Earlier today Japanese fans in Osaka unfortunately saw Nana Yoshikawa (4-1, 2) suffer her first professional defeat as she came up short against world class Mexican warrior Anabel Ortiz (17-3, 3) in a bout for the WBA female Minimumweight title. The 36 year old Yoshikawa knew she had to be fast tracked due to her advanced age though unfortunately she lacked the development and experience that she needed to be competitive with a world class Ortiz fighter like, who was simple too good for Yoshikawa. The opening round was relatively even though Ortiz did land a nice right hand late that probably stole the round for her. From then on the bout wasn't ever close to being competitive with Ortiz being too aggressive, too good, too fast, too rugged and too experienced for the Japanese novice who forced on to the back foot round after round. Time and time again Ortiz managed to land her stinging right hands and left hooks and repeatedly Yoshikawa was left unable to answer. Even when Ortiz tired in the later rounds Yoshikawa couldn't mount much of an assault with her shots missing whilst the Mexican managed to catch the challenger. Yoshikawa did get some good luck late in the bout when Ortiz was deducted a point in round 9 for low blows but that was effectively the only thing that went her way in a bout that showed the gulf in class between the two fighters. At the final bell there was no doubt about who the winner was, with the only questions being just how wide the judges had it. The closest was 96-93, whilst the others read 98-91 and 99-90. It's fair to say the 96-93 was the absolute closest that a judge could have scored it with 99-90 being the most accurate score. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
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Etsuko Tada suffers second defeat to Anabel Ortiz and must wonder what judges want from her11/9/2014 Week in and week out we see one scorecard that isn't just questionable but is downright wrong. It seems it's now commonplace for one judge to dial in a card without watching the fight and without caring about the integrity of the sport that they are supposed to be officiating in. Sadly for Etsuko Tada (13-2-2, 3) the "odd judge" in her bout this past Saturday night scored the bout 99-90 to Anabel Ortiz (16-3, 3) and helped the Mexican to a successful but controversial defense of the WBA female Minimumweight title.
Last year Tada had lost the belt to Ortiz in Japan by split decision. This time around Tada had gone to Mexico in an attempt to reclaim the belt but found the judges, especially the "odd" judge, to be less than helpful in her attempt to become a 2-time world champion. The bout started at a hectic pace with both going all out in a fast paced and highly exciting fight. It wasn't so much boxing as a fight with both unloading shots on one another. It was was entertaining as you could get with Tada pinging in lighting fast right jabs whilst Ortiz tried to turn the fight into an inside brawl and neutralise the height and reach of the challenger. Through 4 rounds the fight was brilliant with Tada seemingly getting the much better of it. From round 5 on wards the fight began turning in favour of the Mexican who was given some help when Tada was deducted a point for head clashes and rounds 6, 7, 8 and 9 all seemed to competitive with Ortiz just doing enough to take them overall, however they were all competitive and no one would have batted an eyelid had one gone to Tada. The fight ended on a real high with both trading shots through the final round, blood dripping from the faces of both women as they put it all on the line in the hope of winning a close fight. It really was a round that deserved to decide the fight and in the end it was the sort of round that fans deserve to watch. Sadly the judge who scored 99-90 had already made up their mind on who had won and lost well before the round, the other judges however each seemed to watch the fight and make a fair decision. Given the action and the number of close and competitive rounds no one really knew which way the bout had gone until the cards we read out. Sadly they favoured Ortiz with scores of 99-90 and 96-93 whilst a dissenting judge had it 95-94 to Tada in what was a very tight bout though one that likely left Tada asking what she needs to do to earn favour with the judges who have now given her two split decision losses to Ortiz. We often hear that to earn a draw in Germany you need to score a knockout and an example of that appeared to be seen again this past weekend when Japan's Naoko Fujioka (12-1, 6) suffered her first career defeat at the hands of Susi Kentikian (34-2-0-1, 17) in a bout for the WBA female Flyweight title. Fujioka, attempting to become the first Japanese female to win world titles in 3-divisions saw her German rival hold, spoil, run and show off various throws en route to taking a decision that should really did feel like a lucky escape for Kentikian.
The fight started well for the German champion who looked like the faster and busier fighter in the opening round. Despite the good start from the German things began getting closer in the next rounds and by round 3 it seemed that Fujioka was coming on strong whilst Kentikian was happy to hold and smother the Japanese fighter who seemed like she was imposing herself. Through the middle rounds it again seemed that Fujioka was getting the better off it and certainly landing the harder shots as Kentikian put her head down and flailed fast but limp shots at the Japanese fighter who was looking like a much better technical boxer. It was in the middle of the fight that the two fighters seemed to go from trading to scrappy holding time and time again with both given multiple warnings for various fouls. It clear that the styles were going to lead to some messy action but the referee seemed unable to clear up the action which was broken time and time again as the contest began to show signs of becoming a maul. The mauling was occasionally broken up with Kentikian bundling Fujioka to the canvas in what seemed to be an attempt to catch a breather and by the end of round 5 Kentikian was beginning to look tired and looked to be breathing heavily. Things appeared to go from bad to worse for the German who was cut in round 7 above the right eye. From then on the German became even more negative and at times seem to run, especially early in round 8. It was as if Kentikian knew she was in trouble but also at home and that holding and running was going to help regain her composure despite the cut. The running however ended before the round was over and Fujioka began landing heavy shots on the German. The heavy shots from round 8 seemed to put the fear into Kentikian who held and ran and spoiled through round 9 as Fujioka again seemed to land the better shots before the two began unloading power shots on each other. At the time it looked like Kentikian was throwing shots out of desperation and was attempting to stem the Fujioka offensive with her own heavy shots. Round 10 saw both fighters given warnings before swinging big at each other and trading in the later sections of the fight to end what had been an engaging yet frustrating contest that had seen some great highlights, particularly in round 7, but had also seen some really ugly moments as the two fell in to each others. After congratulating each other on a great fight it seemed that Fujioka was the one to celebrate whilst Kentikian went to her corner and looked resigned. What both fighters seemed to forget was that the bout was in Germany and in Germany it really does take something rare to beat the German. this was shown in the scorecards that favoured Kentikian with scores of 97-93, 97-94 and 96-94. We suspect had the fight been in a neutral venue then the title would have changed hands. 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) Earlier today fans at the Korakuen Hall got the chance to see the highly skilled Naoko Fujioka (12-0, 6) successfully retain her WBA female Super Flyweight title as she repelled the challenge of the talented Tomoko Kawanishi (9-2, 4). The bout started pretty well for the challenger who used her superior reach and height to great effect early on by letting loose with her jab and straight shots. Not only was Kawanishi using the right tactics but she was also looking very sharp, in fact some would suggest she had never looked so good in the ring. Although Kawanishi had clearly stepped up her game it still wasn't enough to over-come Fujioka who managed to find her rhythm in round 2 and began to cut the distance a little bit. On the inside it was Fujioka landing the hooks and uppercuts and neutralising the difference in size. It was great back-and-forth between two fighters who were trying to prove their world class skills and for the first half of the fight it was brilliantly competitive 2-way action. The proof of a fighters skill is their ability to adapt, to change their tactics and to take over a bout. In the second half of the contest it was Fujioka who managed to adapt whilst a tiring Kawanishi began to unravel and tire. The heart was still there from the challenger but by round 8 it was clear that Kawanishi was begin to show signs of fatigue and this seemed to spur on the champion who found the time and space to dominate the final few rounds and put the bout beyond any doubt. Despite the competitive action early on the judges all agreed on the score of the bout awarding the decision to Fujioka with scores of 97-93 to allow her the first defence of her title. Although Kawanishi came up short here she did show enough to suggest that she has the ability to win a world title somewhere down the line. As for Fujioka it still seems that she's effectively unbeatable at 115lb and hopefully a big name opponent will be her next challenge. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Much of the boxing world was sleeping on Sunday as it the busy Saturday took it's lasting affects on a fan base that was just worn out. It was understandable considering just how many fights we had had on Friday and Saturday, that Sunday's action was going to go under-the-radar. Despite being under the radar to many boxing fans we did have a decent amount of fights in Japan and Russia including a female WBA Light Welterweight unification bout as unbeaten Russian Svetlana Kulakova (9-0-1, 1) attempted to unify her "interim" title with the regular belt of Argentina's rough and and tough Ana Laura Esteche (10-3-2, 2). Sadly for the Russian her attempt to unify came up short but yet she did manage to retain her unbeaten record. Early on it did look like Kulakova could have been too rangy and technically sound for Esteche as the jab and straights of the Russian kept the Argentinian at bay and saw Kulakova winning the first 3 rounds. In round 4 the bout took a swing in favour of the Argentinian visitor who managed to slip the jabs more frequently and walked her way inside where she could get off her work and hammer the Russian fighter with damaging hooks that appeared to hurt the Russian on more than one occasion. Unfortunately for Kulakova things turned against her even more in round 5 as she was not put on the back foot by the Argentinian slugger but also deducted a point for holding as her early lead was completely eroded. Esteche seemed to continue her run through the middle rounds with her aggression often being too much for Kulakova to handle as the Russian had another point deducted in round 8, once again it was due to her octopus like tactics which she was using to cope with the aggressiveness of the Argentinian who appeared to have been inspired by Marco's Meidana's thrilling effort against Floyd Mayweather around a month ago. Unfortunately for the home town fight the two deducted appeared to make things very difficult for her, especially considering she had lost at least several of the rounds between the deductions as well. Having clearly fallen behind in the middle of the bout Kulakova came back well as a tiring Esteche was unable to get quite as close as she had but by then the Russian's chances of winning had diminished, especially with the deductions. She did however do enough to retain her unbeaten record with one judge favouring Esteche who has right to feel aggrieved by the laughably poor card which saw Kulakova winning 96-92. The other cards which were 94-94 and 95-93 Esteche summed up the bout moderately well but it's clear that Kulakova certainly got to make the most of home advantage here. Despite a rematch being the "right thing" to do we're not expecting to see these two in the same ring again. It's hard to imagine that Kulakova will want any more of Esteche and, whilst Esteche may want get a win over Kulakova, it's probably not worth the hassle of going back over to Russia and possibly losing her title in a controversial decision. With the draw we believe that not only does Esteche keep her "regular" title but Kulakova will keep her interim belt as well (Image courtesy of boxrec.com) A busy day of action in world boxing seemed like it would never come to an end and after the action in Macau, and the action in the UK we turned out attention to Germany as Korea's Dan Bi Kim (9-3-1, 2) challenged German boxing queen Susi Kentikian (33-2-0-1, 17) in a WBA female Flyweight title fight. Sadly for Kim, a rough and tough street fighter from Anseong City, this was a mismatch and it showed early on as she charged at Kentikian, a very well schooled German, and was punished with combinations. It was true matador versus bull type of fight early on with the matador being faster and more intelligent than the Korean bull. As we all being punched in the face slows a fighter down, and takes it's toll on someone. This effect started taking it's toll on Kim early on and although she was still game she was having to take a lot of bombs, including 3 absolute beauties at the end of the 3rd round that shook Kim's head in every which way. It was impressive Kim was taking them and firing back but the Korean was more swinging her arms wildly and hoping to land as opposed to punching with belief in her shots. Kentikian's control of the bout grew round after round and she became less scared of what the Korean was throwing back at her. It appeared that the matador wasn't just in control but was starting to abuse the bull even standing toe-to-toe with Kim and landing wonderful flurries of shots that all seemed to hit the target with lightning speed and accuracy. The flurries of Kentikian were wonderful to watch and the sign of a very skilled and confident fighter. After 8 rounds it appeared Kentikian's high out put was taking it's toll on on her and she began to look tired in the corner. If Kentikian was tired then Kim was spent and it showed in round 9 as Kentikian went for the kill and unloaded flurry after flurry after flurry on the Korean who was out on her feet and being force fed leather as if it was a dietary supplement. Thankfully for Kim her corner knew she was in trouble and threw in the towel with 24 seconds of the round left. With Kim miles behind, looking out on her feet and taking a genuine pounding the decision was the right one by her corner who gave her every chance but correctly saved her from lasting punishment that could have affected her health. Kentikian, although not a big puncher, was landing clean and repeatedly and those shots do a lot of accumulative damage. (Image, of Kim, courtesy of boxrec.com) This past Saturday saw a world title bout that could only be described as a mystery bout. Originally we had understood that WBA female Super Featherweight Hyun Mi Choi (9-0-1, 3) was fighting a 0-1 novice who had been inactive for several years. What transpired however was that Choi fought Keanpetch Superchamps (6-8-1) in a bout that was unsanctioned by the Korean Boxing Commission, despite being a WBA title bout. It took a while to figure out that Thailand's Keanpetch Superchamps was also known as Keanpetch Manopgym and Siriwan Thongmanit. It's the fact she had fought under 3 names that really confused matters with regards to her complete record, which we're still unsure about, and her activity. As it turned out the experience didn't matter too for the Thai who simply wasn't good enough for the Korean fighter who had defected from North Korea. From what we understand Choi appears to have been in control of the bout from early on and eventually forced a stoppage of the Thai fighter in round 8, becoming the second successive fighter to stop the Thai fighter who is now 0-4 outside of Thailand and 0-3 in South Korea following a pair of losses to Hee-Jung Yuh. We hope to have more news on this bout at some point but details are incredibly scarce with the WBA not even having details on their website. In fact the only solid information from this bout, including the picture, has come from yonhapnews.co.kr who haven't really given much away on their own piece on the fight. (Image courtesy of yonhapnews.co.kr/) 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/) 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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