since then though she has scored 2 more victories including a decision over Renata Szebeledi, a decision that saw Go claiming the WBC Flyweight title. Go will be defending that title for the first time when she takes on Mexican challenger Judith Rodriguez (6-5, 4). Although Rodriguez's record is less than stellar she has been one of those fighters who has faced stiff test after stiff test. These tests have seen Rodriguez losing to Zulina Munoz, Daniela Romina Bermudez and Naoko Yamaguchi 3 very highly regarded fighters. Although Rodriguez has been losing to top fighters on a regular basis she has proven herself to be tough. She's never been stopped, she's fought well on foreign soil and is one of the few fighters to see out the 10 rounds with Naoko Yamaguchi. With this in mind it's hard to imagine Go stopping her, however with Go's skills, movement and speed it's easy to see a near shut out in favour of the talented Japanese fighter. It may take a while before the world wakes up to the talent of Go but hopefully a good performance here will help speed that process up. Just a few weeks back Naoko Fujioka vacated the WBC Minimumweight to challenge for, and win, the WBC Super Flyweight title. The title that Fujioka vacated is now back up for grabs as Japan's Mari Ando (10-6, 5) fights Mexico's Jasseth Noriega (16-2-1, 5). On paper this is a bout that you'd automatically favour Noriega from looking at the fighters records. Records however don't decide fights, the fighters behind those records do and that's why this bout is intriguing. Aged 26 Ando is a fighter who has been in and around world class for over 2 years. She successfully claimed the WBA Atomweight title back in September 2011 with a victory over Amara Kokietgym and defended it once before being neaten by Ayaka Miyao. Since losing her world title Ando has been hovering in and around world title fights. Unfortunately however she has gone 0-2 in subsequent title fights losing a rematch to Miyao and being out pointed by WBO Minimumweight champion Su-Yun Hong. Despite those two losses she has shown her toughness and desire to win refusing to give in. Whilst Ando has lost 3 of her last 4 they have come, as mentioned, against world class fighters in Hong and Miyao. On the flipside of that it's worth noting that Noriega has also lost her last 2 bouts. The Mexican, 23, started her career with 13 straight wins and went 17 fights unbeaten before suffering back to back upsets this year to Anahi Torres and Jessica Nery Plata. Whilst there there is no shame in losing to Plata, who is a very talented fighter, there are doubts over just how good Noriega actually is having beaten no one of note. Not only has Noriega beaten no one of note but she has also never fought outside of Mexico. We're expecting the crowd in Japan to get to Noriega and Ando's pressure, power and work rate to slowly beaten down Noriega who we imagine will be stopped in the second half of the fight. One often made complain about boxing is that we have too many divisions. Whilst we won't disagree with that claim it's worth noting that female boxing actually one additional weight class, the Atomweight division. With a weight limit of 102lbs the Atomweight division is the lowest in professional boxing and one only competed in by female fighters. In fact more interesting than just that is that only the WBA and WBC seem to really recognise the division and even Boxrec don't seem that willing to recognise it's existence. Of the two recognised Atomweight champions it's the WBC champion Momo Koseki (16-2-1, 4) that has the longest and most defined reign. Since winning the title in 2008 with a stoppage over Winyu Paradorn Gym of Thailand, Koseki has defended her title an impressive 10 times. She now looks for defense #11. In the opposite corner to Koseki is Mexico's Nora Cardoza (8-4-2, 4), a fighter fighting in her first world title fight and a fighter looking for her first serious victory. With 16 fights on her record Cardoza hasn't faced too many "name" fighters, and when she has, she's lost. This has seen her being stopped by Jessica Chavez and being out pointed by Jasseth Noriega, her only two high profile opponents. If we compare Cardoza's record to that of Koseki things are very much one sided. Koseki has more world title fight victories than Cardoza has total victories and whilst they haven't come against great names they have come against credible opponents. Not only has she stopped Winyu Paradorn Gym but she has also beaten Nao Ikeyama, Teeraporn Pannimit, Saemi Hanagata and most recently Eun-Young Huh, all around the same "proven" level as Cardoza. What's more impressive than Koseki's record is her skill level. She is incredibly talented. Sure she has two losses on her record, coming in her 4th and 5th contests, but both were narrow losses away in Thailand, both in bouts that many felt Koseki was robbed of. She's talented, tough, has great work rate and shows that female fighters can be genuinely skilled. Something that we can't really say about Cardoza. With what we know about both fighters we really favour Koseki, arguably the best 102lb fighter on the planet to not only defeat Cardoza but also look to force a stoppage. It may come, it may not but there is every chance that Koseki will look to make a statement with WBA champion Ayaka Miyao defending her title just a few weeks after this contest. |
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