To most the name Ewa Klobukowska will get a blank stare. Even among those who know, and love, sports. Those who follow athletics, may know her though, and those sports fans in Poland are much more likely to recognise the name than those outside of Poland. But for those unaware Ewa was a sensational athlete in the 1960’s. Aged 17 she competed at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, as part of a very strong Polish team that came 7th overall, behind the US, Soviet Union, Japan, a United Team of Germany, Italy and Hungary. They claimed 23 medals in total, the 6th highest, including 7 golds, and beating sporting powerhouses like Australia, Great Britain and Yugoslavia, who had an underwhelming games with just 5 total medals.

Among the medals Poland took were the women's 100m Bronze and the 4 by 100m women's relay, with Ewa taking the bronze and being part of the Gold medal winning team. Just a year later she broke the women's world record for the women's 100m, and the following year, 1966, she was the boss of sprinting, taking 2 golds and a silver at the European Championships in Budapest. At that point in time it was thought she would be a track star. One of the true legends of sprinting of the era.

In 1967 however her career was cut short at the 1967 European Cup in Kiev, then part of the USSR. The IAAF had enacted, against the advice of Geneticists, a gender passport system. A flawed gender passport system.

Maciej Petruczenko, a friend of Ewa’s and a Polish journalist, is quoted as saying “All of our competitors (Polish) were tested in Budapest. Among others, Ewa Kłobukowska and Irena Kirszenstein "paraded" naked before the commission. Then, an additional criterion appeared in the gender tests - chromosomal. It was assumed that if out of 46 chromosomes, two of the ones determining gender were XX chromosomes - we were dealing with a woman, and if the XY configuration was created - it was an indication of a man. However, nature turns out to be much more complicated and not everything is so clear in every case. In Budapest, Ewa "passed" the test, but in Wuppertal, before the semi-final of the European Cup, she was tested using the chromosomal method. An unusual XXY configuration was found and it was decided that she should not compete.

Geneticists warned that the method was very imprecise and could not be used to determine gender. However, the heads of the international athletics association remained deaf to these remarks. Coach Bugała believes that the officials from Germany simply wanted to get rid of inconvenient rivals.”

Now even in 1967 they had discovered the unusual XXY Chromosomal configuration, but it wasn’t that simple. Of course it wasn’t.

As mentioned by Petruczenko had the German team pushing for Poland not to send their two female, the event was coming on the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution, where women had essentially battled against the Bolhkeviks. The political situation, far too complex to go into in depth here, had essentially seen the USSR turn their backs on Poland, an ally, in this dispute.They had talent he German’s side, and not only that but had singled out Polish women, the main challenge in many eyes to the German and USSR women’s teams.

Teresa Sukniewicz, a Polish hurlder who set 3 world records later on, spoke about what happened in Kiev.
“We were taken straight off the plane for a gynecological examination, it was the first time in my life that I had one. Please note that no other team was examined, only us! I was nineteen years old and for me, as well as for my friends, it was a great trauma. I still feel great turmoil when I talk about those events. The activists of the Polish union should have taken us home on the spot.”

“We didn’t protest because we were too surprised by what was happening. The examination was taking place in the hotel corridor. They put a table there, sat down behind it, you went in and had to sit in a gynecological chair. The commission was just… watching us. Just perverts. We didn’t talk about it afterwards, you wanted to forget about it as soon as possible. It was just horrible. There was information that Ewa wasn’t starting, and we had no idea why. A day or two after the competition, I got an Italian newspaper from a friend and saw a picture of Ewa and a terrible title: “Ewa Kłobukowska a man”.”

Ewa’s career was effectively over. She had been branded not a woman. The IAAF stripped her of her records, she was castigated from sport, and forgotten about by Poland in a shameful act by the Polish government of the time. She had very few supporting her, with some reports that were it not for former athlete Maria Kwaśniewska, who was then a member of the board of the Polish Athletics Association, Ewa would have committed suicide.

Ewa would change her number after receiving prank calls, she would eventually move to Czechoslovakia to begin a new chapter of her life, and give birth to a child in 1968, a son. Something, I think we can all agree, proved her to be a woman, much more than the gender testing proved her to be a man. Decades later it was reported that she had never received an apology from her country, though she would later move back to Poland, from those who had abandoned her. Those who had found it easier to call her a man than to suspect political dirty games were at hand.

So why have I spent the last 1000 (ish) words discussing a Polish sprinter? Well because the situation is very, very similar to what appears to have been going on with two Olympic boxers, in another case shrouded in politics, distrusted testing, and something akin to pseudoscience rather than actual science. Using something simple where simple doesn’t apply. This time however the nations themselves have done what Poland failed to do. They have told the authorities what they think of the situation by getting behind their athletes, supporting them, not tossing them aside like pieces of meat, for the consumption of the media.

The boxers in question, like Ewa, won Olympic gold, with both Imane Khelif and Lin Yu Ting winning medals in boxing. Both of them have been subjected to incredible speculation, vitriol, and in the age of social media it has been incessant. Like in Ewa’s case, there is politics running through things, there is a distrust of the organisation, and although the USSR is no more, their successor in Russia are still involved.

Lets start with the simple things. IBA have had a corruption problem for years, but this particularly case can probably be tracked back just a few years. To when Wu Ching-kuo was it’s leader. Wu, from Taiwan, was the man that essentially showed just how corrupt it was, by completely abusing his position, with allegations of financial mismanagement and accounting irregularities against him, which saw him lose a vote of no confidence, and try to fight on to keep the leadership, before finally stepping down in 2017, after being in charge since 2006. He had been there 11 years and made IBA into a joke and came close to bankrupting it. 

Wu was then replaced by Gafur Rakhimov from Uzbekistan, who was in charge for 20 months, before stepping down in July 2019. Rakhimov had long been accused of a number of crimes, including being part of a drug trafficking network, and the Mafia, with the US placing financial sanctions on him, and whilst he was never charged, and did win defamation suits in a number of countries the allegations remain. With the IOC suspended the IBA of their responsibilities for running the Olympics due to the mess they’d got themselves in with Wu and Rakhimov.

Then came Russian Umar Kremlev, the current president of IBA (which rebranded to IBA in 2021), who has been in charge since late 2020 and made a number of questionable decisions that have seen the IOC stand by their guns and keep IBA away from the Olympics, a decision that still grates on Kremlev, who has ran a campaign against IOC President Thomas Bach, repeatedly calling him a “sodomite”.

Kremlev is, to say the least, his own man. At least when it comes to how AIBA is ran, he described himself as "the most clean candidate", which when two pigs roll in shit doesn't mean either is clean. He then brought Hungarian István Kovács on board, appointing him as the General Secretary of IBA. Under Kremlev the IBA inked a deal with Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, paid off their debts, and secured their financial future. They also signed a drug testing agreement with the International Testing Agency (ITA). In 2021, to show they had changed, IBA, the AIBA, released a report showing that bouts had been manipulated for the purpose of money, be it for AIBA, National Federations, Olympic Committees or the hosts.

It appeared as if Kremlev was indeed the man set to put IBA back at the front of amateur boxing after the mess he had inherited. Then in 2022 he started to undo a lot of the good work he and his team had done. The goodwill they had started to create would begin to show cracks.

Originally IBA followed much of the sporting community in suspending the ability of Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing under their flag, members of IBA sought to see IBA look into it's relationship with the Russian Boxing Federation, as well as it's financial dependence on Gazprom, whilst more of the IBA operations moved to Russia. It was suggested that Kremlev was a close friend of Vladimir Putin, and that Russia was looking to essentially take over IBA. In late 2022 IBA reversed their decision on Russian and Belarusain athletes, whilst also suspending the Ukraine Boxing Federation, citing "government interference", when they had a less than pro-Kremlev leader.

Also in 2022 Dutch Boxing Federation president Boris van der Vorst looked to run against Kremlev, but was deemed ineligible 1 day before the vote, leaving Kremlev unopposed, the decision was overturned by CAS and the IBA voted against a new election. Essentially telling CAS (we’ll talk about CAS a little bit later) that their decision didn't matter, as the organisation didn't want another vote. During this mess Kremlev also sought to change “Olympic boxing” to “IBA boxing”, despite the IOC still not giving IBA any responsibilities for boxing at the Olympics. In 2023 a number of notable national boxing bodies boycott the 2023 World Championships, including the US, UK, Poland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Ireland, Czechia, Sweden and Canada, before launching World Boxing, essentially a renegade group that had gotten sick of Kremlev, and were looking to secure boxing’s place on the Olympic Schedule. Soon after this we get to two important points.

One was the IOC officially choosing to remove recognition from IBA, citing “governance, finances, and corruption”, doing so under Kremlev’s leadership. A point of contention that is still being felt to this day, and likely why Kremlev takes great delight in acting like a petty child towards Thomas Bach.

The other was the 2023 Women’s World Championships, which took place in March in New Delhi, where the positive tests for Khelif and Lin took place. A Championship that saw rules changing mid-tournament, definitions of female and male being set mid championship, and other changes, much akin to the situation that had affected Ewa 55 years earlier with the IAAF bringing in a very elementary understanding of gender. The IBA disqualified both fighters mid tournament, and whilst they claimed both had failed the same test in 2022, they chose not to negate the results from that tournament, or suspend them pending an investigation, or change the rules in the wake of those results. Given that IBA’s own tests suggested they were ineligible it really needs to be asked as to why they waited until both had fought in the semi-finals, before disqualifying them. Essentially leaving their biggest women’s tournament of the year with results that, if we’re to trust IBA, have no integrity at all.

Following the Women’s championships Lin went through a series offender tests back home, with the Taiwan Ministry of Education Sports Administration saying there was no irregularities at all, adding that she had under-gone 10 doping tests and not shown any elevated testosterone either, and had qualified as female under the rules of the 2022 Asian Games, which took place between September and October 2023, in Hangzhou, China.  She won gold, and along the way beat Parveen Hooda, who did actually fail a drug test at the Games.

Having looked at what Lin did between the World Championships and the Olympics, it’s fair to also talk about what Khelif did. She took part in the African Olympic qualifiers, took part in an USA International tournament and won the 2024 Eindhoven cup, winning 9 fights in a row, with 3 close decisions along the way.

One of the big questions was why didn’t they appeal the testing results. Whilst this is hard to know there is a few things to consider, especially when it comes to the IBA’s previous when it comes to CAS. After all they determined a contender to run against Kremlev wasn’t eligible and didn’t rerun the vote when CAS over-ruled them, essentially showing total contempt to a CAS  decision. They were also having their own case against the IOC’s decision to remove their recognition running at the same time, a case literally run on the governance, processes and integrity of IBA. It would seem unlikely that CAS would have two cases, running concurrently regarding the processes and governance of IBA, which would be what the fighters would likely be questioning. IBA also appealed the original decision against them when it came to the IOC, with that appealing not ending until April this year. Had the fighters had to wait for the ongoing case to finish they’d have missed out on qualifying for the Olympics.

The question as to why those two were singled out, much like Ewa’s case, likely has a lot of politics at play. Khalif did beat a Russian in the 2023 World Championships, much like Ewa beating Germans in the 1960’s, whilst it was Wu, of Taiwan, that began the absolute mess that the IBA found it’s self in when Rakhimov, and then Kremlev had to try and tidy things. It was the mess of a Taiwanese official that essentially forced the IOC’s hand back in 2019, to suspend the organisation.

It’s worth noting, that IBA have been amazingly inconsistent in their words regarding the matter, with this becoming an even more confusing mess the more they’ve spoke about it, including their August 5th press conference, which was a farce, as many suggested.

Among the questions that IBA have yet to clarify was what testing was done? They have both said testosterone was and wasn’t done,depending on who was answering, blood and genetics were done, but never explained what genetic or blood tests, Which labs were used? They have said WADA accredited, but WADA don’t actually do gender testing, just drug testing, so it would be good to see them actually name the lab. Unless they are worried that WADA will then strip their accreditation. They have cited confidentiality for not sharing the testing the details, but Kremlev has said they had XY chromosomes, which is sharing confidential medical information, if true, so they don’t care about confidentiality? If their was no independent witness, as they admitted, how is anyone to trust their chain of custody? How do they even trust their chain of custody? Their doctor said the two were man, but their own spokesman stated no one said they were a man to the BBC, so which is it?

They have not explained why the rules were changed mid-tournament or why the fighters weren’t suspended ahead of the 2023 Championships allowing for an investigation, like we’d have with a drug test. The closest they’ve come to is that it was too late to suspend them in 2022, though as we all know we get sports people retroactively banned on drugs tests years later, medals stripped from retired athletes, so that doesn’t hold weight. They have also not explained why they didn’t care about the health and safety of their own athletes at their own tournament, yet care about the safety at the Olympics.

Sticking with questions for the IBA, we need to ask, now given they have defined men and women by the simplicity of Chromosomes, whether they will allow XX Males to fight females? After all their definition of a woman is merely someone with XX Chromosomes. What about an XO female? We know XXY females can get pregnant, albeit cases are rare, but surely the ability to be pregnant is something that we’d agree only a female can do? (That’s not to be confused with to be female you must be able to get pregnant). Likewise are they testing all men, to make sure they have only XY Chromosomes, given there is XYY, XXY, XXXY and XXYY males, whilst people with the the latter two configurations are unlikely to ever be world class athletes due to the developmental issue they cause, XXY and XYY tend to live very normal lives, much like XX Males, and only find out in later life that they rather a rare Chromosome configuration. Notably however, no one is actually sure how rare they are, because people don’t tend to be tested until it becomes an issue, often when they are trying to have children and find that they can’t, later discovering they are infertile, and even then some men with XXY have fathered children. This also doesn’t reference the “Make male” gene, which further complicates science.

IBA tried to make a very complicated thing very simple. The IOC accepts it’s incredibly difficult to actually define what a male and what a woman are. Whilst it’s easy to say that the IOC are passing the buck, the reality is that we don’t really understand gender anywhere close to what we think we do. We’ve seen some suggesting the IBA’s stance is right, though those same people would be fuming if an XX Male fought an XX Female, despite both being classed as female by the IBA’s rules. We’ve seen others suggest that puberty should be the point where definitions should come into play, and whether they went through male puberty, but when athletes are competing as teenagers, and when some have delayed puberty this really doesn’t work either. We do need to find a working solution to define male and female athletes, but that is a very complicated thing to do, and something that needs to be left down to science, to work out what is and isn’t an unfair advantage, whether it goes down to the “Make male gene” rather than the Chromosome results or whether there is several things all needing to line up in a limited way.

Unlike Ewa’s situation, where things were very much more of a pseudoscience, with results that were known to be unreliable and that the IAAF were told not to use, we are now able to test things with excellent detail. We now understand, very widely, that human science, genetics and the make up of the body is incredibly complicated. Yes we are talking about rare cases, though we don’t know how rare, but what this should have done was open up a conversation about how different we all are, how humans aren’t all the same, how we are made up in some very unique ways. This should have opened the conversation on not just DSD, but also helped educate individuals on the differences and how things are a lot more complicated beneath the hood than the simplistic understanding we are taught at school.

It’s a crass analogy, but we are all taught about the states of matter. They are Solid, Liquid, Gas, and if you’re a little more advanced you might also have been taught about Plasma. Though we also have peculiar states that occur in very specific situations, such as Superinsulation, Superfluid, Bose–Einstein condensate and Fermionic condensate.

What we are taught is simple, it’s easy for us to understand and for us to look at, but science isn’t simple, it’s not all pretty with bows, all tied up in a neat little package. Science is developing, and we should have seen this as an opportunity to try and understand just a tiny bit of that science here. Instead so many showed we learned nothing from Ewa. We learned nothing from the stolen career of what should have been a sensational female athlete.

Although Irena Kirszenstein’s name only came up in passing, we think everyone should be aware as to what an incredible athlete she was, and is some everyone should read up. A truly incredible woman.

Sources used:
https://sport.tvp.pl/33996589/nie-jestes-kobieta-kto-skrzywdzil-klobukowska 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/articles/cq5dd2lz8y8o 
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30799415/ 
https://www.edu.tw/News_Content.aspx?n=9E7AC85F1954DDA8&s=DA8AA5D508B75D4E 
https://www.edu.tw/News_Content.aspx?n=9E7AC85F1954DDA8&s=84678630835B71A7 
https://apnews.com/russias-kremlev-defies-olympic-concern-to-win-boxing-vote-052d19fec76728f33b264763c5b98287#:~:text=%E2%80%9CI%20am%20the%20most%20clean,sport's%20Olympic%20status%20was%20retained 
https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1093441/rakhimov-loses-two-counts 
https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1128389/ukraine-suspended-iba#:~:text=Boxing%20Federation%20of%20Ukraine%20suspended%20by%20IBA%20due%20to%20Government%20interference,-Click%20here%20for&text=The%20Boxing%20Federation%20of%20Ukraine,(September%2025)%20Extraordinary%20Congress. 
https://www.espn.co.uk/boxing/story/_/id/34090882/cas-ruling-uncertainty-iba-presidency-put-boxing-olympic-future-doubt 
https://www.iba.sport/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20240303-IBA-Technical-Competition-Rules-v7-clean.pdf (current IBA rules)
https://www.iba.sport/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20240303-IBA-Technical-Competition-Rules-v7-clean.pdf (IBA rules as of 3rd March 2023)
https://eubcboxing.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/20230325-IBA-Technical-Competition-Rules-ENG.pdf (IBA rules as of 25th March 2023)

Given the first show, the quarter finals, failed to generate any interest, it seems likely that those behind the event will put money into promoting the Semi-Finals, which are reportedly set to take place at the Makuhari Messe in October with the finals coming in February next year. Jover has said, for the semi-final show, “We also have plans to bring the world's top fighters to Japan and hold a big event" (Ronspo). That might be needed for the tournament that is now playing catch up with it’s self following the repeated missteps.

Notably the Makuhari Messe has been used for hosting before, though it has only held 3 shows and is, again, not a venue known for boxing having last held a show years go. Another potential misstep, that shows the naivety of those involved in these events, who have seemingly chosen to ignore boxing hotspots and familiar venues, that promoters and fans are familiar with, and have a track record. Such as the EDION Arena in Osaka, the Convention Center in Nagoya, Korakuen Hall, the Sumiyoshi Ward Cente. Chiba, where the Makuhari Messe is, is a city rarely used for boxing, and it appears, again, like those responsible for the event have used very little understanding of how to promote boxing. Also none of the Japanese fighters left in the tournament are from the local area, and the names already on the show will also not attract fans, so Jover really will need to break the bank to sell the event on imported foreign fighters. Something that, given the spending on the quarter finals, seems highly unlikely.

Fukamachi has shared a promising vision, saying "We want to produce boxers from Japan and Asia who can compete on the world stage. Thanks to the success of Inoue Naoya, the world knows that Japanese boxing is getting stronger at the lower levels, including amateurs. There will be many more strong boxers coming out of Japan. We want to discover such players, and I think that if we promote them well in larger weight classes, the players will also develop." (Ronspo)

Sadly the idea of having an 8 man tournament with 3 Japanese fighters and one from China, against imported fighters, is not the way to develop that talent. Especially not with a huge budget being spent on the event. It’s known that Ohashi and Dangan are putting on their own Asia-wide Heavyweight tournament, and that is trying to find the diamonds in the rough, and let fighters develop, with 16 fighters being sought for the tournament. Their way of doing things seems to be the more achievable one, giving time for competitors to come forward, keeping it Asian centric, likely putting it on at Korakuen Hall, taking fighters from 4 round novices to discover fighters.

The other issue with Fukamachi’s logic is that the show didn’t feature anyone outside of the 8 Middleweight fighters, there was no way to spot new talent. The Japanese talent on the event had included 2 former domestic amateur standouts, in Kazuto Takesako and Riku Kunimoto, who were both fast tracked on the domestic scene, and Eiki Kani, who came through the Rookie of the Year tournament.

The problem, in many ways, is that the tournament never seemed to know who it was catering to, or why, and as a result didn’t really cater to any of its perceived targets. Japanese fans were unable to watch the bouts being broadcast, and no one knew of the show to attend, European fans, where 3 of the fighters were from, were likely at work when the event was on, on a Monday morning, and American fans were likely asleep. For those who tuned in, it was a lot of fun, though had it been hold on a Saturday or Sunday morning more could have watched on DAZN, had it been priced properly, placed in a suitable venue, and marketed domestically it could have drawn a decent crowd, and had it been broadcast in Japan it would have opened the door to some new interest.

Instead it missed the mark in every way and in many ways shows that NSN, Matchroom, Rakuten, and Fukamachi all dropped the ball, all need to take responsibility, all need to get together, and all need to use their areas of expertise to do better. 

NSN claim to have a history of connecting sports with fans, but failed to connect this event with fans domestically, and putting it on a Monday morning also wasn’t a smart idea for international views. They were likely responsible for the high ticket prices, and a lot of the issues that had happened behind the scenes, including the original Kobe venue falling through and the joint promotion with 3150. They also included very little content about the show on their own website, and social media. 

Matchroom are a global sporting powerhouse, but seem to have gotten into bed with companies who had no idea what they were doing, damaging their reputation, and showing that their global expansion is full of hiccups that they still haven’t smoothed out. They are a sports company, a boxing company, even they know, surely, that an overpriced event, with no local draw, no under-card, and cost cutting at every corner, was going to fail and make them look bad. 

Rakuten have put a lot of money into the venture, and it seems clear they won’t be recouping their investment, but questions also need to be asked as to why their own streaming service didn’t pick up the broadcast at the 11th hour, to at least give a domestic broadcast outlet to the show. They tried to ticket the event with NFT’s, of all things, and seemingly did an awful job in trying to promote an event they had invest so much in.

And Fukamachi should have known much, much better. He should have used his experience, his specialised local knowledge, and made sure this was promoted properly, held at a “boxing venue”, and acted like the foundation to a new movement, rather than expect fans to do the heavy lifting. Reports are that almost no media attended the weigh in, there was no media work outs arranged, the Japanese press were seemingly absent from the events, with only a handful attending the weigh in.

​We’re not sure who handles the domestic Twitter for Prizefighter Japan, but at the time of writing, that has less than 100 followers, showing just what a mis-promoted event the whole thing was and how little traction it had.

One question that will be asked is will Matchroom have made a loss? Financially, probably not or at least not a major one, if one at all. The venue was cheap, there was essentially no money spent on marketing the event, Rakuten Tickets seemingly footed the bill for the event, which apparently all went to the fighters rather than using it to boost the profile of the show to attract any fans. They will however have left a poor first mark on Japan, and first impressions mean a lot. The impression here is that they couldn't be bothered, did nothing to build an event with their name on it, and shrugged their shoulders when it wasn’t going to be a success. Whilst it seems a lot of the decisions taken were out of their hands, with Fukamachi and NSN calling many of the shots, the fact this was Matchroom's Japanese debut, this was the return of Matchroom's Prize Fighter tournament, this was an empty arena show with Matchroom involved, will be a reputational kick in the groin, and maybe a sign they need to be more hands on with this venture. They are the boxing promoters, they should know what does, and doesn’t, general work, and should have seen this being a flop some distance away, and stepped in to course correct.

One also needs to ask, why was this even marketed as a Prize fighter tournament? The name and branding had success, between 2008 and 2015, but the name hadn’t been used in almost a decade, after being out played in the UK. The format, a one-night 8-man tournament, can’t be replicated in Japan due to the JBC rules* regarding fighters fighting more than once. It didn’t make sense to use the branding, when another name could have been used, creating a new tournament style format that could have been expanded world wide. Tournament boxing is a regular thing in Japan, with the very notable Rookie of the Year being the most famous, they didn’t need the Prizefighter name attached for the purpose of making a tournament, something simple like “KO Middleweight Tournament” would have sufficed, and that’s an idea had in 15 seconds. They could have done what other promoters had done and linked up with a former fighter for the tournament to use their name, like we’d previously seen with “God’s Left Bantamweight” and “Knockout Dynamite” tournaments, which linked with Shinsuke Yamanaka and Takashi Uchiyama, and made it “The Ryota Murata Middleweight Tournament” or something, to appeal to the locals and sell on the name of a notable Japanese Middleweight.

It's worth noting that the Bantamweight tournament final saw an unbeaten Kazuki Nakajima, who lost to TJ Doheny last year, face Seiya Tsutusmi, who is expected to fight for a world title at the end of 2024.​

For all involved this was a shameful experience, it lacked any sort of joined up thinking, and as more details emerge it appears more and more like a bunch of rank amateurs were responsible. NSN, Rakuten and Matchroom have got a deal to do 3 shows a year over 3 years, though we wonder how much they are all regretting getting into bed with each other, or having such a long commitment together. 

Could the tournament be salvaged and turned into a success? Sure, but it will take a huge overhaul in mentalities to do that. The semi final needs to be made much more public, more accessible, more viewable, money needs to go into the promotion of the event, the promoter needs to put on a main event local fans care about. They need to scrap the idea of going to Chiba in October and go to one of the established boxing venues which they need to fill out with passionate fans, rather than have a handful of high paying fans in an empty venue, to build some atmosphere. They need to get some solid domestic under-card fighters, and try and grab a domestic title fight for the show to attract some organic attention.

They need to embrace the media, hold public work outs, media days, make fans aware, and then make them care. It’s impossible to care about something you don’t even know exists.

It is fair to ask how accurate or fair the Ronspo articles are, but we do know several facts that can’t be disputed. Fukamachi did say there was almost no advertising done as he wanted to put the money on the product, the fighters, not into marketing, we know the venue is small, and didn’t look even close to full. There was no Japanese broadcast. The media presence was insignificant at best, with very few publications carrying anything on the event, there was no major media days, NSN did no real publicity themselves. Rakuten are incredibly big and can write off the cost, but won’t be happy about it. There was real apathy even among those who knew about the show in Japan. It was on a Monday during the day time hours, limiting the viewing potential DAZN had in their broadcast in the west. Ticket prices were incredibly overpriced. There was no chance to discover new Japanese fighters, given the 3 local fighters were already known quantities. Bridges have been burned, resulting in no broadcasting partner, and Tokashiki being the “promoter”, having never promoted in Osaka and not having promoted a show since 2019.

To go back to the original point as to why this was a flop. It’s simple. No one knew about it. It might be hard for fans in the West to grasp that, given that they knew, but in Japan only the most hardcore of fans knew, and without digging deep for tickets, and getting to Suita, there was no way to watch, leading even some of those who cared, to not care. Or at least not care enough.

*They could have done it without JBC sanction, but that would have further cut into the way the card was seen, as a renegade promotion, and essentially prevented Matchroom from working with JBC promoters in Japan in the future.

(Note all translations are machine translations and whilst they maybe grammatically incorrect when translated, they are all left unedited)

Sources
​https://news.goo.ne.jp/article/ronspo/sports/ronspo-7627.html
https://www.sponichi.co.jp/battle/news/2024/07/08/kiji/20240708s00021000371000c.html
https://www.ronspo.com/articles/2024/2024071601/
https://www.ronspo.com/articles/2024/2024071502/

Earlier today Ohashi announced their next big show, scheduled for September 3rd at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, which is set to be headlined by Undisputed Super Bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue (27-0, 24) [井上尚弥] defending his titles against former IBF champion TJ Doheny (26-4, 19).

One of the bouts announced for the show will be a showdown at 140lbs between Ismael Barroso (25-4-2, 23), the current WBA "interim" champion, and the unbeaten Andy Hiraoka (23-0, 18) [平岡アンディ].

​At the time there was some confusion over the status of that particular bout, with some mistakenly reporting it was going to be a third world title bout on the show. As it turns out, that bout is actually world title eliminator, as confirmed by Ohashi their bout listing for the show, see below. It was also apparent at the press conference, streamed on Lemino, that the show was only a double world title show, Hiroka not attending with while stablemates Inoue and WBO Bantamweight champion Yoshiki Takei (9-0, 8) [武居由樹] did.

In the days coming up to the press conference for the show numerous reports had circulated about the contest, and about it being for Barroso’s “interim” title. What a lot of them failed to realise is that the JBC, who will be sanctioning the event, has not recognised the WBA “interim” titles since since February 19th 2011, back when there was 10 “interim” titles from the 17 weight classes, and when there was 3 different WBA Bantamweight champions, including “regular” champion Koki Kameda. The day after that decision they held a press conference with JBC Secretary General Tsuyoshi Yasukochi saying, "This is a terrible situation that is different from the original meaning (regarding "interim" titles). As the JBC, we cannot recognize interim titles as world titles."

Whilst refusing to recognise the WBA "interim" titles, they did allow the WBC “interim” titles to continue to be recognised, as the WBC used their interim status for what was essentially the original meaning, a title created when a champion is incapacitated. 

This move by the JBC was followed by the WBA themselves a few years later, when they announced that they were going to be getting rid of the titles, except in exceptional circumstances. On February 22nd 2017 Gilberto Mendoza Jr, the president of the WBA, travelled to Japan and held a meeting at the JBC head office in Tokyo, where he met the then JBC Chairman Hiroshi Akiyama and Hitoshi Watanabe, the then chairman of the East Japan Boxing Association. During that meeting he explained "We will narrow down the number of WBA champions to one." He explained that the interim titles were "created to give opportunities to boxers from economically disadvantaged areas, but ultimately the value of the belt has become diluted." He went on to say that there were 7 out of the 17 weight classes with a single champion and is quoted in the Japanese press as saying “this will happen in all weight classes by 2018." At the time he was over trying to push for a new WBA regional title, and get the JBC’s support, though it doesn’t appear the JBC ever actually gave that support. 

The WBA echoed their own view on “interim” titles in August 2021, when Carlos Chavez, chairman of the WBA Championship Committee announced “The Championships Committee decided that all Interim Championship titles are withdrawn with immediate effect”.

Yet now we are in a situation where there is 1 single interim champion, Barroso at 140lbs. Along with multiple champions, be it any two of “Super”, “World”, or “in Recess”, in a subsequent 4 other divisions. They are Heavyweight (Usyk - “Super”, Charr “World), Super Middleweight (Canelo - “Super”, Morrell - “World”), Super Welterweight (Madrimov - “World”, Charlo -” In Recess”), Welterweight (Crawford - “Super”, Stanionis -”World”).

As well as the 4 divisions mentioned above, there are 10 divisions currently having a “Gold” champion, which appears to have taken the place of what was once the “interim” title.

​(All champions, designations and names are according to the WBA’s website as of July 16th 2024).

This does not appear to be fitting in with the WBA’s 2017 promise of all weight classes having a single champion by 2018, and in fact Baroso is the second WBA Lightweight “interim” champion since 2018, following Rolly Romero who actually beat Barroso for the vacant “World” title last year.

Despite the WBA's own comments, and how they have failed to fulfil them, and only have a single champion at every weight, the JBC have not gone back on their word, and still do not recognise WBA "interim" title fights, something that isn't set to change. This was seen, notably, in 2014, when Koki Eto was unable to defend his WBA "interim" Flyweight title, which he won in late 2013, in Japan and instead dropped the title to fight for the OPBF title, stopping Ardin Diale in the bout after winning the "interim" belt.

What is unclear is what will happen to the title. If Barroso wins there is a chance the WBA will regard it as a successful defense, however if Hiraoka wins the JBC will not recognise the title and it could either remain with Barroso, or end up vacant. Regardless, the winner will be expecting to face Isaac Cruz, for the World title in the not too distant future.

[Ed’s note - David Morell’s next bout is for the WBA “World” title at Light Heavyweight, a division that has a current “Super” champion Dmitry Bivol]
[Ed’s note II - When Koki Kameda was the WBA “regular” Bantamweight champion, Hugo Ruiz was the "interim" and Anelmo Moreno was the "Super" champion]
[Ed’s note III - The “regular” tag was applied by the media and fans, and not by the WBA, who had “Interim”, “World” and “Super”]

Earlier today we saw Matchroom’s first foray into Japanese boxing, with the quarter finals of Prize Fighter Japan, which featured 4 bouts originally scheduled for March, but cancelled at short notice, and rearranged for today.

Despite the action in the ring being generally solid, and the third quarter final, between Kazuto Takesako and Mark Dickinson being a genuinely brilliant 10 round war, serious words need to be had with those involved in putting the event on. The commentary was, at times, terrible, but not as terrible as the attendance for the event, with pictures circulating on social media of the 4,800 seater Yamato Arena looking empty. Not only that but reports from Japan seemed to suggest only the most hardcore of fans even knew about, due to a lack of advertising, that however was one of a litany of issues that affected the show, the attendance, the atmosphere and potentially even saw the event make a financial loss.

Whilst it might seem, to some in the West, that the Japanese boxing scene is homogenous across the country, the reality is far, far from the truth with each region having its own nuances, with the most obvious being the Central Japan scene that has been reliant on Hiromasa Ohashi and been massively promoted by Seki-Chan and Sakana, who have been picking up rights to stream shows on Youtube, and helping to build the regional scene on their backs (and the hardcore fans should give the two a follow in twitter). The scene in Central Japan is very different to North Japan, where there is essentially no boxing, or Western Japan, where there is little boxing, or West and Eastern Japan, which are essentially the powerhouses of Japanese boxing. The main markets in Japan are Tokyo, which hosts more boxing than pretty much the rest of Japan combined, and houses the iconic Korakuen Hall, and Osaka Prefecture, which is essentially the second biggest market. Before we go any further we really need to make it clear, the boxing scene across Japan varies widely, with promoters essentially being regional promoters that rarely put on shows outside of their regional basis. There is essentially no “national” promoter in Japan, like we see in the UK and the US. 

With that said it needs to be noted that Matchroom linked up, officially, with former world champion Katsupo Tokashiki, and his Tokashiki promotions, who had been a Tokyo based promoter, who last ran a show 5 years ago. Although Tokashiki was essentially the promoter from a licensing perspective, several in Japan have said it was Tokashiki’s name, but not his actual promotional work, with the leg work being left to a newbie promoter, much akin to when Koki Kameda promoted shows under the Kyoei banner. This was a major mistake, as neither the actual promoter nor Tokashiki seemed to have any experience promoting a show in Osaka. Matchroom not linking up with an Osaka based promoter was a major mistake, and linking up with a very small promoter was another mistake, likely an effort to cut costs, and using a promoter to front the show who hadn’t run a show in 5 years was another.

It was clear the lack of promotional work, and the lack of experience by the promoter contributed to poor ticket sales, it was far, far from the only reason, in fact there really was a list of them.

Another reason was the fact they also used a venue that hasn’t hosted boxing before, though there is a show set to be held there in August. Had they picked a venue well known for boxing, and had they wanted to keep the show in Osaka there are plenty of those including the EDION Arena, the Sumiyoshi Ward Center, the show would likely have gotten attention just being there. Likewise had they gone to Tokyo and held it at Korakuen Hall, where there is a rabid hunger for boxing, it would have essentially sold tickets on word of mouth alone.

A big selling factor for most shows is having a local star to headline them, and this is done all over the world. We recently saw Jaron Ennis and Shakur Stevenson headline at home in the US, and all over the world we see a local fighter headline, even at a much, much smaller level. Here there was no major draw for fans in Osaka, with only two fighters being born in the Prefecture, Kazuto Takesako who fights out of Tokyo, and Riku Kunimoto, a solid domestic fighter but not one with a notable following. Given neither of these two are big names, it’s surprising they were the most notable Japanese fighters on a show at a venue that holds around 5,000. There was also no international name value for the 5 visiting fighters on the show, who had no Japanese foot print before the event, making it impossible to sell the show, if the promoter even tried, on their name value. A major international name can sell tickets in Japan, but they need to be a major name, and the likes of Aaron McKenna and Kieron Conway are not major names.

Another big selling factor for shows is the main event. Sadly this show was headlined by a match we’d seen just a few months ago, and it wasn’t competitive then, or this time around. The bout took place on March 31st, with Riku Kunimoto stopping Eiki Kani in 6 rounds, on the originally scheduled date for the whole event. Fighting again less than 4 months later would have seen no one buying into a potentially different result this time around.

They also picked a division where, if we’re being honest, there isn’t much of a history in Japan and there is certainly no national level draw at the moment, like Ryota Murata was a few years ago. This wasn’t like a weight class with a Junto Nakatani, a Kazuto Ioka or a Naoya Inoue in it, potentially acting like the carrot for the tournament winner. Don’t get us wrong, Takesako, Kunimoto and Kani are all fun to watch, but a long, long way from world level with Kani being found out at domestic level, and Takesako recently losing in regional level bouts. In many ways it seemed like the show was set up, essentially, to boost the standing of a foreign fighter, with no ties to Japan. Essentially the tournament is probably set up for McKenna or Conway to go all the way, and move towards a world title fight.

Whilst Japanese Middleweight title bouts have had a history of being brilliant at times, with Takesako’s first bout against Shuji Kato being a tremendous 10 round back and forth war, the fighters rarely have success against international fighters, and this likely killed some of the expectation from fans.

Notably the show also clashed with the two West Japan Rookie of the Year semi final shows, which took place in Sakai City, which also sits in Osaka Prefecture and is only about 20 miles away. Those shows are packed with well matched bouts, featuring local fighters, in a meaningful tournament that fans have bought into over decades, and often unearths some notable talent. Fight fans in Osaka would likely have preferred to attend the Rookie of the Year show, but that’s before we mention the price difference. The tickets for Prizefighter were also completely out of whack, with the most expensive tickets being 66,000 JPY (about $450), and the level below that being 40,000 JPY (around $250). In comparison, the most expensive tickets at Rookie being 15,000 JPY (about $95) and most seats being 10,000 JPY (£65) or less, for a deeper show, with marketing and a reputation in the area. In fact you could have done both of the Rookie of the Year shows for just 12,000 JPY (about $76 dollars), or done top tickets at both for less than half the price of a single top tier Prizefighter ticket. Those Rookie shows consisted of 6 bouts (first show) and 7 bouts (second show), giving a lot of bang for your buck.

It’s worth noting the next show in the same venue, has the most expensive tickets at 16,500JPY (or $105) and is headlined by the very established, former world champion Tomoki Kameda in just over a month’s time. The show is headlined by a notable name from Osaka, who’s part of one of the most famous Osaka boxing families, and is reasonably priced, with the winner of the main event heading to a world title fight.

Worst of all, it appears the show wasn’t even aired in Japan, despite its links to Rakuten, who were responsible for selling the tickets. Japanese fans on social media explained they couldn’t find it on the Rakuten streaming services and DAZN also did not pick up the local rights for the event. Things likely weren’t helped here by the original March date being set to air on Abema. We do also need to wonder how much damage canceling the March date did here. Notably for that first event, which had been planned as an Abema PPV event, the ticket prices were at highest 30,000 JPY (around $200), for a show that also featured world title bouts with notable Japanese fighters on it, in Nagoya. The communication of the cancellation was poor, and may well have come to bite them in the backside with this show.

We had long awaited Matchroom’s long awaited arrival in Japan, and it seems to many in Japan, the wait continues, despite this show being a fun one to watch, it was, essentially, a show watched mostly by Westerners, rather than locals. It was a case of Matchroom not learning from their mistakes of other international ventures, and it was a case of seemingly thinking they knew best. For future shows, if Matchroom Japan is even to be a future thing, it’s clear they will need to link up with a local promoter, or promoters. Thankfully for Matchroom, there are very few promoters that work “nationwide”, so to speak, so could look to base themselves with a local promoter in one of the major or notable domestic markets, be it Tokyo in East Japan, Osaka or Kyoto in West Japan, or Nagoya in Central Japan. But if that was the case, they need to do it quickly.

If Matchroom intend to continue this tournament in Japan they really need to get their stuff sorted out. They need to reach out to a major promoter who knows how to run a show in Japan, they need to stack the card with the promoters local fighters, they need to massively reduce ticket prices, host it in a venue that has strong boxing links, get the show advertised and broadcast, and keep fans in the loop. They also need to make sure to not go head-to-head with another show in the same region, especially not a Rookie of the Year card, or a Teiken or Ohashi show in Tokyo.

To be fair they did do one thing right, they put the show on a national holiday, Marine Day, that was the only thing they got right. They did one smart thing, and dropped the ball on everything else. Hopefully this was a humbling experience, and a chance for Matchroom to understand the Japanese scene isn’t just “put on a midweek show and sell tickets”, as we see for certain fighters. Promoters like Teiken, Ohashi (both Hideyuki and Hiromasa), 3150, Watanabe, Muto, Yokohama Hikari, Shisei, Shinsei, Kadoebi, Green, Suruga Danji, all understand their markets, and their place in the Japanese boxing eco-system. For Matchroom to get any sort of success, they need to work with the promoters who are active, who have an idea of what they are doing, to make tickets affordable, and stop thinking they know better, if not, Matchroom’s Japanese venture, which has been spoken about for years, could be dead after just a few shows.

The hubris shown here was hilarious and arrogant. Matchroom essentially shit the bed, big time, and it was mistakes that were easily preventable. Putting this same event on at Korakuen Hall, making the main event Takesako Vs Dickinson, pricing tickets are no more than 20,000JPY, adding 3 bouts with local novices in 4 rounders, or a 6 rounder with a notable prospect, and getting DAZN to stream it, would have been a success, with a near sell out venue, full of passionate fans. It would likely still have struggled to make a mark financially, especially given the $100,000 shared for scoring a knockout and the $150,000 prizes up for grabs for advancing in the tournament, but would likely have been such a financial write off as we’ve likely seen today.

Matchroom, along with Never Say Never, will likely be licking their wounds after this complete mess of an event, that any experienced Japanese boxing name would have told them, would have been a failure. Hopefully the mess of today and nearly empty arena doesn’t kill the tournament stone dead, but there needs to be a rethink and a recalibration ahead of the semi finals later in the year, and any other Japanese Matchroom shows.

It's fair to saw the last few years haven't been great ones for Chinese boxing. The country was essentially shut down when Covid broke out, their main star Can Xu, was dethroned of the WBA Featherweight title and many of their emerging hopefuls such as Lei Wang, vanished from the pro-ranks. Prior to covid the Chinese scene definitely seemed to be building to something, with regular shows, and a lot of fighters all participating on the domestic scene. Some of their more notable fighters might have retired, but it was clear the country was going to unearth some diamonds in the rough, sooner or later. Sadly Covid pretty much put an end to their domestic scene and any talent discovery that was set to reap any rewards of their emerging domestic scene.
 
The one potential outlier for China right now appears to be 27 year old Minimumweight DianXing Zhu (13-1, 11), who has created some buzz in the last few years, climbed into the world rankings, and put together some thrilling performances. Although not a big name, he is must watch, has a notable local promoter, as he works with Cocky Buffalo, and has managed to carve out a small but notable fan base, and also show his ability across Asia, with fights in China, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea. Given his willingness to travel he is the perfect fighter to look at when we think of potential match ups. He's not looking to stay at home, and with his world rankings he is likely lookint ot climb up the rankings and secure himself a world title shot.
 
With that in mind, lets take at look at 5 potential bouts for Zhu, as we look at Five For... DianXing Zhu!
 
1 - Yuni Takada (14-8-3, 6)
Our first choice would be a bout that sees Zhu return to Japan, where he stopped Tomoya Yamamoto in 2023, to take on current Japanese national champion Yuni Takada. The bout would suit what both men are actually wanting, give both want to climb up the world rankings to a world title fight, and would also be a hugely entertaining fight from a stylistic point of view, with both being aggressive and both happy to let their hands go. Takada has probably just about gone beyond the competition level on the Japanese domestic level, as seen by the fact he has now faced domestic nemesis Shunsuke Isa 4 times, and a bout with another world ranked contender would be a to move his career forward. As for Zhu a win, in Japan, against Takada could well open the door for a return to the country for a world title fight at the end of the year at either 105lbs or 108lbs. This would be great fun to watch, very makeable, and very much a bout that moves the winner towards where they want to be.
 
2 - Lito Dante (21-12-4, 12)
Whilst a bout with Takada would set Zhu up nicely for a world title fight, Zhu and his team may well feel that what they need is a tough, hard, 10 or 12 round bout, against an opponent who will really push him and will refuse to go away. In steps the criminally under-rated, freakishly tough, and horribly strong Lito Dante from the Philippines. Dante isn’t the most technical fighter, and has been out boxed numerous times during his long career, however the 34 year old has never been stopped and has proven something of a gate keeper at 105lbs. Although he has double digit losses they have come to the likes of Vic Saludar, Simpiwe Konkco, Yudai Shigeoka, and the fast rising Kyosuke Takami. He is no walk in the park, and he has notched notable upsets on the road before, beating Tsubasa Koura and Takeshi Ishii in Japan. He'd likely travel to Vietnam for the fight and would really test Zhu’s gas tank, chin, ability to change tactics, and do a great job to prepare him for a potential world title shot.
 
3 - Wilfredo Mendez (18-3-1, 6)
Ranked at #8 by the WBO it seems likely that Zhu will be chasing a shot at the WBO Minimumweight title. With that in mind he perhaps will be tempted to face a former WBO world champion, and potentially the most interesting of the options there is recent champion Wilfredo Mendez. Mendez lost the title in 2021, to Masataka Taniguchi, and is 2-1-1 since then, but is still ranked in the top 15 by the WBO and his name still has some value, especially when you consider that he’s a Puerto Rican and the current WBO champion is also a Puerto Rican in the form of Oscar Collazo, allowing an extra edge to a potential Zhu Vs Collazo clash. Mendez is a really talented fighter, but is certainly on the wane, and he didn’t like he had too much ambition left when he faced Yudai Shigeoka last year. It took Shigeoka 7 rounds to stop him, and if Zhu, even against an older more faded Mendez, can do the job quicker it would be a major statement of his potential and a really throwing down the gauntlet to not just Collazo, as a fellow Puerto Rican, but also Shigeoka, the current WBC champion.
 
4 - Masataka Taniguchi (17-4, 11)
Of course Zhu isn’t limited to fighting at just 105lbs and he has tested the water in the past at higher weight classes. If he can’t get a world title shot at 105lbs the next best option would likely be 108lbs and and another man looking to establish himself at Light Flyweight is former WBO Minimumweight champion Masataka Taniguchi, who dethroned the aforementioned Wilfredo Mendez. Taniguchi, who is now 30, is a fighter who seems to be coming to the end of his career, which promised a lot following a strong amateur career but has fallen a little short of expectations. Despite that he is a talented, aggressive, exciting fighter to watch and his style should gel really well with Zhu’s from a fan’s perspective, and the winner of the clash would move towards a world title fight, at either 105lbs or 108lbs, though it would seem more likely to be at Light Flyweight. From Zhu’s perspective a win over Taniguchi would really make his name in Japan, and open doors for plenty of fights there, whilst chasing a world title, whilst a win for Taniguchi could take him a step towards getting a shot at Kenshiro Teraji, who stopped his close friend and Watanabe gym stablemate Hiroto Kygoguchi just a few fights back
 
5 - Azael Villar (20-3-4, 15)
If Zhu is set to pursue a title at 108lbs, rather than 105lbs, he might want to make a mark against a fighter ranked there and one such fighter is Panama's Azael Villar, who has traveled for recent fights going to Japan and Nicaragua to fight in 3 of his last 5 bouts. He would be much bigger than Zhu, but in many ways that might play into Zhu's strength with Zhu having great work rate and pressure, and some brutal body punching, which given Villar's long torso would be an inviting target. Villar is no push over, despite going 1-2-1 in his last 4, and is very dangerous, as Ryo Miyazaki found out, but he can be out fought, he can be hurt, he can be out boxed. If Cocky Buffalo can lure Villar over to Asia for the fight this is a very winnable one, against a good name at 108lbs. It is however the bout that may carry the most risk of any of the bouts on here, and wouldn’t make much sense unless Zhu will be committing to 108lbs going forward.

Back on February 4th we saw Japanese sensation Junto Nakatani (27-0, 20) become a 3-weight world champion, with a sensational performance against Alexandro Santiago, who was stopped in 6 rounds, to claim the WBC Bantamweight title. The performance was a real eye opening, and showed that not only was Nakatani a brilliant boxer, something we’d known for years, but that he was getting better, and that his power had easily carried up from Flyweight, to Super Flyweight to Bantamweight. In fact if anything he was becoming a heavier puncher as matured and grew into his body. In fact it may well be fair to say he’s more suited to fighting at Bantamweight today, than he was at the lower weights when he was younger. 

With the win over Santiago talk immediately went on to what could be next for the 26 year old southpaw. The immediate talk was unification bouts with WBO champion Jason Moloney (27-2, 27), WBA champion Takuma Inoue (19-1, 5) or IBF champion Emmanuel Rodriguez (22-2-0-1, 13). Sadly that talk needs to be put on ice for now, with all 3 champions set to defend their titles in May against Japanese challengers, with Inoue facing Moloney facing Yoshiki Takei (8-0, 8), Inoue facing Sho Ishida (34-3, 17) and Rodriguez facing Ryosuke Nishida (8-0, 1). Not only do those bouts take all 3 champions out of the mix for now, but also 3 top Japanese contenders, leaving Nakatani looking for a new dance partner.

Despite 6 notable names in the division competing in title fights in May, there are still a lot of interesting potential options out there for Nakatani. Here we’ll take a look at 5 potential foes for the talented Japanese sensation.

1-Vincent Astrolabio (19-4, 14)
The obvious choice, for now, is Filipino fighter Vincent Astrolabio, who won a WBC eliminator last summer when he beat Navapon Khaikanha in Thailand and is the top available contender. The Filipino isn’t a big name, though did run Moloney razor thin in a WBO title bout last May, and has scored a number of notable wins in the last few years, stopping Navapon and Nikolai Potapov, and also beating Guillermo Rigondeaux. The bout would serve as a measuring stick of sorts against Moloney, who was taken to the wire by the Filipino, would deal with the WBC mandatory situation, give Nakatani a bout to fill the short term, and potentially also get him a bout in the States, where 2 of Astrolabio’s last 3 bouts have been. The bout is a dangerous one, with the Filipino being high-risk, low reward, but also being the sort of fighter that Nakatani should deal with, if he’s nearly as good as he seems.

2-Paul Butler (36-3, 17)
We mentioned Astrolabio being a chance for Nakatani to measure himself against Jason Moloney, but Nakatani is possibly wanting to compare himself against someone else, Naoya “Monster” Inoue. One way to do that is to face a former foe of Inoue’s and one such fighter is Britain’s Paul Butler, the former 2-time world champion who survived into round 11 with Inoue in 2022, when the men met in a bout for all the marbles. Butler’s performance that day was all about surviving, and he put up no real offensive effort, but it still took Inoue 11 rounds to stop him. If Nakatani faced him, he would be looking to take out Butler quicker than that and make a real statement. Butler, aged 35, would likely jump at the opportunity to return to Japan and have a chance to show what he can do when not facing someone as amazing Inoue, and is highly ranked by the WBC making this a potential bout that makes sense. The fight would also help improve Nakatani’s profile in the UK, and potentially help sell his future bouts to a British audience.

3-Seiya Tsutsumi (10-0-2, 7)
With Inoue, Takei, Ishida and Nishida all scheduled to fight in May, looking for a domestic opponent doesn’t give us many choices for a domestic showdown. One of the few exceptions to that is Japanese Bantamweight champion Seiya Tsutsumi, who has plenty of momentum of his own, and also created a lot of buzz last year, with his tragic win over Kazuki Anaguchi on December 26th. The unbeaten, heavy handed, determined and gutsy Tsutusmi won fans over with his win over Anaguchi, and proved what he was capable of whilst also generating a lot of buzz for himself, and he would certainly make for a fan friendly opponent for Nakatani. The bout would be regarded as something of a mismatch in favour of Nakatani, but it would be easy to make, it would be fun to watch, and give Nakatani a bout against someone who still has some buzz, not just in Japan but also in the West, with ESPN having shown both men’s most recent bout.

4-Roman Gonzalez (51-4, 41)
It’s well known that Nicaraguan legend Roman Gonzalez wants to become a 5 weight world champion and to do that he’ll be looking at Bantamweight for his 5th divisional title. With all the other champions fighting in May the only real option for him, unless he wants to wait until the end of the year, is Nakatani. It would be hard to see Gonzalez winning against someone as big, as sharp, as powerful and good as Nakatani, but it would pretty much be his only chance to get a shot at a title anytime soon. The Nicaraguan legend is well known, and even loved, in Japan where he fought much of his career, and ending his career against an emerging Japanese star would be a fitting way to end his career, win or lose. For Nakatani it would be a rare chance to share a ring with a living legend, and a win over Gonzalez, even this faded version of Gonzalez, would enhance his resume. Notably this bout could sell in either the US or Japan, with Gonzalez being well known on both sides of the Pacific, and would, in some ways, act as a potential passing of the torch from one legend of the sport, to someone some are suggesting will be a future legend.

5-Kazuto Ioka (31-2-1, 16)
Talking about Nakatani facing a legend, one other potential legend that he could face is Kazuto Ioka, who like Gonzalez would be looking to become a world champion in a 5th weight class something no Japanese man has ever done. The bout, like the Gonzalez one, would see Nakatani trying to rip the proverbial torch from an older, more established fighter and use the bout to further cement himself as one of the elite lower weight fighters, Ioka might not be the legend that Gonzalez is, but is still a very accomplished fighter, who has long been one of the main faces of Japanese boxing. At 34 years old time is ticking on his career and if he can claim a fifth divisional world title and end his career as a Bantamweight world champion it would be huge for his already incredibly legacy. Sadly this bout, despite being a really interesting one which would see Nakatani taking on one of the most rounded fighters in the lower weights, is one that could see broadcast contracts prevent the bout from taking place, and could be a very hard one to make from a contractual perspective. Despite that it’s certainly one we would love to see, and one that would give both men a big fight, something they both want, with a lot to gain from a victory.

Last week we saw the unexpected, and much maligned, announcement of Logan Paul Vs Mike Tyson. The bout has plenty of issues, and if we’re being honest it’s not a fight that we suspect many boxing fans want to watch, however it is likely to be the biggest watched fight of 2024, and one of the biggest of all time. That sounds hyperbolic, but the reality is that the fight genuinely could set some amazing viewing figures and could be the fight that kick starts a new era in boxing. An era that was always going to come, but an era that probably needed a “freak fight” or “circus event” to kick start, rather than a “boxing event” to get off the floor. Especially in a world where boxing is such a fractured mess of a sport, with too many people having their fingers in the pie.

The reason the fight will be so widely viewed, and why it will begin a new era of boxing comes completely down to the broadcaster of the event. Netflix. 

In recent years we have seen boxing move from being a mostly TV based sport to more and more online formats. It’s gone from Showtime and HBO in the US, and Fuji TV, NTV, Tokyo TV, G+ and TBS in Japan, and gone mostly online. There is still boxing on TV in some countries, but we’ve definitely seen a huge rise in online distribution of boxing. Services like DAZN, Amazon Prime, AmebaTV, Thriller and Boxing Raise, among others, have picked up the sport and taken it from TV to online. They’ve all found a niche, so far, but they’ve yet to really have that monster event that earns massive traction and clicks with the casual fan.

There will be some people suggestion DAZN or Amazon have managed it, but in reality neither have come close. In fact what Netflix could do, could be multiple times bigger than anything DAZN or Amazon have done with the sport.

DAZN has tried to penetrate the sports market globally, with boxing as one of it’s prongs. It’s been an unmitigated failure on it’s early promise and in many Netflix’s move into sports could show how toothless DAZN has been. When it began in certain territories DAZN was dubbed the “Netflix of sports”, the reality is that it was more an obscure service, appealing to a few million people world wide, and completely unable to move the needle. It struggled to make stars in the sport, and the stars that went there made money, but seemed to lose profile. A great example of that is Anthony Joshua, who seemed like a much bigger star in the UK when he was on Sky Sports, whilst Saul “Canelo” Alvarez was their tent peg signing, and has since left the service, with his next bout being on Amazon Prime PPV.

DAZN’s early promise for boxing explicitly was that it was the PPV killer, and essentially your subscription would get you all the content the service was going to create. Since then however prices have consistently been going up, PPV’s have been put on the service, and it has failed to kill PPV off, whilst also failing to become the Netflix of sport and failing to be more than a relatively niche service. DAZN claim to have “over 60 million registered premium users and 300 million monthly customers", which sounds great, but they are still making a loss of over $1Billion and it really doesn’t seem like it’s had the traction needed for them to fulfill their plans of being the “Netflix of sport”. They have failed to get things like the Premier League rights in the UK or NFL in the US. The two sports, in their relevant regions, that could have really changed their fortunes. Their coverage is varied, and there’s no doubting that they’ve picked up some obscure and interesting cards, but they’ve fallen a long way short of their early promise, and really struggled to turn their service into the online global home of sport.

Amazon Prime, so far, haven’t really done a lot with boxing. So far their biggest impact on the sport has been picking up some huge shows in Japan, including bouts feature Naoya Inoue, Junto Nakatani and the huge bout between Gennady Golovkin and Ryota Murata, which was aired on DAZN in some DAZN markets. Outside of Japan they’ve not really had much of an impact on the sport, with their big shows all being picked up by other services internationally and essentially only being significant in Japan and working with others, rather than leveraging their global position to market events. That’s set to change, and they’ve recently signed a deal with PBC and will broadcast PBC events, including Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s upcoming bout with Jamie Munguia. Going forward, though it does seem the focus will be PPV events, rather than regular events for subscribers, as we’ll see with the upcoming clash between Tim Tszyu and Keith Thurman and the aforementioned Canelo bout.

Having mentioned how Amazon Prime shows, so far, have focused on Japan, with the broadcasts being picked up by partners in the West, such as ESPN+, it’s worth noting that even the big kick start to Amazon Prime’s boxing content in the West will be doing the same. As mentioned it will be on Amazon Prime PPV in the US, it will also be PPV in Australia, with Kayo and Main Event, and on WOWOW in Japan. The UK broadcaster hasn’t, at the time of writing, been confirmed.

With around 230,000,000 subscribers Amazon has the potential to change the face of boxing. For that to happen however they would need to make changes to the way they cover the sport, and leverage their full potential and weight behind what they do. Part of that will be to give free content, essentially adding value to the subscription they offer for sports fans, something that seems inevitable as the streaming wars take a huge step up. The second, and the more notable one, is that they will need to stop sharing their global rights to events. The events they do really should be global events, on Amazon Prime, with Amazon Prime Video being in control of the broadcast around the world, offering multiple language for commentary, and running the entire thing exclusively under their banner.

Enter Netflix.

The Paul Vs Tyson bout might not feature a current elite level boxer, or a world champion, or even someone near a world title. It does however feature two huge names, with crossover appeal, and international recognition. Tyson might be a retired old man more than 30 years removed from his prime, and you might absolutely despise what the Paul brothers do, but there is no denying the fact that both are huge names, who have massive profile and can easily generate buzz. Everyone over the age of 25 knows who Mike Tyson is, whether it’s from remember him in his prime, the controversy he had, the ear biting of Evander Holyfield, his place in history or seeing him on referenced in TV shows and general pop culture. As for Paul, he’s a modern day social media mega star, who has genuinely crossed over, and whilst his boxing career leaves a lot to be desired in the eyes of many, he has a huge following, especially among the under 25’s.

What the bout is, however, is a Netflix production. A Netflix event. An added value offering from Netflix, who are getting involved in live sports and live sports entertainment. And are putting this on their subscription service, globally, not behind a PPV, and not sharing the broadcast around different parts of the world. This isn’t like Amazon Prime Japan working with ESPN+ for the US broadcast, or Amazon Prime in the US hiding their fights behind a second paywall, instead this is Netflix, leveraging their position as a streaming giant, with 260,000,000 subscribers to showcase what they can do.

If Netflix play their cards right, they will not only have a huge audience for their first ever boxing event, but also open the door to future follow on events. If Paul and Netflix are smart, they will actually load this card with exciting, fun, easy to watch TV friendly fighters, and use it as a showcase not just for Netflix but also as a real window for emerging talent. It’s unlikely Netflix will want to be one and done in boxing after a circus main event, so being able to market their next event(s) based on who’s on the under-card will be a smart move, and giving someone like Amanda Serrano a major fight on the show, perhaps rescheduling her recently canceled bout with Nina Meinke could help really build the profile of future events.

Yes, we have seen a lot of false dawns in boxing, and yes major bouts will never be free to air again, at least not like they used to be, but with Netflix set to lay down a marker of sorts with the Paul Vs Tyson bout, capturing an incredible global audience, and showing what can happen when the streaming service takes global rights of an even, we could well be set to see a genuine change in how boxing is shown. We might well see Netflix become the Netflix of sport, doing what DAZN promised, and failed. Alternatively they might be one and done, though with WWE content coming to Netflix in the future, we suspect Netflix will want to out do Amazon Prime and DAZN, and prove themselves to be the daddy when it comes to online streaming services. Their foray into boxing comes, not with a whimper or an obscure bout that appeals only to boxing fans, but instead a global crossover event. They are putting down a marker from day 1. And the other services will need to find ways to match the global appeal of Paul Vs Tyson.

Whether you feel the bout is a joke, a dangerous event, an exhibition, something that shouldn’t be sanctioned, it’s hard to deny that Netflix, will almost certainly smash the viewing figures of any other fight this year, with their shrewd bit of business and their willingness to “give this away for free”. The real question isn’t about this event, but whether Netflix can capitalise on it, if so there is no doubting Netflix have the tools needed to really change this industry. They have the subscribers, the money, the connections and the technology to completely shake up boxing. If they want to. And, whether we like it or not, it could well be that Jake Paul is the spearhead for this potentially massive change. We’ll need to wait and see, but Paul along with Netflix, have certainly changed industries in the past, and we can’t put it past them doing it again here. The may have started showing sport after Amazon Prime and DAZN, but with just 1 event, they could well catch up, and quickly over take their two rivals.

Last weekend we saw former IBF Super Flyweight Champion Jerwin Ancajas suffer a hugely surprising TKO loss at the hands of light punching WBA Bantamweight champion Takuma Inoue. Going into the bout Inoue, the younger brother of Japanese sensation Naoya, was the big betting favourite, but odds of 7/1 on the stoppage seemed to suggest that no ne gave him a chance to stop the highly skilled Filipino. There is however a case to be made, that Ancajas's stoppage to Inoue may have had more to do, not with Inoue, but a former Ancajas foe, as well as Ancajas himself.
 
The 32 year old Filipino "Pretty Boy" had really made his name at Super Flyweight, holding the IBF title between September 2016, when he defeated McJoe Arroyo in an upset in Taguig City, though to February 2022 when he was dethroned by Argentinian monster Fernando Daniel Martinez. The Martinez bout in in early 2022 was a bludgeoning bout, with Martinez landing a staggering 427 punches according to Compubox (whilst Ancajas landed 192 himself), with 40+ punches a round landing from Martinez from round 8 to the final bell. Whilst Compubox isn't 100% accurate, the punch numbers, even if they are 75% right here, tell a tale, and it was the tale we saw in the ring. Ancajas got a beating through the fight, especially in the later rounds. It was as if Ancajas had ran out of steam, and had had to rely on his heart, determination and toughness to see the final bell. He had looked exhausted and like a beaten man.
 
Stood at 5'6" and with a rather big frame, it had long seemed like making 115lbs was a struggle for Ancajas, who has spoken about moving up in weight for quite a while. The loss to Martinez should have been his last at Super Flyweight.
 
Instead of leaving the division, and allowing his body to naturally fill out, Ancajas and his team faced Martinez in a rematch. A rematch that we predicted would end with Martinez doing what he failed to do in the first bout, and stop Ancajas, with our prediction being TKO10 Martinez [https://www.asianboxing.info/world-title-previews/repeat-or-revenge-as-martinez-and-ancajas-face-off-again]. We were wrong that night, with Ancajas gritting it out and surviving the distance again, but again losing a wide decision. Both were less active than in their first meeting, but much like their first bout, there was no argument on who had won, and who had taken the more punishment. If anything it almost seemed like Martinez was too comfortable at times, and not quite as willing to fight in top gear as he had been as the challenger.
 
With 24 punishing rounds against Martinez, likely fought with Ancajas struggling at the weight, the damage, in our eyes was done. He was still a talented fighter, but the miles on the clock were adding up. Those were 24 tough rounds with Martinez, that had also added to 12 tough rounds against Jonathan Rodriguez, in 2021, and 12 with Alexandro Santiago in 2018.
 
As Ancajas been boiling down his body a lot was made of his return following the second loss to Martinez, which was an easy win in June 2023 against journeyman Wilner Soto. For that bout Ancajas was just under the Super Bantamweight limit, maybe, for the first time in a long time, he was at the weight where his body was comfortable. The weight he should have continued his career at. The weight that was best for him. Instead he returned at Bantamweight, and took on Takuma. At times he looked sharp against Inoue, though at times it seemed the speed, movement and counters of Inoue were the difference maker. Especially after the first few rounds. Even when Inoue stood and traded with Ancajas, a risky gameplan given the difference in perceived power, Inoue held his own, and of course it was whilst up close that Inoue would land the body shot that closed the show.
 
Early in the bout it was easy to see Ancajas was the physically bigger man. Like a man who had boiled down to make the weight then added quite a bit of water weight. He looked thick set, and it was easy to ask, just how easily had he made Bantamweight. Was the 3lbs extra really all he needed? Or was he still struggling at the new weight? If we were to guess, we would assume he was still drained, and would have been much more comfortable at Super Bantamweight. He wouldn't have been able to get a title fight there, at least not for a while, but would almost certainly have been more comfortable.
 
Whilst the stoppage was surprising, maybe it shouldn't have been. Ancajas had taken a lot of punishment, especially in the Martinez bouts, he was still potentially cutting a lot of weight and at 32 maybe his body was simply wearing those miles, and Inoue was in the right place, at the right time, to take the wheels completely off a tough, brave, gutsy fighter.
 
We'll see if Ancajas returns, what he has left in the tank, but with 3 punishing losses in 4 bouts, we wouldn't be surprised at all, if the Pretty boy bows out now, rather than having his name added to the records of emerging hopefuls, prospects and those wanting the name of a faded world champion on their resumes.

​

In recent year's we've seen the Ohashi Gym become one of the major hotbeds for Japanese talent, thanks to the likes of Akira Yaegashi and Naoya Inoue. The man behind the gym was himself a fantastic fighter, and a 2-time world champion back in the early 1990's. That was Hideyuki Ohashi who we get to shine a light on today with one of his most eye catching KO's from 1989.
 
Hideyuki Ohashi (11-3, 7) vs Boy Kid Emilia (5-3)
So as we mentioned Hideyuki Ohashi was a 2-time world champion in the 1990's. Prior to winning a world title he was touted very highly, and was expected to be a major star, despite having suffered 3 losses in his first 14 bouts. It's hard to believe now, in this day and ave, but a fighter with early losses wasn't always written off, and a fighter could take risks. That was particularly true of Ohashi who had twice lost to Jung Koo Chang by this point in his career.
 
Although he had 3 losses to his name Ohashi had now moved down in weight, leaving the Light Flyweight division to compete at Minimumweight, the division that he would have success at. In his 4th bout after losing to Chang, for the second time, Ohashi took on Boy Kid Emilia.
 
We don't really know much about Boy Kid Emilia other than what boxrec has about him. So according to them he debuted in 1986, lost 2 of his first 3 bouts before reeling 44 straight wins. He seemed to be getting his career back in track before a decision loss in summer 1989 to future world champion Manny Melchor.
 
Despite his boxrec record there is some dispute over how experienced Emilia was. Whilst Boxrec list him as being 5-3, and listed him as 3-3 back in 2016, the on screen graphic stated he was 12-4-1 (2). In reality he was probably more experienced than boxrec suggest, but we're really not sure how experienced.
 
Sadly for Emilia a match up with Ohashi didn't go well for him, in fact it appears to have ended his career, in truly brutal fashion. We say appears to, but as with many Filipino's from the 1980's we're not totally sure on that. Given how the bout ended though, it would be little surprise if this was the end of his career. It is a brutal knockout.
 
The first round saw Ohashi control the action from the center of the ring, fighting in his typical aggressive counter punching style. He was trying to draw mistakes from Emilia who, to his credit, had some success against the much talented Ohashi. Ohashi won the first round but there was nothing to suggest what we were going to see in round 2.
 
In round 2 Ohashi began to step up his pressure a bit more, tighten his guard, and catch Emilia with some solid shots. About 2 into the round Ohashi pinned Emilia on to the ropes and went to work, although Emilia managed to escape the pressure continued from Ohashi.
 
That pressure from Ohashi saw him land a huge body shot that could have sent a lesser fighter down. Emilia took it well but a huge right hand just moments later, right on the jaw, dropped the Filipino hard. There was no need to count. This was over. Emilia was out cold before he hit the canvas. The right hand had turned out all of the lights and Emilia's corner man, along with the referee and one of Ohashi's team went over to assist the Filipino.
 
This is a brutal KO, a sign that even the smallest men in the sport can bang.
 
As mentioned Emilia doesn't seem to have fought after this KO loss.
 
As for Ohashi he won the WBC Minimumweight title just 4 months later, claiming his first title. He would lost the belt in October 1990, to Ricardo Lopez, before claiming the WBA title in 1992. More recently he has become well known for the success of the Ohashi gym, and the way he has developed fighters like Inoue and Yaegashi.