Every so often a division we don't tend to think of much in Asia delivers a fight of real value and excitement. Today we look at one such fight that took place at 154lbs in November 2019, and whilst it became a bit one sided by the end it was genuinely brilliant to watch live, with contrasting styles and an air of tenseness. This wasn't a Fight of the Year contender, don't get us wrong, but it was a genuine treasure hidden away just days before the WBSS Bantamweight final. Hironobu Matsunaga (15-1, 9) vs Koki Koshikawa (9-1, 6) In one corner was the once beaten Japanese Light Middleweight champion Hironobu Matsunaga. He had been riding a 9 fight unbeaten run since losing in the 2014 All Japan Rookie of the Year final, where he lost to Yuki Beppu. During that 9 fight winning run he had built his career really well with wins against the likes of Sanosuke Sasaki, Je Ni Ma, Koshinmaru Saito and Nobuyuki Shindo. He was an aggressive fighter who was physically strong, a bit limited defensively but pretty much an exciting bully in the ring, with a great engine and an under-rated jab. Whilst Matsunaga had, arguably, over-achieved by winning a Japanese title having failed to even win Rookie of the Year Koki Koshikawa was seen as an under-achiever of sorts. He had been a solid amateur, and had been tipped for big things when he signed with the Celes Gym, but an early winning run was ended when he was clearly beaten in 2015 by Koshinmaru Saito. He had bounced back with 5 wins, including one over Daisuke Sakamoto in his final bout, but hadn't really impressed in the way many had anticipated. The bout began with Koshikawa pressing forward, using his jab to apply pressure to the champion. It was a confident and competent start from Koshikawa who seemed to momentarily wobble Matsunaga late in the opening round, before being clocked hard himself moments later. The second round saw the challenger again coming forward in the early going but less than a minute into the round we started to see more pressure being applied by the champion, who was finally finding his groove. It wasn't consistent success for the champion, but there was more moments for him, and he had began to back up Koshikawa, who continued to have moments. The last 30 seconds of round 2 were genuinely brilliant and saw the bout move up a gear as both men began to unload huge shots on each other. From there on the bout took a real thrilling feel and things began to get brutal with Koshikawa getting cut early in round 3, and bombs going back and forth through the round. If you missed this one it's worthy of a watch, especially given the current lack of live boxing.
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Earlier in this series we looked at Yuki Nagano's Japanese Welterweight title win, which saw him stopping Ryota Yada in Osaka in April 2019. Around 5 months later he had a home coming defense, as he returned to Tokyo to defend the belt against 35 year old veteran Makoto Kawasaki. For Nagano this was his first defense, whilst Kawasaki was almost certainly going into the bout knowing a loss would be the end of his career. Yuki Nagano (16-2, 12) vs Makoto Kawasaki (11-7-1, 2) As mentioned Yuki Nagano was making his first defense of the Japanese Welterweight title. The 30 year old from the Teiken Gym had lost 2 of his first 4 bouts, but was almost 6 years removed from his previous loss and had won 14 bouts in a row. Those had seen him win the 2015 All Japan Rookie of the Year and score victories over Yuki Beppu and Ryota Yada. Nagano had proven that he was heavy handed and a relatively smart southpaw boxer-puncher. Rather than wading forward he laid traps, moved backwards and lined up his straight left hand, boxing to set up his power shots rather than forcing them. As for Makoto Kawasaki he had managed to score a draw against Koki Tyson on his debut, in 2012, but struggled to make an impact on the sport. He had been beaten by the likes of Hironobu Matsuaga, Noriaki Sato and Ryota Yada. Despite the set backs Kawasaki continued trying and had come into this bout on the back of wins over the big punching Kentaro Endo and the experienced Yuichi Ideta. It seemed, coming in, that Kawasaki knew he needed to win. He wasn't going to get another chance. Sadly though everything was stacked against him. He lacked power, he was 35, he was going up against a new champion with momentum behind him and despite being tough there was few backing him for the upset. To his credit Kawasaki went into the ring not caring what others thought. He was there to win, and quickly landed some eye catching blows, including a solid body shot about 15 seconds in. It was clear that whilst Kawasaki was cautious of the power of Nagano he wasn't afraid of it, and was happy to press the champion, something he did with genuine success. About 80 seconds into the round he seemed to shake Nagano, following up with combination, and he was the one making a fight of things. Nagano had success but it was a round to the challenger, who seemed to end the round finding range for several big right hands. We won't ruin anything but the first round, but this was a short and dramatic little fight, well worthy of a watch. Earlier in this series we looked at a Japanese Midddleweight title bout, and amazingly the men involved in that would later go on to have a second thriller a few months later, giving us more amazing rounds of their rivalry. Unlike their first bout, which ended in a draw, the rematch left us with no questions as to who was the better man. Whilst we had a conclusive ending this time, it doesn't take away from the fact we ended up with another cracker. Kazuto Takesako (10-0-1, 10) vs Shuji Kato (10-1-2, 6) II In March 2019 Kazuto Takesako saw his perfect stoppage run come to an end, as he was held to a draw by Shuji Kato in a mandatory Japanese title fight. For Takesako it was a successful defense, his second, but was a less than impressive performance. He had struggled mightily with the southpaw jab, the movement and the relaxed defense of Kato. The challenger exceeded expectations in not only taking the power of the champion but also landing plenty of leather of his own. After 10 rounds both men had felt like they had deserved the win. Just 5 months later we saw them go again. This time Takesako knew what to expect from the slippery Kato, he knew he had to find a way around the jab of the challenger and that he needed to find a way to neutralise the southpaw stance of Kato. As for Kato he knew he had to do more, and make sure the judges didn't have any questions as to who deserved the win. The opening round was very much round 11 of their rivalry, rather than round 1 of fight 2. Just like their first fight Takesako was on the offensive, backing up Kato who tried to slip and slide, use the ring and his jab. Unlike the early staged of fight 1 Takesako was having success very early and was forcing his fight on to Kato, with the pressure having success early on. Kato was able to soak it up, and landed some meaty blows of his own, but it was clear, this wasn't a normal opening round. If the opening round was round 11 of their rivalry then round 2 of this bout was certainly round 12, with the round being violent from the off. It was clear Takesako wanted to get revenge for being taken the distance and he was unleashing massive power shots. Kato was taking them, and landing some solid counters, but was clear having his toughness tested early. If he could see out the early storm then there was a chance he could get to Takesako late, especially with the way the champion was throwing everything with bad intentions, and leaving himself open for counters. We won't ruin any more of the fight, but lets just say this is brutal, this is exciting and this is a bout that mean so much to both men following their draw. Neither man was in the ring to lose, and both had to dig deep with both men landing some very heavy leather as they both began to slow. A genuinely punishing battle for both men! For today's Treasure Trove we get to relive a fight that promise a lot, as the Japanese Welterweight title was on the line. The bout won't go down as the best Welterweight bout in Japan in 2019, but it's certainly a good one, and one well worthy of a watch, especially if you missed it first time around. Ryota Yada (18-4, 15) vs Yuki Nagano (15-2, 11) It's fair to say that Ryota Yada had one of the best bouts of 2019, his sensational war with Yuki Beppu, it's worth noting that that wasn't his only bout from the year. Another came several months early with Yada, the then Japanese Welterweight champion, faced off with mandatory challenger Yuki Nagano. On paper this looked like a fantastic match up, and whilst it didn't have the high drama and intense ups and downs of the bout between Yada and Beppu it certainly is worth a watch. Yada, for those who aren't aware, is a boxer puncher from Osaka, he's not the most talented, but as we saw with his bout against Beppu he's heavy handed, tough, takes a good shot and is an aggressive fight. Technically he's basic, but he's strong, powerful, comes forward and makes fighters pay. When he lands opponents know it. He had held the title for just over a year, beating Toshio Arikawa for it in April 2018, and was looking to make his third defense as he went into his first mandatory title defense. On paper he was probably the slight favourite. Not only was Yada the champion, but he was also fighting at home, in Osaka, with Green Tsuda, his promoter, in charge of the event. It's also worth noting that despite having 4 losses on his record he had won 15 of his previous 16 bouts, after a 3-3 start, with the sole loss coming in a regional title fight. Yuki Nagano on the other hand was a Teiken fighter, coming from Tokyo to fight in the lion's den. He had earned this title fight with a win over Yuki Beppu in 2018, as part of the 2019 version of the Champion Carnival, and had been riding on a solid unbeaten run of his own coming in with 13 wins in a row, including notable ones against Riku Nagahama and Yuki Beppu. Nagano, like Yada, wasn't the best boxer out there. He was, however, a crafty boxer-puncher, fighting out of the southpaw stance and blessed with concussive power. He was less powerful, less heavy handed and less physically imposing than Yada, but more rounded as a fighter, and certainly better at using an opponents aggression against them. From the off it seemed clear that both men believed they had the power to take the other out, but they also knew they had to be cautious, as their opponent could also bang. This saw almost a tense stand off, with Yada being the one who was mostly coming forward, but doing so in a way that made it clear he didn't want to take a clean left from Nagano. Nagano, who did have moments on the front foot, was looking to line up the left time and time again. As the fight went on we saw Yada becoming more aggressive, pressing more, trying to close the distance and press the challenger into a mistake. Nagano was however soaking up the pressure well and tagging the champion with solid lefts. In the middle rounds the fight started to warm up nicely, with both taking a growing number of clean shots and from there on it felt like the fight could be over at any moments. For those expecting an all out war, like Yada's bout with Beppu, this isn't that, this is more technical, and strangely more tense, but is a compelling watch. Especially if you don't know the result! The Treasure Trove has had some great fights shared in it, and we dig back into it today for another, less well known, fight from 2019 that's well worthy of a watch. This time we go to Hong Kong of all places in a bout that was thrilling and also rather sad, as it essentially put boxing in Hong Kong on the back burner, at least for the short term Raymond Poon KaiChing (7-1, 4) vs Xiang Li (6-2-1, 2) In one corner was Raymong Poon, the rising star of boxing of Hong Kong, the man to fill the void left by Rex Tso. He was exciting, young, fresh faced and talented. Although Poon didn't exude the natural charisma of Tso or the skills of the "Wonder Boy" he was another good looking kid with potential, power, high out put and the tools to make a mark on the sport. Aged 24 at this point he was riding a 5 fight winning running, after starting 2-1, and had scored a decent win in summer 2018 over Ryo Narizuka. In the opposite corner was Chinese 20 year old Xiang Li, a genuinely unheralded fighter who didn't have much of a name at all at this point. Li had made his debut in April 2017 and had struggled to make a mark of any kind, and had lost his only other outside of the Chinese mainland. On paper he had little to threaten Poon. He lacked power, he lacked momentum and he was fighting in Poon's home of Hong Kong. On paper he was expected to just put up an exciting performance but clearly lose to the local. What no one did, was tell Li he was there to lose. From the opening round it was clear Li was much better than his record suggested. It turned out he could could box, he knew what he was doing and was able to match Poon for output. This immediately made the action a lot more exciting than anyone thought it had any right to be. Poon seemed the heavier handed, and the more aggressive, but Li showed he could hold his own, with smart counters, making Poon pay for his misses. Poon's pressure, especially early on, made the fight fun to watch, and several times he went low taking the wind out of Li's sails. It was Poon's pressure making the fight, but it was Li's counters that were adding to the excitement. Li wasn't running away, but was counting in combinations, with eye catching exchanges and thrilling back and forth action. For those who haven't seen this it's a fun little hidden from last May. Don't get us wrong, it's not an incredibly high level fight, but it's a real fun one all the same between two energetic young men each willing to let their hands go in an attempt to impress the judges. Genuinely a fun low level fight, where the man who was supposed to lose really does surprise us all and does more than just plays his part in a great little bout. One of the rather unique features of Japanese boxing is it's tournaments. Be it a small title tournament, the Rookie of the Year, C Class tournament or some other themed tournaments. One of the more interesting tournaments that we saw begin in 2019, and will end later this year, is the Hajime No Ippo 30th Anniversary tournament. The tournament is a 7 man international Featherweight tournament, featuring 4 Japanese fighters, and one fight from China, the Philippines and South Korea. Today's Treasure trove sees us take the best of the quarter-final bouts from the tournament, and share it with those that may have missed it the first time around! Tsuyoshi Tameda (21-4-2, 19) vs Jae Woo Lee (6-2, 5) Going into this it was the quarter-final that we expected the least from. On paper it was the biggest mismatch, but yet it delivered the best bout, by far. Japan's Tsuyoshi Tameda is a fighter that had been on the radar for a few years. He had competed in the 2011 Rookie of the Year, as a teenager, and had gone on a tear from 2012 to 2016 with wins against the likes of Hero Tito, Takenori Ohashi, Mark Bernaldez. Although his winning run had come to an end in 2016, it had only ended when he lost a decision to Simpiwe Vetyeka. Following the loss to Vetyeka Tameda had gone 8-2 (8), with his only losses coming to the brilliant pairing of Reiya Abe and Hinata Maruta, whilst he had won the Japanese Youth Featherweight title and stopped the likes of Tae Il Atsumi and Joe Tejones. With 8 fights to his name Jae Woo Lee was a bit of an unknown coming into this bout. He had never previously fought outside of Korea and had suffered 2 losses in 8 bouts. However going through his record there were some interesting take aways. Both of his losses had come in his first 3 bouts, his only win to come on the score cards had come against a natural Welterweight and he had shown a real will to win in his previous bout, pulling out a come from behind KO to claim the KBM Featherweight title. Despite his record showing some signs that he could be a banana skin, he hadn't fought in well over a year following an injury, and he had never previously fought outside of Korea. Within seconds of the opening bell we seemed to be in for something special as the two men quickly found their range, and it turned out their range was the same. This resulted in both being very happy at mid to close range and both had similar game plans. Take the other man out! Less than half way through the opening round Tameda began to unload on Lee, who responded soon afterwards, and then we started to see a sensational back and forth war. This was perfect two way action between two punchers who believed they had the power and toughness to out last the other in a war. Round 1 was incredible, but round 2 was even better, the movement of both began to vanish and it was even more a case of toe-to-toe warfare. Hookers and uppercuts were the order of the day, jabs were almost banned. It wasn't the prettiest of stuff but this was brutal, this was damaging, and this was Asian machismo on full show. This was the gem of the Hajime No Ippo tournament! We head back into obscurity for this weeks Treasure Trove article, but we get the chance to see a fighter we absolutely love watching meeting someone who was able to match him for action and give us a real hidden gem in November. The month was a busy one to begin with, and one where several gems were over-looked including this little thriller from Korea. Han Bin Suh (5-0-2, 4) vs Jong Min Jung (9-9, 3) If you've followed us the last year or so you'll realise we are massive fans of Han Bin Suh. The youngster isn't the best fighter out there, he's not a monster puncher, or a slick and smart fighter. He is much more a throw back to an older Korean mentality of "punch, punch, punch". His fight with Jong Won Jung in July had been something special, and less than 4 months later he was back in the ring defending his Korean Super Bantamweight title for the second time. For those who haven't seen Suh imagine someone who just wants to have a tear up every time he gets in the ring! He's a nightmare to fight with incredible volume and he's always willing to take one to land one. Suh's opponent here was Jong Min Jung, who had a 9-9 record but and was 32 years old, whilst Suh was just 19. Although no world beater he was a former PABA "interim" Featherweight champion an was better than his record suggested, in fact he had lost 3 of his first 4 bouts messing up record badly. His only losses in the previous 5 years had been a TKO to Korean star Ye Joon Kim, a razor thin split decision to Woo Hyun Kim and a loss to Japanese boxer-puncher Kai Chiba. His record was a mess, but he was much better than the numbers suggested. And that was obvious here. The fight, like many Suh fights, was just amazing to watch. The unbeaten champion continually tried to force a fight, chasing Jung, trying to get inside and let his shots go in bunches. To his credit Jung not only fought well at range, but also held his own on the inside and gave us a spectacular battle. The early rounds were ones where Jung could create distance more, picking Suh off on his way inside. As the bout went on the distance between the two men became less and less noticeable and instead the bout became a more and more exciting, inside war. The type of bout Suh enjoys. Despite the fight becoming Suh's type of fight Jung was holding his own in the inside battles, backing up Suh at times, and catching the unbeaten youngster with clean shots whilst they both fought up close. With Jung getting the best of the early action it really forced Suh to take extra risks in the second half of the fight, giving us more intense action as the fight went on. This isn't a bout we expect many to have seen, but if you haven't yet got around to giving it a watch, we advise you to get yourself 45 minutes and enjoy this violent little gem. Sometimes fighters leave it right to the end of the year to really thrill us, as if they need to give us a Christmas Cracker just a few days early. That was shown wonderfully at the 2019 All Japan Rookie of the Year final on December 22nd when we had a number of fantastic bouts. Today's we feature one of those gems as our Treasure Trove article, and it really was something amazingly special. Today we bring the you 140lbs Rookie of the Year final, and one of the most remarkable comebacks of late 2019. Kodai Honda (4-1, 3) vs Yasutaka Fujita (5-0, 5) The All Japan Rookie of the Year, for those who don't follow it, is the biggest annual boxing tournament. It takes months to go from the preliminary bouts to December's All Japan final and sees fighters needing to prove their value on the local area and advance through to the final stages. Typically the Rookie of the Year is the launchpad for fighters, with a lot of examples of fighters going from Rookie of the Year to Japanese, OPBF and World titles. The stand out fight from this year's tournament saw the once beaten Kodai Honda from the Kawasaki Nitta take on the unbeaten Yasutaka Fujita, from the little known Nagoya Ohashi gym, run by former OPBF Super Bantamweight champion Hiromasa Ohashi. Whilst expectations were that this one would be exciting, we didn't expect what we'd get, which was something very special. Honda had lost on his debut, in November 2018, but had found his footing in 2019, racking up 4 wins to earn his place in the All Japan final. He had taken out his previous 3 opponents, in a combined 6 rounds, and was proving himself to be a vicious, heavy handed pressure fighter. Although lacking in polish he made up for it in aggression, power and his under-rated ability to slip shots, helping him get in close. Fujita on the other hand had been a wrecking ball since turning professional. He had debuted just 18 days after Honda, scoring an opening round win, and only 1 of his first 5 opponents had survived beyond the second round. He was in the ring not just in search of victory, but in search of a destruction, pursuing opponents, punishing them, breaking them, and stopping them. He had shown the ability to box, but in reality he was an ultra-aggressive puncher. When they got in the ring the styles of the two men looked like they were made for each other. Within just 10 seconds bombs were being launched and Honda was quickly dropped. His pressure was leaving him open and the power of Fujita was having it's effect. From there on Fujita spent the entire first round looking for his 6th straight early win. He threw everything at Honda who tried to grit it out and come forward. From then on it was clear that we were on the verge of something special, and something special we got as the momentum began to shift, and the fight turned. This was intense, this was exciting, this was dramatic, this was a gem that is well and truly worth a watch. A genuinely incredible bout! The Japanese Youth title scene is a really interesting one, even though it doesn't get a great deal of attention. The creation of the Japanese Youth title was one that originally questioned, and some felt it wasn't needed, and wouldn't be valued particularly highly. There was some worries that it would prevent youngsters from chasing for the main Japanese title, and others failed to see just how many positives the title could have. Thankfully it has quickly become a staple of the Japanese domestic scene and has been responsible for many gems since it was created. Today we look at a thrilling gem between two young men each looking to win their first title, and proof that the Japanese Youth title is a prize that fighters genuinely want. Toshiya Ishii (2-0, 1) Vs Haruki Ishikawa (8-1, 6) Neither Toshiya Ishii or Haruki Ishikawa are fighters that we expect fans to be aware of, though both men looked to make a name for themselves in December 2019 when they put on a thriller for the previously vacant Japanese Youth Bantamweight title. The two men had been part of a 4 man tournament for the belt. They had both come out as the clear winners in their semi-final bouts before clashing in this final, which was expected to be good, but nothing amazing. Both had shown they could fight, Ishikawa had looked like a real rugged puncher, willing to walk through bombs in the belief that his chin would take anything coming back at him, whilst his power had proven it's self as a game changer. Ishii on the other hand had been an impressive amateur before turning professional and over-coming Fumiya Fuse in just his second bout. What we ended up getting was a brilliant mix of boxing, fighting and drama. They styles of the two men ended up gelling well, with Ishikawa looking to march down Ishii and take him out with massive power shots and Ishii feeling confident enough to box when he could and trade when he needed to. Whilst the first round was good round 2 was absolutely insane, with some breath taking moments, including one sequence where both men were caught at the same time and both were badly staggered. Due to the fact both were staggered so badly neither man got the chance to capitalise, but by that point both had already been down, and both believed they had the power needed to stop the other. This wasn't two kids playing boxing, this was two excellent young fighters, putting it all on the line for a belt that has been used to launch fighters towards bigger and better things, and former Japanese Youth champions like Junto Nakatani have helped prove the value of this level of title. This was a youth title bout worthy of every second of action, and one that swung one way, then the other. A truly fantastic fight and a bout that well truly belong in the 2019 Treasure Trove series. One of the sad things about boxing is when we see a fighter get their big chance, a bit too late. It's something that leaves us wondering what could have been, and wondering whether or not the fighter could have gone all the way with a big more luck and good fortune. One of the hidden treasures of 2019 was a great performance, in a loss, by a 34 year old Light Flyweight against one of the rising of the division. Hiroto Kyoguchi (13-0, 9) vs Tetsuya Hisada (34-9-2, 20) We suspect anyone who follows us has heard of, and seen, Hiroto Kyoguchi's rise through the ranks. The Watanabe Gym promoted fighter raced through the early part of his career and took the IBF Minimumweight title just 15 months after making his professional debut. He then moved to Light Flyweight and became a 2 weight world champion at the end of 2018, stopping Hekkie Budler. We suspect many won't have been too aware of Tetsuya Hisada however, at least not until October 2019, when he challenged Kyoguchi for the Light Flyweight title. He was, until then, a fighter who had mostly been fighting on the Japanese domestic scene. He was in great form, but with 45 bouts under his belt the 34 year old was expected to put up a brave effort before being stopped by the much younger Kyoguchi. Even with the Osakan fans well and truly behind him, he was still being given next to no chance to even see the final, never mind make the bout interesting. What we ended up getting was a real thriller, that wasn't a purely competitive bout, but was certainly fought on a much more even keel than many had anticipated, and at times it seemed like the old man was coming out on top. Overall it did seem like Kyoguchi, the younger yet more proven fighter, was stronger, but after being wobbled and left with some serious swelling there was a sense of drama. Especially with Hisada digging deeper and deeper. It was, potentially, Hisada's only chance to become a world champion, and unlike many he wasn't willing to give up that dream without giving everything he had. What we ended up with here, was something special, something thrilling, yet had technically skills on show through out. It was overshadowed just a few days later by Gennady Golovkin going to war with Sergiy Derevyanchenko, a bout with bigger names, but in reality little separated them in terms of quality, action, heart, desire and drama. This was a real hidden gem, despite being a world title bout. |
Takahiro Onaga
Takahiro Onaga is a regular contributor to Asian Boxing and will now be a featured writer in his own column where his takes his shot at various things in the boxing world. Archives
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