Kyoto, Japan Today saw Japanese fans turn their attention away from the usual boxing hotspots of Tokyo and Osaka and instead focus on Kyoto which hosted a couple of Japanese title fights which saw the fighters not only trading blows for the title but also for regional bragging rights. The main event of the show was the second of the shows title bouts and saw the world ranked Shohei Omori (15-0, 10) successfully defend his Bantamweight title for the first time with a dominant 6th round TKO win against former 2-time world title challenger Hirofumi Mukai (11-4-2, 1). From the opening bell it seemed that Omori was too big and too strong for his challenger, who never seemed to be able to feel at ease. Omroi's domination was made more evident in round 3, when he dropped Mukai for the first time. Mukai was again down the following round as Omori landed a devastating body shot, tough his sloppy assault allowed Mukai to see out the round, and mount something of a comeback in round 5. Despite Mukai stemming the tide slightly he was unable to survive the 6th round when the referee was forced to save him. Although the performance was sloppy from Omori the youngster seemed to accept that the fight was a learning experience and that he would look to defend his title again before chasing a world title fight. Incidentally Mukai had previously taken Super Flyweight destroyer Srisaket Sor Rungvisai 9 rounds so in comparison this is an incredible result for Omori. In the other title fight Japanese Lightweight champion Kota Tokunaga (15-2, 11) stopped his good friend Yuhei Suzuki (16-5, 12) in the 10th round to keep a grasp on title and pull out a truly fantastic come-from-behind win. Through the first half of the fight it was Suzuki in charge, with two judges having it 50-46 after 5 rounds. From then on however Tokunaga moved up a gear and the final 3 rounds were a fantastic charge from the champion who eventually saw off Suzuki with just 70 seconds left. Despite the win, which secured his first defense of the title, Tokunaga has perhaps given away his gameplan for the future with this bout seeing him start slowly, as he did last time out, and maybe future opponents will see that in future bouts. Whilst the champion is clearly a long way from a world title fight he will develop a a great fan base with performances like this. Not only did both champions record their first defenses but they are both stablemates at Woz boxing, a gym that really appears to have had a defining year in 2015 and will be hoping to see their success continue into 2016. As well as the two title bouts the card featured a trio of under-card bouts. One of those was a female bout which saw Tamao Ozawa (9-2, 2) score a decision win over Filipino visitor Carleans Rivas (4-3-3). This was Ozawa's 3rd successive win since she was stopped by Kai Johnson in March 2014. Another of the under-card bouts saw light punching 20 year old Shun Kosaka (10-2, 1) score his first stoppage win as he took care of Thailand's Petchmai Sor Praithong (0-5) in the 5th of 8 scheduled rounds. The remaining bout was a 4 rounder which saw the debuting Ryotaro Motohashi (1-0, 1) defeat Ryuichiro Okada (0-2) with a majority decision. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp)
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The weekend is just around the corner but we've already seen several notable fights on a Thursday that was packed with fighters worth giving plenty of attention to. In fact in Japan there was 3 national title bouts whilst in the US fans had the chance to see a former world title challenger continue his ascent back to the top. Tokyo, Japan In the Japan the card began with a pair of intriguing non-title bouts before a trio of bouts for belts. Although it's fair to say it was the title action that got the attention the under-card was certainly not something that could have been ignored. One of the under-card bouts saw recent Japanese Flyweight title challenger Yusuke Sakashita (13-5-2, 8) score a 6th round TKO against the tough but very limited Yasuhiro Sakurai (7-19). Sakashita, who was last seen being stopped by Suguru Muranaka, was too good for Sakurai and it showed here in what was, essentially, a comeback fight for Sakashita. The other under-card bout saw former Japanese Featherweight title contender Yuki Ogata (21-1-1, 3) take a clear decision win over Kentaro Yamada (8-6-1, 6). Ogata had narrowly beaten Yamada last year with a split decision last year but this time he was a clear winner with no doubting the result. The first of the title bouts saw Yukinori Oguni (14-1-1, 4) successfully retain his Japanese Super Bantamweight title with a 10 majority draw against Gakuya Furuhashi (17-5-1, 7). This was Oguni's first defense since winning the belt late last year with a narrow decision victory against Yasutaka Ishimoto and although it's a successful defense it's clear Oguni is a long way from being ready to move up a level. For Furuhashi it's clear that he'll feel he deserves a rematch even if he's not likely to get one any time soon. The second title bout saw Kota Tokunaga (15-2, 10) claim the biggest win of his career as he stopped Yuya Sugizaki (20-10-1, 6) in the 8th round of their bout and claimed the Japanese Lightweight title. Toklunaga was narrowly behind at the half way mark but turned the screw from round 6 and eventually forced the referee to save Sugizaki. Impressive for Tokunaga's gym, WOZ Boxing, this is their second title win in the space of a few weeks following Shohei Omori's excellent victory over Kentaro Masuda for the Japanese Bantamweight title. Notably this title was vacated by Yoshitaka Kato, a stable mate of Sugizaki's. In the main event fans saw Japanese Heavyweight champion Kyotaro Fujimoto (12-1, 6) narrowly retain his title with a split decision win over Nobuhiro Ishida (27-11-2, 11). This bout was nip and tuck through out and whilst it wasn't a classic it was compelling with neither man really knowing if they'd done enough to deserve the win and title. Sadly following the bout it's been revealed that Ishida is now likely to retire from the sport and wave good bye to what has been a genuinely memorable career. California, USA In the US fans saw the popular and exciting Mercito Gesta (28-1-2, 16) fight to a split decision draw with Carlos Molina (17-2-2, 7) in a solid fight that was genuinely entertaining. Going in Gesta did look under-sized and, especially early on, seemed to struggle but he found his range and rhythm in the middle rounds to get a well deserved draw. The only issue with the bout was the appalling 98-92 score card in favour of Molina from judge Eddie Hernandez, a genuinely shocking card for such a close and well contested bout. (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) Kyoto, Japan In Japan we had the final show before Christmas as Woz put on a small but interesting domestic card. The main event saw Kota Tokunaga (14-2, 9) take a clear decision win over Kazumasa Kobayashi (8-5-1, 5). For Kobayashi this this was his 4th loss in 5 bouts and he is now win-less in more than 3 years and unfortunately for the 31 year old we do have to suspect he'll be calling an end to his career sooner rather than later. As for Tokunaga this is seen as a Japanese title prelude and he's now expected to fight Yoshitaka Kato in 2015. In the chief support bout fans saw the heavy handed Yuki Yonaha (4-2, 3) claim his first decision win as he narrowly over-came Hiroki Taniguchi (6-5-1, 2). All 3 cards were close for the 6 rounder though Yonaha was a deserving winner, despite being tested hard. The rest of the card was 4 rounders and almost all of the bouts were razor thin decisions. The closest of those saw Shota Taguchi (2-1) take a split decision win over Shinsei Honke (1-5), with all 3 cards reading 39-38. Another split decision saw Norio Shimizu (1-1) take his first win with a win over the debuting Toshiki Shimatani (0-1) whilst another split decision saw Kazuma Ishikura (4-3, 1) who beat Seita Mochizuki (3-7). Yet another close decision, albeit a majority decision saw Daisuke Takeichi (3-3, 1) beat Kiyonori Matsumoto (2-4). The only clear decision on this show's under-card saw Makoto Kawasaki (5-2-1, 1) claim a clear victory over Yuki Nakanishi (1-2, 1). Thailand As well as the Japanese show there was also 4 bouts in Thailand, sadly the names of some of those fighters are beyond our grasp of the Thai language, sadly that leaves us with just 2 bouts that we fully “got”. One of those saw former world champion Kwanthai Sithmorseng (48-3-1, 26) score a stoppage against Indonesian journeyman Heri Amol (34-22-4, 14). Amol did his job of trying to entertain though seemed unable to ever deal with Kwanthai's movement or sharp punches and retired between rounds 6 and 7. The other bout we know saw Amin Kratingdaenggym (10-1-1, 8)* score an 8th round knockout against Indonesia's Hero Tito (9-5-1, 3). The bout had a free swinging affair before Amin eventually connected with a left hand that sent Tito tumbling down and eventually having the bout stopped. *We believe Amin previously fought under the name Amin Sor Wangmoo (Image courtesy of boxingnews.jp) |
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