 Earlier today Japanese fight fans in Tokyo had the chance to see the fifth show in the Victoriva series of shows. The card are all female shows, and today's co feature bout was a WBA Atomweight title unification contest between "interim" champion Ayaka Miyao (23-8-1, 6) [宮尾 綾香] and the WBA regular champion Monseratt Alcaron (13-4-2).
Originally this bout was pencilled in to take place last November, but was cancelled when Alcaron was forced out with an injury. Today however we saw the two put on an ultra-competitive, but sadly for the local fans it wasn't to be for Miyao. The opening round was a good one for Miyao, who's speed seemed to bother Alcaron. Sadly though it wasn't long until Alcaron found her footing in the bout and she swept rounds 2 to 4 on all 3 cards. The Mexican had taken the lead with her pressure, and although she seemed to struggle to land really hurtful blows her aggression was impressing the judges. Strangely the judges really struggled to agree on things after round 4, with only 2 of the last 6 rounds have complete agreement from the judges. They were either caught up with the aggression and pressure of Alcaron or the speed and movement of Miyao. From the last 6 rounds one judge gave the Mexican rounds 5 through to 9, whilst another gave Miyao everything in the second half, other than round 6. It was the third scorecard that was the most interesting, giving Alcaron rounds 5,6 and 9 and Miyao rounds 7,8 and 10. The only rounds all 3 agreed with was rounds 6, to Alcaron, and 10, to Miyao. Although the judges were obviously seeing different things to each other what they were all seeing was a high tempo fight between fighters with styles that just gelled really well and made for an action bout. Sadly for Miyao however the success of Alcaron in the first half was essentially the difference and after 10 rounds the Mexican was declared the winner of a split decision, with scores of 98-92 and 96-94 in her favour against a score of 96-94 for Miyao. At the moment it's unclear what is next for the two. Miyao would likely be very interested in a rematch, and a chance to avenge this loss, though Eri Matsuda, who picked up a win on the under-card, may also be interested in favour Alcaron for the WBA title. Alcaron on the other hand might prefer to go back to Mexico and build at home from this win. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
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 Earlier today at the Korakuen Hall fight fans saw Ayaka Miyao (23-7-1, 6) [宮尾 綾香] finally over-come Nao Ikeyama (18-5-3, 5) [森脇恵子], in what was their third meeting, to claim the WBA "interim" Atomweight title.
The bout, which came about when regular champion Monseratt Alcarron (11-4-2) was forced to pull out of a clash with Miyao, had a good sense of history behind it. In their first bout, years ago, Ikeyama had stopped a then fresh faced Miyao, whilst in 2016 Miyao was stopped again after suffering a freak leg injury. It was clear they had unfinished business from their 2016 clash, and both wanted to use this bout to put the final chapter in their rivalry. The fight saw the 35 year old Miyao using her feet and boxing well on her toes, using her significant edge in speed to out box the much older Ikeyama, who at the age of 49 really has impressed in her longevity but has slowed significantly in recent bouts. The speed of Miyao and her energy and work rate, as ever, impressed as she made Ikeyama look slow and clumsy, dropping her in the first round, en route to a clear 10 round decision, with scores of 97-92, twice, and 96-93 in favour of Miyao. We're expecting Miyao to now face Alcarron in 2019, whilst Ikeyama is almost certainly going to be retiring. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)  Today fight fans saw the heavy handed Yunoka Furukawa (9-1-2, 6) [古川 夢乃歌] record her first defense of the WBA Atomweight title as she out pointed OPBF female Light Flyweight champion Mika Iwakawa (6-5-1, 2) [岩川 美花] in a tremendous war of high octane action and heavy handed blows. To begin the bout it was the challenger who started fast, taking an early lead as she used her superiour size and reach to keep the champion at range. In round two Furukawa tried to amp up the pressure but was met by Iwakawa fighting back and the champion struggled to impose her will on the bout. Despite the good start from the challenger it was clear that she was going to struggle to keep the aggressive Furukawa at range and as the bout went on Furukawa's pressure began to take ahold of the bout, with Iwakawa having her size advantage negated by the relentless pressure of the champion. Iwakawa continued to try and fight back but as we got into the later rounds the champion extra fitness, power and youthful aggressiveness showed with the champion sweeping many of the later rounds en route to a very hard fought first defense of the title, winning with scores of 97-93, 96-94 and 95-95.  With her first defense under her belt we're expecting to see huge things from Furukawa who looked like she improved during the fight, and looked more like a champion at the end of the bout than she did when she entered the contest. There are still flaws with the champion but she looks like someone who is going to be very tough to dethrone, and every bout is likely to see her improving, bit by bit.
As for Iwakawa the bout might be another loss but she proved that she can compete at this level and will likely bounce back better next time out. She did seem to tire, though a question is whether that was at least partly down to moving down in weight, just as much as the aggressive work of Furukawa. For fight fans interested in watching this bout it will be on the boxingraise service during the next 24 hours and is well worth a watch for fight fans who enjoy high octane action, even if they don't typically enjoy female boxing. (Images courtesy of boxmob.jp)  The Atomweight division is, in all honesty, not one of the most glamorous or attractive divisions but it have a new star in the form of Yunoka Furukawa (8-1-2, 6) [古川 夢乃歌] who showed all the traits fight fans love, including serious power.
The 22 year old was taking a major step up in class to face world title challenger Satomi Nishimura (9-2, 1) [西村 聡美] in a bout for the vacant WBA Atomweight title, a title that had been given up Momo Koseki who is focusing on extending her WBC reign. Despite stepping up in class, she was dropping down in weight, moving from Flyweight all the way down to Atomweight. Despite the big drop in weight Furukawa looked like a sensation in her new division and bulied Nishimura around. The bullying saw Furukawa establish herself as the boss of the fight but the finish was spectacular as she dropped Nishimura in jaw dropping fashion, leaving the veteran flat on her back. This was Furukawa's 7th straight win and her 4th successive stoppage and opens up doors to fight other world class fighters with her intention now being to solidify herself on the world stage. Sadly for Nishimura this was a second loss at world level and it seems likely the 35 year old will never become a world champion. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)  Many boxing fans tend to ignore two things. Female boxing, and boxing at the lower weights. Despite that Japanese fans on Thursday got a genuinely brilliant treat as females fighters at 102lbs, the Atomweight limit, fought in a thrilling contest to unify the WBC and WBA titles. The bout, the first unification bout in the divisions history, turned out to be probably the best fight the division has ever seen and a fight that really did sum up everything great about our fantastic sport.
From the first round to the last we saw high level competition as long reigning WBC queen Momo Koseki (21-2-1, 7) took on the fearless Ayaka Miyao (20-6-1, 4), who unfortunately lost her WBA belt despite the performance o a life time. The fight started fast, neither had great power but they had the fire and will to win that drove them immediately to action. The pace was intense and hectic and although neither was hurt Miyao did score a knockdown in the openign round, albeit one that appeared to be a slip. The knaockdown encouraged the fighters to really go for it and in round 2 Koseki began to bleed from her nose. It was the perfect start for Miyao. In round 3 it Koseki who began to have the momentum swing her way and by the end of round 5, when the scores were publicly announced, the early knockdown had been cancelled out with the two women being all level at 47-47, on all 3 cards. Unfortunately for Miyao that was as good as it got as an aggressive Koseki brought the pressure and forced Miyao on to the retreat, where she was less effective than she had been earlier on. Whilst Miyao did have her successes they were out numbered by those of Koseki who did enough in the second half to secure a clear, but very hard fought, win. The win, which saw the judges turning in cards of 96-96, twice and 95-94, was one of the toughest of Koseki's career and saw both fighters coming away with real credit and if a rematch occurred in early 2016, after a good rest for both fighters, we'd certainly not complain. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)  Earlier today Ohashi gym fighter Ayaka Miyao (19-5-1, 4) successfully retained her WBA Atomweight title with 10th round stoppage of compatriot Satomi Nishimura (7-2, 1). This was Miyao's 5th defense of the title and, rather shockingly, her 3rd successive stoppage following previous victories over both Buangern Onesongchaigym, in a title defense, and Yokfah Mor Krungthepthonburi in a stay busy fight.
Miyao, a hard working though relatively light puncher, was fighting in Nagano for the first time in more than 9 years and although she clearly felt the pressure of fighting "back home", as it were, she was still her usual busy and hard working self as she over-came a determined but much more limited challenger though it did seem, at times, like the pressure got to her slightly in the early rounds. By the middle of the fight Miyao had found her rhythm and was in full flow attacking a quickly tiring Nishimura like a swarm of bees intent on destroying the target. For Nishmura this meant hell. Miyao success grew and grew and in the final rounds and in round 10 she went for the kill eventually taking out the game Nishimura who was dropped in the dying seconds of the bout and unable to continue as the referee counted 10, although she had showed great heart to get to her feet before the count was over. This win for Miyao continues her her reign as a world champion though she certainly struggled in this one. For Nishimura the loss will be a hard one, especially given that she was stopped just 2 seconds before the final bell, but she can take a lot from this bout given that she pushed Miyao so close in an outstanding effort from the challenger. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)  Whilst the dominant Momo Koseki recorded the 13th defense of her WBC Atomweight title her compatriot, and WBA Atomweight champion, Ayaka Miyao (17-5-1, 2) was also in fine form.
Miyao, defending her title for the 4th time, faced Buangern Onesongchaigym (10-5-1, 1) and looked in control from the opening bell as the the Challenger failed to keep up with anything she did. Miyao, known for her impressive output, took control of the bout early with her speed and combinations putting Buangern on the back foot. Although the shots didn't have thunderous power in them they were coming from all angles with Miyao showing amazing movement as well as great work rate. The shots were simply too much for Buangern to cope with and the Thai was really unable to land much on the Japanese fighter. The skills of the champion was making the bout look thoroughly one sided and the challenger was looking completely helpless against the skills of Miyao. The only thing saving Buangern from serious harm was the fact Miyao doesn't have thunderous power in her hands. Despite the lack of power from the champion the shots were simply too frequent and too clean with every shot landing on the challenger. The accumulative effect of the shots were breaking down the challenger who was clearly out of her depth. The shots were taking their toll and in round 5 Buangern went down. She was a beaten fighter and although her heart wanted to continue she was unable to beat the count, probably a good thing in all honesty as Buangern was seriously taking a shellacking. Rather interestingly this was Miyao's first stoppage in 7 bouts and just the second in her career. Whilst we wouldn't suggest that Miyao is developing serious power she did seem to have genuine snap on her shots and they were hurting Buangern from the early stages. Whilst we know that Buangern isn't the toughest fighter and was stopped by Su-Yun Hong we didn't expect Miyao to stop her. This impressive performance from the WBA champion will lead to fans calling for the much wanted Miyao/Koseki unification bout. Sadly we believe that fight isn't on the agenda of either fighter, a real shame considering that it looks a natural match up from where we are sat. (Picture courtesy of http://boxingnews.jp/)  Courtesy of http://boxingnews.jp/ The Atomweight division may be boxing's smallest professional division but what the fighters lack in stature they make up form in action. We saw that earlier today as WBA champion Ayaka Miyao (16-5-1, 1) successfully retained her title and made the third defense of her title.
Fighting against Filipino challenger Gretchen Abaniel (13-5, 4) the champion was given an incredibly tough nights work. The fight started in a very close manner with Abaniel counter punching well and more than holding her own as Miyao's reign was put under real threat by the Filipino. Fortunately for Miyao her engine and work rate came to her savior in the second half of the fight as a tiring Abaniel was battled backwards and no longer able to time Miyao or fight back as she had done early on. Although brave and refusing to be stopped Abaniel did look like the loser after the final bell. The judges had it close with scores of 97-93 (twice) and 96-94 which reflected the closeness of the contest though the judges did, thankfully, get it right. We're now hoping the promoters get together and make the only Atomweight contest fans really want. Miyao against Momo Koseki in a WBA/WBC unification bout, it's a bout that makes too much sense to let it go by and it's a bout for supreme domination of the 102lb division. Come on folks, lets have this fight in 2014! Note-This bout headlined the "47th Phoenix Battle". |
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