We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect former world title challenger Z Gorres to former world champion Ji won Kim.
Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-The extremely talented and popular Z Gorres was tipped for big things when he turned professional. "The Dream" was highly skilled, had a good boxing brain and unlike some other ALA Gym prospects he was a boxer first, rather than a puncher like AJ Banal and Rey Bautista. Gorres made his professional debut all the way back on March 31st 2001, in Cebu City. That very same day a Mexican fighter by the name of Daniel Ponce De Leon made his debut in Chihuahua, Mexico. 2-During his career Daniel Ponce De Leon managed to have remarkable success despite being technically rather limited. Despite not being a smooth, polished boxer he had a trait that could bail him out at a moment's notice. That was his frightening power. Ponce De Leon showed that power in impressive fashion in his second bout against Sod Kokietgym, when he scored a terrifying KO of the Thai fighter. 3-Sadly for Thailand's Sod Kokietgym it wasn't just Ponce De Leon that stopped him but also frustrating Cuban genius Guillermo Rigondeaux, who gave Sod his third and final loss in Macao in 2014. That would end up being Sod's third and final shot at a world title, and he would only fight once more after this loss, a decision win in Thailand, before retiring. 4-As we all know Guillermo Rigondeaux was a brilliant amateur boxer before turning professional. The talented Cuban's style was exceptional in the amateur ranks where he went on to claim numerous titles and medals. They included gold medals at two Olympics, joining a very small number of fighters to have achieved that feat. One of those golds came at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Another man who won a gold medal at those same games was tragic Kazakh Bekzat Sattarkhanov. 5-On his route to winning gold at the Sydney games Bekzat Sattarkhanov defeated a number of notable names. They included American Rocky Juarez, in the final and South African Jeffrey Mathebula, in the round of 16. 6-Despite failing to win a medal at the 2000 Olympics Jeffrey Mathebula did have success in the professional ranks, using his long and gangly frame to great effect. As a professional the highlight of his career was winning the IBF Super Bantamweight title, which he won in 2012. Another former IBF Super Bantamweight champion was Korean fighter Ji Won Kim, who was the third fighter to hold that belt back in the 1980's.
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Between 2005 and 2017 Japanese fighter Satoshi Hosono (33-4-1, 22) was a 3 time world title challenger who managed to become a 2-time Japanese national champion and an OPBF champion. The talented man from the Ohashi Gym may never have managed to win a world title, but no one ever had an easy time with him.
Whilst Hosono is now a somewhat forgotten fighter on the global scene he's still well remembered by Asian fight fans, and his bouts against the likes of Poonsawat Kratingdeanggym were certainly memorable and tough fights. Although he failed at the top he did manage notable wins against the likes of Hiroyuki Enoki, Takuya Watanabe and Akifumi Shimoda and is certainly a fighter who has become a bit over-looked following his retirement. Today we give you 5 Midweek Facts about Satoshi Hosono as we trying to shine a light on someone who was a very solid contender for much of his 38 fight career. 1-Hosono's amateur record was 40-23 (20) and included a number of national titles as well as a bronze medal at the 2004 President's Cup in Indonesia. 2-Despite being a 2-time Japanese Featherweight champion and an OPBF Featherweight champion Hosono never beat a reigning champion for a title. Instead he won vacant titles to begin all 3 of his title reigns. Interestingly he never actually lost a title in the ring either, ending his 3 reigns by vacating. 3-During his career Hosono was known as "Bazooka" due to his power. Although not a huge 1-punch KO artist he was heavy handed fighter and managed to record a least 1 stoppage in every round from 1 to 10. 4-Prior to Hosono's bout with Chris John in 2013 Hosono changed lead trainer. He left long term trainer Koji Matsumoto and began to work with Shiro Sakuma, who had lead Keitaro Hoshino to a world title at the Hanagata Gym. Matsumoto remained part of the team however and is still one of the main trainers at the Ohashi Gym. 5-Hosono revealed his retirement in March 2019, when he announced he was retiring on his blog. His final bout had been more than a year earlier. Back on December 10th we saw Japanese Light Welterweight champion Daishi Nagata (15-2-2, 6) make his first defense of the title he won back in July, when he upset Koki Inoue. In that defense Nagata fought to a 7th round technical draw against Akihiro Kondo (32-9-2, 18) in a bout that is seriously worth watching for those that missed it. It wasn’t a fight of the year contender, but was a compelling bout, and one to enjoy during the upcoming barren stretch from boxing.
Having watched the bout when it aired in December, and now going back over to rewatch it we thought we’d discuss what we took from the bout, and what we saw from the two men that was worth talking about 1-This started at a hot pace With Nagata having secured a career best win over Koki Inoue just a few months before this fight it was clear that he was going to be flying high with confidence coming into this one. He tried to show that straight from the off and put a lot into round 1 as confidence and excitement seemed to be driving him on. Given that Nagata is a really good boxer and Kondo is a really tough guy we’re not too sure why Nagata didn’t try to control the bout at a slower pace and use his speed to control the action. Whatever the reason it didn’t matter, this started hot and was really fun from the opening bell due to Nagata’s decision to take the fight to Kondo, and Kondo’s willingness to respond and counter. Sadly for Nagata we suspect this hot pace he looked to set will turn into a learning experience for future bouts. 2-Kondo isn’t shot... but he is old In 2019 Akihiro Kondo suffered losses to Downua Ruawaiking, via 5th round KO, and Andy Hiraoki, by UD10, and heading into 2020 we had assumed he was pretty much shot. In reality however he’s not shot, in fact the 35 year old is still a very, very capable fighter. He is however an old fighter, and his speed has dropped just a touch along with his reactions and movement. His timing is still there, his toughness is still there and he’s full of experience. If a fighter wants to beat Kondo the best tactics are not to treat him like a shot fighter and blast him out, that’s not going to happen. To beat Kondo you really should be looking to avoid a fight, boxing smartly and staying on the move, don’t let him time his counters and certainly don’t stand still in front of him. Even as early as the opening round Kondo was landing solid right hands on Nagata, and chin checking the champion. Nagata may have been winning the early rounds but he was certainly not getting things all his own way. With this in mind we would certainly not suggest Jin Sasaki’s team look at Kondo for a bout in 2021, he’s too tough, too rugged and too experienced for the teenage sensation. 3-The bout had great atmosphere at Korakuen Hall Given that the Japanese Boxing Commission has really limited what fans are allowed to do at fights, in terms of preventing cheering, chanting, yelling and the like, it was great to hear a raucous atmosphere here for this bout. It was a rough, tough war, with a lot of shots being landed by both and it deserved the atmosphere it got, with plenty of nose being made by fans who were clearly picked up on the camera. Whilst it did seem like some of the noise was probably prohibited noise, there was also plenty of applause from excited fans who knew they were getting a really, really good bout. It’s a shame the bout ended the way it did, following Nagata being badly cut from head clashes, but it was a good one and it got a worthy reception from the crowd… ...or at least we think it did. Sadly the camera at Korakuen Hall was focused on the far side of the ring and the fans there didn’t seem to be showing much in terms of excitement or emotion, so this take away does come with the caveat that the noise may have been added afterwards. If that was the case it was well done, and did actually add to the fight, rather than distract from it. 4-Nagata was lucky when the bout was stopped It can seem silly at times to talk about a fighter being lucky but we really do feel that Nagata was very, very lucky for the early conclusion here. He seemed to be getting tagged repeatedly and Kondo seemed to be coming on strong, and had been for several rounds. Had this bout gone on much longer Nagata would almost certainly have ended up taking the loss on the scorecards. It’s never great to defend a title by technical draw, but it’s better than losing it by technical decision and had this bout gone midway into round 8 we genuinely feel the title would have changed hands. Sadly for Kondo he does have himself to blame, he admitted his gameplan was about coming on strong in the middle rounds and had he started to get more offensive just 1 round earlier he would have had rounds in the bag needed to take home the decision and the Japanese title. 5-Michiaki Someya did a great job We feel this goes without saying now but Michiaki Someya continued to do a great job as the referee. He was clear with his instructions to the fighters, who fell into a number of ugly clinches as the bout went on, he was clear when he ruled out a knockdown in round 2 and felt comfortable correcting himself when he realised it was a slip, he was always aware of what was going on and when they could work in a clinch he let them. He seemed to quickly realise that due to the orthodox Vs southpaw dynamic that clinches could get messy and head clashes could occur and did his best to limit them. He couldn’t prevent them all, but he did a good job in a fight that could easily have gotten very ugly at times. The excellent Boxing Raise service is one of those that we suggest every fight fan wanting to follow Japanese boxing at least considers subscribing to, at least on and off, and the service has regularly delivered some of the best fights we’ve seen every month. In December the one absolute stand out bout was the Super Flyweight clash between Ryoji Fukunaga (13-4, 13) and Kenta Nakagawa (19-4-1, 12).
The bout saw Fukunaga unify the WBO Asia Pacific Super Flyweight title, which he held going into the bout, with the Japanese title, that Nakagawa held, and the previously vacant OPBF title, to see him end the year a triple crown winner. It wasn’t however just a big fight in terms of the silverware on the line, but also the in ring action with the bout being a truly brilliant fight, one of the legitimate Japanese Fight of the Year contenders. In the end Fukunaga, the bigger puncher, came out on top, thanks to a 10th round TKO but before we got there we had everything we could ask for, and the two men really delivered something special. 1-Kadoebi’s pre-fight presentation added something Before the ring entrances Kadoebi played something of hype package before hand showing highlights of the two men along with interviews of the two fighters and a voice over of someone building up anticipation for the bout. Whilst the fight really didn’t need anything to build it up, it was still great to see Kadoebi going the extra few steps and delivering a really nice build up video. If we’re going to have to wait a few moments for a fight then using something like this is fantastic, and something we really should start seeing in the west, rather than going to a studio team who end up chatting garbage for far too long. This was short, it was sharp, it made the bout feel a little bit more important and let us see, and hear, from the men we were about to see fight. It was only a minute or two but it served its purpose really well and added a little bit of extra gloss to the fight. 2-Fukunaga can really take a shot! Whilst we already know Ryoji Fukunaga was a big puncher, what this bout showed is that he can really take a shot too. This wasn’t shown too much early on, but as the bout progressed, and as both men grew tired, both landed with alarming regularity and both seemed to buzz the other with clean shots, that were followed up on. Amazingly whilst Fukunaga was buzzed a few times he never really looked close to going down. He has been down in the past, and was down in his previous fight against Froilan Saludar, but here he looked like a man possessed with staying on his feet no matter what. It was a testament to grit, determination and toughness for him to stay up right in rounds 8 and 9 in particular. More about those rounds a little later. When a man is fighting and has that “you’ll never stop me” mentality, he’s a very, very hard man to beat, and we saw that so much here. He physically and mentally beat Nakagawa here. 3-The all-southpaw dynamic wasn’t an issue Often when we get all-southpaw bouts the dynamic of the fight is off, with many all-southpaw bouts feeling awkward and failing to catch fire. This was not one of those bouts. The two men shared respect for each other early on, but when they began to find their groove, and get comfortable this became a bout that got better and better as it went on. Early on both men took their time looking to find their range, used their jabs and began to lay the groundwork for what was to come later in the bout. Nakagawa was dropped in round 4, and from there on fireworks were seen regularly between the two men, who had no issues at all with their opponents stance. This was perhaps the best all-southpaw bout of 2020, and it is one that seriously deserves a watch as the drama unfolds in amazing fashion. 4-Rounds 8, 9 and 10...what the hell! We had some amazing fights in 2020, and some fantastic rounds, though rarely have we had back to back round of the year contenders. This fight however gave us just that with rounds 8 and 9, and what we had of round 10, being insane. The action started quickly in both rounds, and saw the two men both landing bombs, both looked out on their feet several times, before responding with a huge burst of shots of their own. It seemed like both men had not just fought themselves to a standstill but also fought the other into waking up, and digging deeper and deeper into their energy reserves. Going beyond the point of fighting on fumes, and beyond the tank being empty. This was almost 8 and a half minutes of pure brutality and beautiful violence. If you haven’t got boxing raise these rounds alone are worth the price of a month subscription and are absolutely sensational. Action, drama, determination, desire, brutality, heart and jaw dropping back and forth. These rounds were simply awesome. 5-Yuji Fukuchi did an amazing job It seems like we’re always praising Japanese referees in this series but they often deserve, as Yuji Fukuchi did here. A less referee would have jumped in multiple times during this bout. Ian John Lewis for example would have denied us much of the fight. Fukuchi however allowed this to go on, even when both men were rocked, tired, and looking close to spent. He gave the fighters the chance to fight back, he let them show their heart and their fighting spirit and made it clear that they were allowed to fight. He did an amazing job by letting the fight flow, by letting the bout come to a natural conclusion and made a perfect stoppage when he finally stepped in and saved Nakagawa. His patience and understanding of the fighters, the understanding of the bout he was officiating, and what the fight meant allowed him to do the perfect job and few would have done as good a job as Fukuchi did. We’ve praised Michiaki Someya and Nobuto Ikehara multiple times during this series but Fukuchi did just as good here. Genuinely fantastic from the referee. In the days following Christmas Boxing Raise were in Osaka where they recorded the latest Green Tsuda show, from the EDION Arena Osaka. Among the bouts on that card was the highly anticipated return of Katsunari Takayama (32-8-0-1, 12), who faced Reiya Konishi (17-3, 7) in a bout that was originally scheduled for November. The bout, Takayama's first in more than 4 years, saw the former multi-time world champion look fantastic as he out sped, out pointed, out landed, out boxed and out thought the naturally bigger and naturally stronger Konishi, who looked second best throughout.
Having recently re-watched the bout we've decided to share what we took away from the bout, and what the bout really tells us about the two men. 1-Takayama looked so sharp Little fighters age quicker, and fighters who fight at 105lbs or 108lbs tend to not have very long careers. In fact by their mid 30's they are usually done at the top tier and never really recapture any form. Aged 37 however Takayama looked fantastic, and didn't look like a man who's last professional bout came back in 2016. Whilst he had fought a few amateur bouts since his last professional contest it was still a real surprise to see him looking this good. He was just as fleet as he had ever been, he seemed to have improved his head movement since his 2016 bout with Riku Kano, he looked full of energy, and set a high output, to go along with his non-stop movement. Unsurprisingly he never looked close to stopping Konishi, someone who has gone the distance with Carlos Canizalez and Felix Alvarado, but he dominated pretty much every minute of the fight. A brilliant performance. 2-Stylistically this was a bad bout for Konishi Through his now 20 fight career Reiya Konishi has been involved in some great scraps, and this one had the potential to be another nail biter, at least on paper. In the end however wasn’t as exciting as we expected and that was because of the styles the two men employed. Konishi has great work rate and a fun physical style, but he’s got relatively slow feet and due to the movement of Takayama he could never force his will, despite being the naturally bigger man. He whiffed at the air time and time again, missing, whilst eating leather. He pressed forward, only to taste more and more of Takayama’s shots. Against the right opponent, one who is willing to stand and trade rather than box on the move, Konishi does have success, but Takayama’s movement, and sharp clean really made him look incredibly limited here. 3-There was real respect for the fighters by the crowd One of the things that has been a negative in recent months for Japanese boxing is the deathly silent crowd, something that is essentially a requirement from the JBC who aren’t allowing cheering due to Covid19. Despite that this bout did receive plenty of noise from fans in the venue with regular applause, but at the end of the round and during rounds. It was nice to hear noise in a venue, something that has been missing from Japanese bouts, even some really good competitive bouts. Yes this wasn’t anywhere near the noise that would have been made had the bout took place in 2019, but it was still a very nice addition to a really solid fight and we’d love to hear more applause at future fights. Alternatively maybe fans should be allowed to bring something musical to fights, like a drum, to try and boost the atmosphere. 4-This should have been an 8 rounder...if not 10 The only real complaint we have about this fight was that it was only a 6 rounder. This really should have been over 8 rounds, minimum. Both of these fighters are proven at a high level, both have gone 12 multiple times in world title fights, and a 8 rounder, or even a 10 rounder, would have told us so much more about Takayama’s stamina and fitness. He never looked like he struggled, at all, here but it would still have been much more interesting to see how he looked in a longer fight to know whether or not he’d be able to keep this up if he was to get a world title fight in 2021, something that is very possible. A longer distance in this bout would have favoured Konishi, and it would have made the bout a lot more interesting down the stretch. Sadly for Takayama we suspect he’ll need another fight before a world title bout, and hopefully that will be over a longer distance than this one. 5-Nobuto Ikehara really had little to do Referee Nobuto Ikehara, himself a former fighter, didn’t have too many appointments as the third man in the ring in 2020 but this would have been among the very easiest he’ll have had. He had to call a couple of obvious slips early on, but other than there was literally nothing for him to do other than enjoy the best view in the house. There was pretty much no clinching, wrestling was kept to a minimum and when he was needed he was decisive, though he was happy to let them fight out of the clinch when they did occur, something Japanese referees tend to allow. For a 6 rounder to have as few breaks as this had was great to watch and enjoy and really easy work for a very good, and very underrated official. According to boxrec this was the first show he had worked since getting the job for the Junto Nakatani Vs Giemel Magramo fight, which he officiated excellently. Despite having an easy bout here he never let his concentration slip and was very rarely out of position. One of the most dramatic, exciting and captivating fighters from 2020 was the brilliant Lightweight bout between Japan’s Masayoshi Nakatani (19-1, 13) and Felix Verdejo (27-2, 17). The bout, fought in The Bubble, at the MGM Grand had everything we could ever wish to see in a fighter. It had skills, heart, power, multiple knockdowns, momentum shifts and one of the biggest comebacks of the year. The bout really was something truly amazing and those who missed it really did miss out one something truly special.
1-Nakatani’s will to win is incredible Few will ever describe Masayoshi Nakatani as a truly skilled fighter, but he has a number of traits that make him incredibly tough to beat. Whilst the most obvious of those, visibly, is his physical size and stature, the other is his will to win. He, like many top Japanese fighters, has incredible determination and his will to fight through adversity cannot be questioned. He did it against Izuki Tomioka, who took an early lead against Nakatani in an OPBF title fight, and against Yoshitaka Kato, who pushed him all the way very early in his career and clearly hurt him with a body shot. He had answered those questions about how much he wanted to win, and what he’d go through to win. Being dropped in rounds 1 and 4 weren’t enough to finish off that will, neither was taking a number of huge right hands in the first few rounds. Sometimes that will to win, despite being tagged repeatedly, is a trait that will be too much for an opponent and in many ways this was somewhat comparable to the first Antonio Margarito Vs Miguel Cotto fight, though admittedly not as good as that sensational 2008 battle. Nakatani, like Magarito, was being out sped, out boxed, and tagged at will, but refused to quit, pressed forward and slowly broke down his man, who was left questioning what exactly he had to do to stop the terminator like figure in front of him 2-Verdejo’s questionable heart is his biggest issue Felix Verdejo is an incredibly talented fighter, and he has a lot of things going for him, including blistering speed and fantastic power. Sadly however he still has a number of real issues, and issues that have been clear issues in both of his losses. One of those is his stamina. Due to his style he puts a lot in every shot he throws, and when those shots don’t take opponents out he uses a lot of energy. That’s great if you blow opponents out, which he likely expected to do here, but by the end of round 5 he had clearly slowed and in round 6 he was becoming negative. This was very, very similar to how he suffered his previous loss, with his negativity kicking in, and Verdejo using a lot of energy to try and stay from a taller man. Another issues he has is his heart. He’s rarely come under any real pressure during his career, but the two notable times where he has had questions being asked of him he has come undone. Sadly for Verdejo whilst a fighter can learn to pace themselves better they can’t suddenly develop the heart and guts to dig themselves out of a hole. With Verdejo having now twice been broken down in the later stages of fights, whilst tiring and crumbling mentally, we suspect he will never become the star he was groomed to be. 3-Nakatani’s jab was vital to his victory Standing at close to 6’ Masayoshi Nakatani has one of the tallest bodies in the Lightweight division and one of the longest reaches in the division. With that in mind it will come as no surprise to learn he has a solid jab, and that jab really was his key to victory here. Not only did it help him create space when he needed it but it also helped get Verdejo’s respect, broke his man down, created situations to land his right hand and forced the stoppage late on. It also, more notably than anything, helped him extend this fight, and allowed him to slowly break Verdejo mentally and get to a tired Verdejo late on. The lanky Japanese fighter might not be the quickest fighter, or even the smoothest fighter out there, but that long jab is a brilliant weapon and something that he has shown in both of his US bouts as well as his Japanese bouts. Notably however when fighters have taken the jab away from him, as Izuki Tomioka did in 2018, he does struggle to work his way into bouts. 4-ESPN’s commentary was poor Through much of the early rounds the commentary was more focused on Verdejo’s preparation for the fight rather than calling what was going on in the ring. This meant they ignored a lot of work, with far too much time spent talking about Ismael Salas, who seemed to be the focus of the commentary work for much of round 2. They were very much overlooking everything Nakatani did and over-egging what Verdejo was doing, other than Timothy Bradley who actually did add some genuine insight here about Verdejo’s lack of body shots, rather than repeat “Nakatani can’t take all these shots”, something he did. The pro-Verdejo commentary ended up missing out on some very important things, and also ended up not mentioning Verdejo’s loss, which came to a physically similar fighter to Nakatani, something that would have actually been very insightful for this bout. One of the most annoying things about modern day commentary is that it’s very cheerleading of a fighter, and that was shown here. It wasn’t until round 5 that they even seemed to question Verdejo, who had been having success but was still being caught himself in the earlier rounds. Even in the later stages, when Nakatani was coming on strong, the focus still seemed to be about Verdejo, and what he had to do to win and his past, rather than what was actually happening. This even saw the commentary talking about Tyson Fury Vs Anthony Joshua at the start of round 9, when Nakatani rocked Verdejo. Andre Ward even said it was difficult to see Verdejo go out like he did, continuing the narrative that Verdejo was their man. Whilst he might be the Top Rank fighter they need to separate promotional bias from their commentary. For us commentary should be adding to the fight and telling us what is happening to the fight. It shouldn’t be about trying to sell out of the ring narratives and sacrifices or other fights. Tell us about the fight that is going on, and even give the fight a chance to breathe. This was an incredible fight, and it deserved so much better than it got. 5-Celestino Ruiz did a great job here In 2013 Celestino Ruiz was the third man in the ring for a controversial bout between Mike Mollo and Artur Szpilka, and he made it very clear which side he was on. He was widely condemned for his performance that night, and deservedly so. Since then however he has slowly been building a solid body of work, and this bout was another example of it. Lesser referees would have panicked after the first knockdown and robbed us of what was a great fight, but Ruiz took his time. Ruiz was also timely with his breaks when the fighters were tangled, even when those the clinches favoured the tiring Verdejo. He also gave Verdejo every chance to continue after the first knockdown. Where he didn’t need to be involved he didn’t involve himself, and like a good referee he let the action flow as much as possible. We think it’s probably time where we accept Ruiz is actually a very, very good referee, and the Mollo Vs Szpilka fight was a very bad night at the office for him, rather than a sign of anything else. One of the more overlooked prospects in Japan is Jinki Maeda (6-0, 4) who recorded his 6th win on December 27th at the EDION Arena Osaka, as he stopped Kaito Okubo (5-2, 2). With Maeda being one of the prospects that deserves more attention we’ve decided to take a look back on this bout and share our take aways from it.
With Maeda expected to climb up the Japanese rankings in 2021, and potentially even move into a title fight in 2022 or 2023 his career is going to be a good one to follow. On paper this was a really, really good test against a fighter who had won his last 2 bouts, and was looking to really give his career a boost. It was an overlooked bout, but one worthy of a watch for those who use the Boxing Raise service. 1-Okubo is a physical freak...but doesn’t use his size all that well The first thing that really caught our eye here wasn’t the action in the ring but the size of Okubo. The 23 year old from Neyagawa was fighting at Featherweight here and yet stood just shy of 6’. Maeda is a good sized Featherweight, at 5’8”, but was made to look small by Okubo. Not only is Okubo tall but he’s wiry, with long limbs. Oddly though he really didn’t use his long leavers to great effect. He should have been pumping out the jab but was out jabbed by the short man and all too often looked super apprehensive. For a man with his size and frame he has the potential to be a nightmare opponent, and will almost always be bigger than his opponents at 126lbs, and even going up to 140lbs not many will have his dimensions. We do maybe wonder if his future lies a weight class or two higher than he fought here, especially given that he’s a growing and maturing young man. 2-Maeda figured out Okubo within a round One of the things that has impressed us with Maeda is his boxing brain, countering punching, footwork and control of distance. These were all on show here, and within a round he had figured out Okubo and what Okubo had to offer. He had a really good read on Okubo’s reach, his speed, and his shot placement. With that in mind he was then much more willing to take risks. He was caught once or twice in round two, but there was little on the shots from Okubo, certainly not enough to trouble the rising youngster. This resulted in him landing several decent left hands before the eventual KO. 3-The KO was nasty! The bout was ended by a single left hand part way through round 2, with Maeda landing a brutal counter shot. This was a nasty KO blow, and credit to Okubo’s corner for quickly aiding their man, rather than allowing him to try beating the count. If you have a Boxing Raise subscription we suspect you’ll be going back to watch this finish a fair few times as it was a beauty. Interestingly it was the second successive time Maeda has scored a 2nd KO and his 4th T/KO in the first 2 rounds. Despite the early stoppages we wouldn’t describe him as a heavy puncher, but he is a very, very clean puncher, and when he lands he lands right on the point. 4-This fight was a very quiet until the KO Although both men looked to fight at range, behind their straight punches the styles really didn’t gel at all. Okubo was inactivity, had shots falling short, and only really connected with a couple of worthwhile shots during the 5 minutes that the fight lasted. Maeda did land a few more, and did land the huge KO blow, but in reality this was a very un-Japanese fight. It was rather dull and we suspect Green Tsuda will be looking to put Maeda in with more aggressive fighters in 2021. There are a lot of interesting Japanese Featherweights out there, and Maeda taking on someone like Ryugo Ushijima would be much, much more interesting. If they want to get him rounds, a bout with Hyuma Fujioka may also be worth considering, especially if he's intending to move into 8 round bouts sooner rather than later. 5-Jun Kawakami had an easy day at the office The third man in the ring here was Jun Kawakami, who actually did 3 bouts on the same show totalling 11 rounds. This was the second of his bouts and was a very, very easy bout where he was rarely, if ever needed. We would have liked to have seen him encourage the fighters to give a little more effort, though in fairness they were trying they just didn’t gel, but other than that his performance was flawless in a bout that really didn’t see him being needed other than to break a single clinch in round 2, counting to 5 and spotting Okubo’s team waving the towel. A very easy bout for him. It's a new year, but we continue to push forward with this series as we cover former WBA Bantamweight champion Takuya Muguruma. The all action Muguruma fought between 1981 and 1988, winning Japanese and WBA honours during a relatively short, but very exciting career. His most notable win was in 1987, against Azael Moran, and despite losing the title less than 2 months later he remained a top contender until his retirement, following a loss to Juan Jose Estrada.
Whilst not a big name, Muguruma is someone who deserves more attention, and with that in mind, here are 10 facts you probably didn't know... Takuya Muguruma 1-Prior to turning to boxing Muguruma played a different. He was in the rugby club at High School. He changed the sport he was participating in, and of course went on to have a successful career as a boxer. 2-As an amateur Muguruma fought just 3 times, and went 2-1, before turning professional. 3-Muguruma's debut, on April 9th 1981, came on a card headlined by a world title fight! Muguruma would stop Kenji Miyagi in the 2nd round of on a show that was headlined by Samuel Serrano avenging his loss to Yatsuyune Uehara, to reclaim the WBA Super Featherweight title 4-In February 1982 Muguruma won the All Japan rookie of the year at Featherweight, defeating Mitsuru Sugiya with a 6 round split decision. This win would also lead Muguruma to be crowned the MVP 5-Muguruma was dubbed the "Endless fighter". The reason for this is a little bit unclear. Some suggest it was due to his aggression and relentless pressure style whilst others suggest it was due to a link he had with a TV program called "Endless Night", which ran in the Kansai region from 1984 to 1990. 6-Muguruma's WBA Bantamweight title win, over Azael Moran, came just a day shy of the anniversary of Jiro Watanable losing the WBC Super Flyweight title, to Glberto Roman. On paper that might not sound too interesting, but Muguruma and Watanabe were both stablemates of the Osaka Teiken gym and in fact Muguruma had fought on the same card that Watanabe had lost his title on. 7-According to multiple Japanese reports one of the judges of Muguruma's draw with Wilfredo Vazquez, stated they "hate boxers with swollen faces", essentially using that as an excuse to score in Vazquez's favour. The judge in question was the hugely controversial Patricia Morse Jarman. The judge, some how, had the bout 117-112 to Vazquez to help deny Muguruma a chance to become a 2-time world champion. Since the poor score in that bout Jarman has built a reputation for some of the worst scorecards in the sport 8-In 2014 Muguruma was the recipient of a liver transplant from a younger sibling. He spoke about this in some detail in 2017 at an event in Osaka, where he opened up about the experience of thr transplant and his life afterwards. 9-After retiring from the ring Muguruma got a job working for sports maker Mizuno. 10-More recently Muguruma has become a trainer at the Osaka Teiken gym, and began working as a trainer for Juiki Tatsuyoshi in 2018. With December 2020 now firmly behind us and our feet both into 2021 we thought there was no better time to look back at what Boxing Raise brought us in December, in what was a genuinely excellent month for the service. The month brought us some amazing KO’s, brilliant bouts, thrilling wars and some of the best entertainment the service has provided in the entirety of 2020 As with our previous "Best of Boxing Raise" article all the fights featured here can be accessed by subscribers by logging into Boxing Raise and adding the "movie/####" to "https://boxingraise.com/". Brutal KO in women’s world title bout - Etsuko Tada (19-3-3, 6) Vs Ayaka Miyao (23-8-2, 6) II [movie/9127/] Really early in the month we saw WBO female Minimumweight title bout between former world champion Etsuko Tada and Ayaka Miyao. The bout was a rematch of a draw from earlier in the year and delivered everything we needed for a great contest, with good back and forth action and one of the best KO’s in female boxing in recent memory. This was a brutal finish in a bout between two legitimate world class fighters Japanese title bout! - Masataka Taniguchi (12-3, 7) vs Hizuki Saso (12-6-2, 4) [/movie/9128/] On the same show as the Tada Vs Miyao rematch was a Japanese title bout between Masataka Taniguchi and Hizuko Sasao, who look to fill the vacancy left by Norihito Tanaka back at the start of the year. This wasn’t the most competitive or best of bouts, but it was great to see a new champion being crowned almost a year after the belt was vacated. Even though it’s not the best of bouts it is still worthy of a watch. Women’s world title action in Osaka - Miyo Yoshida (14-1) vs Tomoko Okuda (6-2-2, 1) [/movie/9160/] The second female world title bout to be made available on the service was the WBO female Super Flyweight bout between Miyo Yoshida and Tomoko Okuda. This didn’t end in the brutal fashion of the Tada Vs Miyao bout but was certainly among the most meaningful and significant contests on Raise during December. Well worthy of anyone’s time during the next few days, where there is a lack of fighters in general. War for Triple Crown! - Ryoji Fukunaga (12-4, 12) vs Kenta Nakagawa (19-3-1, 12) [movie/9185/] The best bout on Boxing Raise during December, by some margin, was the tremendous triple title unification bout between Ryoji Fukunaga and Kenta Nakagawa, who fought to unify the OPBF, WBO Asia Pacific and Japanese Super Flyweight titles. This one of the very best bouts of 2020, not just December on Boxing Raise, and saw both men being hurt, both digging deep, both landing some monstrous shots and both fighting incredibly hard. If you like brutal wars and punishing battles this is one you must watch! Hard hitting champion takes on rugged veteran - Masamichi Yabuki (11-3, 11) vs Toshimasa Ouchi (22-9-3, 8) [movie/9266/] The final Japanese title fight of 2020 came on December 26th when Japanese Light Flyweight champion Masamichi Yabuki made his first defense, taking on veteran Masamichi Yabuki. On paper this was a test to see what Yabuki could bring if his power didn’t do the job, especially given the number of early blowouts he’s had, and it was a bout that saw the champion needing to answer a number of questions. Sharp finish between Japanese youngsters - Jinki Maeda (5-0, 3) vs Kaito Okubo (5-1, 2) [/movie/9292/] On one of the final Japanese shows of 2020 we saw youngsters Jinki Maeda and Kaito Okubo clash in what looked like a really compelling match up. This was a tactical battle from the off, with both men looking to control the range until a sudden, and brutal finish in round 2. The bout wasn’t the most exciting but it showcased some stuff from two youngsters, and a finish that really did look incredibly brutal. A gorgeous finish worth watching the bout for. A legend returns! - Reiya Konishi (17-2, 7) vs Katsunari Takayama (31-8-0-1, 12) [/movie/9290/] After more than 4 years away from professional boxing we saw former multi-time world champion Katsunari Takayama return to the ring and take on 2-time world title challenger Reiya Konishi. The bout was one that had been scheduled for November and then got added to a December show after Konishi got a false positive Covid19 test. Despite the delay this one lived up to all the expectations and was a high tempo war throughout. A real gem of a post-Christmas fight between two high tempo fighters each letting shots fly. Veteran takes on former champion - Ryota Yada (20-6, 17) vs Yuichi Ideta (13-15-1, 7) [/movie/9284/] The final bout to be shown on Boxing Raise in 2020 was supposed to be a mismatch as former Japanese Welterweight champion Ryota Yada took on the completely out of form Yuichi Ideta. This was supposed to be a mismatch for the hard hitting Yada though no one told Ideta he was supposed to lose again and the veteran took the fight to Yada making this a thrilling battle of will Vs skill. It’s not the prettiest fight you’ll see but it is a solid one and a real enjoyable watch as Ideta tries to roll back the clock to the days when he was once regarded as a genuine prospect and hopefu. For this series, focusing on Remarkable Rounds, one of the key things we want to focus on is drama, action, intensity and what the 3 minutes means. As a result a lot of the bouts we're going to cover aren't from high profile bouts, but are great rounds that give us something amazing during one of the rounds. With that in mind we want to bring you one of the most thrilling, action packed, exciting rounds from 2019. This has all the marks of a must watch round, even if it did come in a low key 4 rounder. Ryugo Ushijima (2-0, 1) vs Shota Ogasawara (3-1, 2) The unbeaten Ryugo Ushijima was a 17 year old who had made his debut in July 2018 with a razor thin win over Kenta Nakano. He had then picked up an early blow out win in late 2018 and was looking to extend his perfect winning run in February 2019 when he took on Shota Ogasawara. At the time of this fight Ogasawara was 23, he had debuted in 2016 and had won his first 2 bouts before losing a decision to Mirai Imagawa in 2017. Following his first loss he took almost 17 months out of the ring before resurfacing in late 2018, picking up a win. After that win he moved up from Bantamweight to Featherweight to face Ushijima. Stood at 5'10" Ushijima was a a 17 year old kid, with a long and rangy frame, that still looked immature, and like he needed time to full mature. Despite still looking like a child he managed the weight well and he looked a tall, rangy fighter who knew how to use his physical assets well, with good movement and a decent jab. In the first round we saw Ushijima use his speed and jab brilliantly to keep control of the bout and easily take the round. That was before we got to round 2, which is where we join the fight for this Remarkable Round. Ushijima tried to replicate the success he had in the opening round, using his height and jab to keep Ogasawara and early on it worked. He even let some more spiteful stuff go whilst looking in complete control. That was until the middle of the round, when Ogasawara caught Ushijima clean with a left hook, dropping the teenager. With his man hurt Ogasawara went on the hunt, chasing Ushijima, and unloading on his man who was forced to hold and survive. for pretty much a full 70 seconds Ogasawara tried to finish off Ushijima, who hold, spoiled, and looked to survive the impending storm. That was until we had 12 seconds left in the round and Ushijima landed a short right hand. The shot dropped Ogasawara who looked shocked, confused and lost whilst trying to beat the count. With just seconds of the round left the referee waved off the bout, likely wondering where that thunderbolt came from. Whilst not the most exciting rounds in terms of intensity and out put, and it certainly does have some holding and spoiling, few can doubt the drama of this one. Ogasawara looked to be on the verge of a finish, before getting finished himself. It was dramatic, it was exciting and it was a fantastic finish. A really brilliant round! |
Thinking Out East
With this site being pretty successful so far we've decided to open up about our own views and start what could be considered effectively an editorial style opinion column dubbed "Thinking Out East" (T.O.E). Archives
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