Ryo Matsumoto
Courtesy of Ohashi Gym
In recent years Japanese boxing has been on a real roll with champions popping up through out the lower divisions. In fact right now Japan has numerous world champions with the likes of Takashi Miura, Akira Yaegashi and Katsunari Takayama being amongst the most recent additions at the top of the tree. It's fair to admit that Japanese boxing is on a genuine high and one that fans may be expecting to see continue for the next decade or so thanks to the excellent pedigree of their youngsters.
Amongst young Japanese fighters who are expected to help continue the brilliant run the country is on at the moment is 19 year old Bantamweight Ryo Matsumoto (17-0, 13) who despite his baby faced looks is tipped for major success in the world of professional boxing.
Part of the reason why Matsumoto is expected to be such a star is based on his incredible amateur record which saw his accumulating a record of 53-3 (39) in the unpaid rankings. He may never have fought in major international competitions but the Japanese High School tournaments are generally regarded as being amongst the hardest in the world for youngsters coming through.
Another reason why the Yokohama born Matsumoto is tipped for success lies in the fact that he is part of the excellent Ohashi Gym run by former 2-time world champion Hideyuki Ohashi. The gym is currently one of the best in Japan and has been excellent recently with champions such as Akira Yaegashi (current IBF Light Flyweight champion), Naoya Inoue (current WBO Super Flyweight champion) and Ayaka Miyao (former WBA Female Atomweight champion) and his stable is expected to bring through several more champions in he coming years.
Amongst young Japanese fighters who are expected to help continue the brilliant run the country is on at the moment is 19 year old Bantamweight Ryo Matsumoto (17-0, 13) who despite his baby faced looks is tipped for major success in the world of professional boxing.
Part of the reason why Matsumoto is expected to be such a star is based on his incredible amateur record which saw his accumulating a record of 53-3 (39) in the unpaid rankings. He may never have fought in major international competitions but the Japanese High School tournaments are generally regarded as being amongst the hardest in the world for youngsters coming through.
Another reason why the Yokohama born Matsumoto is tipped for success lies in the fact that he is part of the excellent Ohashi Gym run by former 2-time world champion Hideyuki Ohashi. The gym is currently one of the best in Japan and has been excellent recently with champions such as Akira Yaegashi (current IBF Light Flyweight champion), Naoya Inoue (current WBO Super Flyweight champion) and Ayaka Miyao (former WBA Female Atomweight champion) and his stable is expected to bring through several more champions in he coming years.
As a professional Matsumoto has been a professional since 2011 with his debut coming in December 2011. Although on his debut he did look a little sloppy and got caught several times by his Thai opponent Petchomthong Sor Tanapinyo, Matsumoto still destroyed the Thai in just 94 seconds aided by some sickening body shots. Since then he has matured notably and appears to be a calmer fighter roughing off the nervousness that appeared to get to him slightly against Sor Tanapinyo.
Matsumoto scored his 7th straight stoppage as he defeated veteran Yoshinori Koto in 5 rounds. Following this victory he took his first major step up and was taken 8 rounds by the experienced Takuya Miyamori. It was this victory that really told us a lot more about the potential of the teenager. The young Matsumoto got back to scoring stoppages as he recorded his 8th on the "46th Phoenix Battle" show taking out the over matched Arega Yunian in just the second round. Matsumoto's 10th bout was a major step up as he took on former 4-time world title challenger Hiroyuki Hisataka. Although Matsumoto's power couldn't stop the tough Hisataka he did more than enough to take a clear decision over 8 rounds, going 8 for just the second time in his career. Just 2 months after the Hisataka fight fans saw Matsumoto dispatch Zun Rindam inside a round in what was a clear mismatch. What we hadn't expected was that Matsumoto's follow up bout was also be a mismatch as he destroyed, and we mean destroyed, former world champion Denkaosan Kaovichit in a thoroughly one-sided contest. That bout saw Matsumoto finish off his Thai foe with a vicious body shot that really showed how nasty the youngster can be. In his 13th professional bout Matsumoto against stepped up his level of competition as he took on Thailand's world ranked and hungry Rusalee Samor in a bout for the OPBF Super Flyweight title. It was Matsumote's first bout scheduled for more than 8 rounds and his first title bout though he made it look easy as he completely out boxed Samor before stopping him in the 12th round to end the bout with a statement. Following his win for the OPBF title Matsumoto tested the water at Bantamweight as he easily dismantled the over-matched and inexperienced Thanuthong Chor Kangwal of Thailand in a massive mismatch. Following that he strong together 3 more wins in 2015, including stoppages over Luis May, Thawee Thodamma and Jestoni Autida, with Matsumoto actually being tagged hard by Autida resulting in a nasty cut. The aim now is to move on to a world title bout by the end of 2016 either at Bantamweight or Super Bantamweight. The worrying thing, at least for his opponents, is that Matsumoto is improving drastically and he also looks like a giant at Super Flyweight. In recent pictures he has towered over Featherweight Satoshi Hosono and it seems almost certain that he is going to develop in to a Super Bantamweight if not a full fledged Featherweight by the time he fully matures, a scary though considering the power he has already. From the footage we've seen everything Matsumoto lands is hurtful. He's knocked opponents down with jabs, and really taken them out with his heavy artillery. Added to that is the fact he's lightning quick with his hands, incredibly rangy, happy to fire to the body or the head and he seems to enjoy the sport and enjoy the training. The video below was Matsumoto's 4th professional contest and as you can see from the footage, he already looks like a very, very talented young fighter. Sadly though footage since has been very limited with only token clips and fan cam footage being available to ourselves. |
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