It's fair to say that many Teiken world champions are somewhat well known in the West, with fans recognising their names even if the fighters never managed to fight on US soil. Whilst most are known there are one of two lesser well known ones, such as former WBC Flyweight champion Toshiyuki Igarashi (23-3-3, 12). Part of why Igarashi isn't too well known is that he's a lower weight fighter, and he only reigned as a world champion for 9 months. Despite his short career he is an interesting fighter and was a successful one, as both an amateur and a professional. He was actually a very good fighter, and when he turned professional there was serious expectations on his shoulders. Sadly his career failed to hit the heights expected of him but he shouldn't be forgotten. He won a world title, with the WBC and Linear Flyweight champion With that in mind let us bring you 10 facts you probably didn't know about...Toshiyuki Igarashi 1-As an amateur Igarashi scored over 70 wins, and went 4-0 against future professional foe Akira Yaegashi. There is some doubt over his actual record in the unpaid ranks, with record of 77-18 (16) and 72-11 both being reported by reliable sources, but it's accepted that he was was a very talented amateur. 2-Following on from fact 1 is the fact that Igarashi fought at the 2004 Athens Olympics, in fact the only member of the Japanese boxing team to attend the games. 3-When Igarashi made his professional debut in 2006 he was the first Japanese Olympian to turn pro since 1993, when Setsuo Segawa made his debut. Segawa had competed at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and continued in the amateurs for a while before heading to the pros. Rather notably Segawa was beaten in the Olympics by Bulgarian fighter Serafim Todorov, the man best known for beating Floyd Mayweather Jr at the 1996 Olympics. 4-From his 29 professional bouts Igarashi didn't actually fight in many venues, with 21 of his 29 bouts taking place at the Korakuen Hall. His other bouts took place at 7 different venues, only 2 of which were outside of Tokyo. What's more interesting is that from his 8 bouts outside of the "Holy Land" they all came on shows featuring world title bouts. They included 4 where he was involved in a world title bout, and 4 where he was on the under-card supporting a much bigger bout. These included Igarashi's second, fourth and 9th bouts. 5-In July 2012 Igarashi scored the biggest win of his career, as he out pointed Sonny Boy Jaro to claim the WBC Flyweight title. That win saw Igarashi become on the third Japanese Olympian to win a world title, following in the footsteps of Royal Kobayashi and Akinobu Hiranaka 6-Igarashi stated in an interview with Boxmob that he thinks he lost 4KG's to 5KG's from sweating in his bout with Sonny Boy Jaro, due in part to the heat of the venue. 7-When Igarashi retained the WBC Flyweight title, against Nestor Daniel Narvaes, he became the first Japanese Olympian to ever make a successful world title defense. That's something that neither Royal Kobyashi or Akinobu Hiranaka managed to do, with both of those two losing their world titles in their first defenses, 8-For the aforementioned bout bout with Narvaes there was a special introduction for Igarashi by Japanese musician Demon Kakka, AKA "His Excellency Demon". The introduction can be seen in the video below. There was also a special introduction done by the Demon Kakka for Igarashi's final bout, against Sho Kimura. Since 2012 Igarashi had been using the song "El Dorado" by Seikima II, the band that Demon Kakka was the vocalist for. 9-Igarashi's nicknames were "El Dorado", hence the name of the song he used, and "Super Sonic" 10-Away from the ring Igarashi has revealed he plays guitar as a hobby and has also performed in a band, where he was their drummer.
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Just over a week ago Japanese fight fans at Korakuen Hall saw talented youngster Taku Kuwahara (8-0, 5) scored his latest win, over-coming Yoshiki Minato (9-4, 4) in what was a truly fantastic 8 rounder at Super Flyweight. The bout was one that was easy to overlook if you didn't follow the Japanese domestic scene, but ended up over-delivering on every front. It was a contest between two highly skilled youngsters, fought at a brilliant tempo through out and the two delivered one of the best bouts we've seen in Japan in 2021.
With the bout having been aired around a week ago we've given a watch, and another watch and have now decided to talk about the bout in more detail as we give it the Five Take Aways treatment! 1-Fuji done goofed! Prior to the bout Fuji TV showed clips of the two men, and tried to get some words from both men. Sadly the words from both fighters were pretty drowned out by some music, making very, very difficult to catch what either man was trying to say. It's a real shame as they only had to reduce the volume on the music to help add to this bout. A simple mistake to correct, especially given this was a pre-recorded segment, and music was clearly added over the top of the videos, but a mistake all the same. Thankfully this is not something we are used to seeing from Fuji TV and is, at least for now, a one off. 2-These two put on a showcase of boxing When this bout was first announced, back in 2020, the expectations were high. Both fighters were known as very talented youngsters with bright futures ahead of them. It was assumed they would both look to take home a victory, and it was generally sold as an East Japan hopeful against a West Japan hopeful. Boxing fans who followed the Japanese scene knew these two could put on a great bout, but few would have expected something as good as we got. Both men really did go out there with the intention of not just winning, but winning over new fans and winning over the judges. They put on something of a technical war, with Kuwahara's skills up against Minato's will and genuinely this ended up being a very special bout. The folk behind this deserve big props for their match making, and the fighters also deserve credit for signing up to the bout, and performing the way they did. Both were a joy to watch, with Kuwahara's body shots being a genuine delight. 3-Time for Kuwahara to fight for titles! Taku Kuwahara has been on our radar since his debut in 2018 and he's proven his talent time and time again, with good performances against the likes of Takamori Kiyama, Jonathan Refugio, Ricardo Sueno and now Yoshiki Minato. He's been described as a prospect or hopeful for the last 3 years, though now he needs a chance to prove what he can do and to be given a shot for a title. We aren't sure whether he's going to commit to Flyweight or Super Flyweight, but the reality is he could mix with regional and domestic title holders in either division and fingers crossed we see him get that type of opportunity next. He's too good to hold back, and he's answered enough to prove he belongs at a higher level. Time for Mr Ohashi to let him prove what he can really do! 4-Questionable score-cards? The bout seemed like a pretty fair win for Kuwahara, who seemed to be a bit better in every area, though to see two judges have this a shut out, and the third judge give Minato a single round really does feel harsh. Minato held his own through out. Every round was competitive, and it's a case where more 10-10 rounds would have reflected the actual nature of the bout a lot more accurately than what we got. Looking at the scorecards, this looks like an easy win for Kuwahara, it certainly wasn't. Although Kuwahara won the majority of the rounds, we felt there was 2 or 3 rounds that could, and maybe should, have gone Minato's way. Sadly for him the three wise men didn't agree. It's hard to say the judges got it wrong here, but it's a shame we didn't see at least one judge from West Japan, and it a real shame that Minato's work wasn't reflected on the cards. We didn't agree with 80-72 or 79-73, though we can understand how the judges got there. For us it was a lot, lot closer than those cards suggest, and it's a shame that Minato didn't get a bit more recognition for his work. 5-Fuji have another potential star Fuji TV have, for a few years now, been the most important free to air channel in Japanese boxing, and they have been pushing boxing a lot in recent years. They have the likes of Naoya Inoue and Ryota Murata on their channel and have linked up with various other notable fighters, such as Kenshiro Teraji and now former world champions Daigo Higa and Masayuki Ito, in recent years. They also seem to be building a very good stable of fighters through their agreements with various promoters. We've seen the likes of Rentaro Kimura, Ryutaro Nakagaki and Keisuke Matsumoto all get a lot of attention on Fuji Broadcasts over the last 12 months or so. With that said, Taku Kuwahara also appears to fit that that mould of young, charismatic, talented fighter that they have working alongside, who should be given the limelight. Sure he's not the next Naoya Inoue but he's a sensationally talented young fighter, with an exciting aggressive style and a defense that sometimes seems like it could get him in trouble. He's TV friendly, he's got a good team behind him, and if Fuji get on board with him, we genuinely think they could have another future world champion to focus their broadcasts on. He's only 25 now and there is a lot of time for him to be moved not just on to regional titles, as mentioned above, but also world titles. Bonus take away - Do not write off Minato! This was Yoshiki Minato's third loss in 4 bouts. He has gone from 8-0 to 9-3 in less than 2 years. Despite that do not write him off! He's 22 years old, he has been matched hard, he has shown what he can do, he's a very solid young prospect and on he back of this performance he certainly has the ability to mix at, if no win at, Japanese and Oriental title level. We would go as far as to sat the one thing he is missing, and needs to work on is something that will come naturally. Physical maturity. He still looks a little bit of a feather fisted fighter, but give him another 12 to 24 months and he will be one to keep a serious eye on the domestic scene. A really under-rated youngster, with the potential to go a lot, lot further than his record currently suggests. Last weekend we got the chance to catch the TV broadcast of Andy Hiraoka's (17-0, 12) return to a Japanese ring, as he took on Fumisuke Kimura (9-7-1, 6) for the second time. The bout was little more than a stay busy for the talented and promising Hiraoka, and saw him stop Kimura in 3 rounds, rather than going the scheduled as the two did in 2018. It was a win that looked easy for Hiraoka, but it was also a win that deserves a bit more attention than we originally gave it. With that in mind lets have look back over the bout, and give our Five Take Aways from the bout.
1-There's still work to do with Hiraoka With 17 bouts to his name we'd have assumed Andy Hiraoka would be a polished fighter, but in reality there is still a lot of work to do with him. His lack of an amateur career shows, and he's very much a great athlete who's not a good boxer. Technically there is plenty more for him to learn at the Ohashi Gym. One one hand that's a negative. Suggesting he's still got a lot of improvements to make and is still so limited as a boxer after 17 fights. On the other hand we see it as a positive and given there is a lot of room to improve, he, and his team, should realise that his potential isn't close to being reached yet. Fingers crossed they manage to make the strides with his development that are there for him. He has a lot going for him, and his team shouldn't be relying on what he's learned so far. In fairness however we are seeing improvements with every fight and that's a great sign for his future. 2-Hiraoka needs to be matched better! We understand the logic behind this bout, and we'd be stupid to think it was more than it was, but the reality is that he's re-running a bout with a guy he beat 3 years ago. Since then we've seen him impress against better fighters than Kimura and show what he can do to an international audience, though his fights with Top Rank. He now needs to be matched tougher. And we mean much, much tougher. Fingers crossed that the plans for later in this year include a bout with a title holder of some sort. We'd love to see Hiraoka take on someone like Daishi Nagata, the Japanese champion, or Rikki Naito, the OPBF champion. This should be the type of level Hiraoka is fighting by the end of 2021, and there's no real reason why he shouldn't bet getting that level of bout, especially given his dominant win in 2019 against Akihiro Kondo. 3-Kimura's a tough, tough dude! It's fair to say that Kimura didn't come to roll over. In fact he came with the belief that he could do better against Hiraoka this time than he did in their first meeting. Whilst he had the belief he could do better, it quickly became evident that he couldn't. Although Hiraoka isn't the complete article, he is a much, much, better fighter than the one who went 8 rounds with Kimura 3 years ago. The belief of Kimura however saw him refuse to just fold and instead he took a beating. A vicious, one sided, beating, especially in round 3. Despite being hammered from pillar to post he, somehow, remained upright. This was an incredible showcase of toughness from him, and one that really didn't need to be done. Credit to Kimura for not going down, but man was this brutal to watch at times. 4-A poor showing from Katsuhiko Nakamura Genuinely we need to credit Kimura's toughness, but in reality we need to question referee Katsuhiko Nakamura for letting this continue as long as it did. Nakamura could easily have stopped this a minute or so earlier. Kimura barely landed a shot of note after the opening minute of the round and took a genuine hammering until Nakamura stepped in. Either of the flurries with Kimura in the corner, with about a minute of the round left should really have been the end of the fight, but Nakamura left this continue as if he he personally disliked Kimura. It was ugly, and a rare case of a Japanese referee getting it wrong. We understand why he wanted so long, but he really didn't need to. 5-Time for Kimura to hang them up We've mentioned a few times that the ending to the bout was brutal and one sided. It was also thee third straight loss for Kimura, who is now win-less in 4 and has been stopped in back to back bouts. Whilst we were impressed by how tough the 33 year old was this was punishing and for the good of his health we would live to see this be the end for him. He doesn't need to take more punishment, and he doesn't need to take any more beatings like this. Fingers crossed he walks away from the sport now, on the back of a bout that was televised on Fuji TV against one of the brightest Japanese hopefuls at 140lbs. This past weekend we saw Japanese star Hiroto Kyoguchi (15-0, 10) make his US debut and successfully retain his WBA "super" and Ring Magazine Light Flyweight world titles with a TKO5 win over Axel Aragon Vega, who sadly damaged his hand in round 5 of their bout. Prior to the anti-climactic ending the bout had been spectacular, with the two men trading blows on the inside in a really exciting fashion and by the time of the stoppage there was little to split the two men, who had styles that gelled perfectly.
With that win under his belt, and with more fans than ever now knowing who Kyoguchi is, it's the perfect time to take a look at 5 potential bouts for Kyoguchi going forward. 1-Kenshiro Teraji (17-0, 10) It's fair to say that there is one bout we all want to see Kyoguchi in and that's a show down with WBC champion, and fellow Japanese fighter, Kenshiro Teraji. The bout is one that fans have been wanting since Kyoguchi won the WBA and Ring titles at the end of 2018 and is one that makes so, so much sense. In fact it makes more sense now than ever. The bout would be a unification bout, between two Japanese fighters, who are a similar age, have clashed in the amateurs and are well known to be friendly with each other. Stylistically it would be a brilliant match up with Kyoguchi's pressure going up against Teraji's footwork and counter punching, and it would be massive for Japanese boxing, and the 108lb division. In the past there has been TV contracts acting as a stumbling block, though it appears those issues are now out of the way, especially with DAZN's involvement with Kyoguchi, and the biggest stumbling block now looks to be Kenshiro's April 24th defense against Tetsuya Hisada. When he gets that out of the way and we will see the demand for this bout balloon once again. 2-Elwin Soto (18-1, 12) We look at another unification bout here as Kyoguchi could take on Mexican fighter Elwin Soto, the current WBO champion. The heavy handed Soto is, like Kyoguchi, a man who likes a fight and the styles of the two men should gel brilliantly with both men being willing to hold their feet and go to war. Of the two Kyoguchi is more proven and more rounded fighter, but there's no questioning Soto's aggression and power, and his 2019 title winning performance against Angel Acosta showed he carried his power late in the bout. This would have the ingredients of a FOTY contender and would be a fantastic way for Kyoguchi to return to the US. It's worth noting that this shouldn't be too difficult to make given both men work with promoters who are affiliated with DAZN. 3-Thanongsak Simsri (14-0, 12) The most likely "next bout" for Kyoguchi is unlikely to be a unification bout, no matter how much we we want that, and is more likely to be the contractually agreed bout with Thai youngster Thanongsak Simsri. This bout was set for late last year but was sadly cancelled at incredibly short notice when Kyoguchi tested positive for Covid19. Following the collapse of that bout Simsri's team, including Green Tsuda Gym's Masaya Motoishi, secured a contractual agreement to face Kyoguchi. With that in mind we need to include him, and in fairness it does look like a brilliant match up, though perhaps a bit too early for Simsri who is still a boxing baby. The Thai is just 20 years old and has only 42 rounds to his name, though he has been sparring at a high level and was ready to go last year. Strangely the cancellation may have been a blessing in disguise for the heavy handed youngster. 4-Axel Aragon Vega (14-4-1, 8) II Given the disappointing ending to Kyoguchi's bout with Axel Aragon Vega this past weekend it leaves a logical bout to be made, a rematch! The first 4 rounds of their first bout was genuinely fantastic, though we do feel like we were seeing a change in the tide in rounds 4 and 5, with Kyoguchi boxing more and warring less, and it would have been interesting to see if Vega could have coped with that change and adapted his own style. Something we were denied the chance to see due to Vega damaging his hand on Kyoguchi's "titanium head". The styles of the two men gelled instantly, they gave us 3 fantastic rounds of trading on the inside, and it was a bout fought at an amazing tempo and with high quality work from both. The disappointing ending has left fans wanting more, and we suspect the two fighters would be very open to going again! 5-Carlos Canizales (22-0-1, 17) Carlos Canizalez, also known as "CCC", is the forgotten man of the division and the current WBA "regular" champion making him a very notable contender for the "Super" title held by Kyoguchi. He's also a man who has shown no issues with travelling and has already fought in Japan twice, Malaysia and China. Given his willingness to travel he could clash with Kygoguchi in Japan or the US without any major issues and would make for a thrilling bout with the Japanese star. There is also some history here as the only "mark" on Canizales' record actually came against Kyoguchi's former Watanabe Gym stablemate Ryoichi Taguchi, giving a little bit of extra edge to this potential bout. Other potential opponents for Kyoguchi include (but certainly isn't limited to) Felix Alvarado Daniel Matellon Masamichi Yabuki Agustin Mauro Gauto Sivenathi Nontshinga Jonathan Gonzalez Edward Heno 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 Takashi Uchiyama to former Korean world title contender Seung Soon Lee.
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 hard hitting Takashi Uchiyama made his professional debut on July 16th 2005, when he beat Chandet Sithramkamhaeng in 35 seconds at Korakuen Hall. On the very same day there was a major shock in the US as Bernard Hopkins lost his unified Middleweight throne to fellow American Jermain Taylor. 2-Although now somewhat forgotten, sadly, Jermain Taylor was a tremendous talent as both an professional and an amateur. We've just mentioned his crowning glory as a professional but as an amateur his biggest success was at the 2000 Olympics, where he won a Bronze medal. His Olympic dreams were ended in the semi finals by Kazakh fighter Yermakhan Ibrayimov, who stopped Taylor in the 4th round of their bout. 3-After stopping Taylor in the semi-final of the Light Middleweight division Yermakhan Ibrayimov went on to win the Gold medal, improving on the Bronze medal that he had won in 1996. Another man who took home Gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics was Cuban fighter Guillermo Rigondeaux, who also took Gold at the 2004 games in Athens. 4-The talented, yet often frustrating, Guillermo Rigondeaux fought a number of Asian fighters as a professional. Among them was Hisashi Amagasa, who he fought at the end of 2014 in a memorable and dramatic bout that saw Rigondeaux being dropped twice, Amagasa being dropped once and then being stopped with serious facial swelling. 5-Japan's "Slimming Assassin" Hisashi Amagasa was born on October 18th 1985. On that very same day American fighter Mark Breland scored his 7th professional win, stopping Donald Gwinn in New York City. 6-In 1989 Mark Breland became a 2-time world champion, scoring an opening round blow out win over Korean fighter Seung Soon Lee in Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. This win netted Breland the WBA Welterweight title that he had lost in 1987 to Marlon Starling. One of the most important fighters in Japanese boxing history is the charismatic Joichiro Tatsuyoshi (20-7-1, 14). His record, on paper, might not look like anything special but his career really was something else. He was the Japanese star of the 1990's, a multi-time world champion and the inspiration to a generation of Japanese fighters that followed him. Although Tatsuyoshi suffered 7 losses in his 28 bout career he was involved in 10 world title bouts, 11 if you include an interim world title bout again Victor Rabanales, won a world title in his 8th bout and attracted a huge amount of fans to sport. His appeal to female fans was described, by some, as being similar to that of Oscar De La Hoya's impact in the US and he was an absolute star. Even now, more than a decade after his last bout, he gets an awful lot of attention from those reporting in the sport. Today we are going to bring you 10 facts you probably didn't know about... Joichiro Tatsuyoshi 1-As a teenager Tatsuyoshi was a talented amateur, running up a reported 18-1 (18) record. There was hope of him going to the 1988 Olympics but after missing out on the games, due to a loss in qualifying, he left the gym and reportedly spent around 6 months homeless, before meeting the woman that would later become his wife. 2-Tatsuyoshi admitted to being bullied as a child. Although he was bullied he did add that he had never not a school fight, though has been quoted as saying he never actually punched anyone properly in those school fights, instead hitting them with open palm slaps. 3-Tatsuyoshi often used the "Death Game" theme, from the as his ring walk music. 4-In 1987, years before making his professional debut Tatsuyoshi was used as a sparring partner by Azael Moran, who was putting final touches to his preparations to face Takuya Muguruma for the WBA Bantamweight title. Tatsuyoshi, then a teenager amateur, ended up embarrassing the then highly ranked Moran, and had the sparring cut short. In fact Moran was so badly embarrassed after 1 round that his team stopped the sparring. 5-Among many part time jobs that Tatsuyoshi had during his amateur career were jobs at a Udon restaurant and a Sauna 6-Following Tatsuyoshi's WBC Bantamweight title win against Greg Richardson the Japanese fighter had to spend a lengthy time away from the ring due to a retinal fissure. It was one of a host of problems he had with his eyes during his career. 7-Tatsuyoshi's father died in January 1999, at the age of 52. 8-Tatsuyoshi was named after Jo Yabuki, from anime Ashita No Joe. Interestingly he would be featured, in art form, in another major Japanese boxing work of fiction, being featured on the cover of Hajime No Ippo "Chapter 183", where he is also mentioned by name. 9-Tatsuyoshi has a very close relationship to Japanese actress Kayoko Kishimoto, with the two having a brother-sister like friendship. Although Kishimoto isn't well known in the west she is a very highly regarded actress in Japan, best supporting actress at the 23rd Japan Academy Prize for her role in Kikujiro (1999). She's also well known for her commercials from the 1980's. 10-Other people Tatsuyoshi is known to be friends with are baseball star Ichiro Suzuki and musician Tomoyasu Hotei, the man who did "Battle Without Honor or Humanity", aka the Kill Bill theme song. For this weeks “remarkable Round”zoho we go all the way back to 1990 when fans at Korakuen Hall saw a new Japanese Super Bantamweight champion being crowned. The bout came about when Naoto Takahashi vacated the title to begin pursuing bigger and better things, though it seemed that both men carried Takahashi’s mentality into the ring, giving us a forgotten gem from 1990. This bout is not one that many have seen but was a cracker, with round 2, the round we’re sharing, being particularly good. Manabu Saijo (10-1, 7) vs Susumu Toyosato (9-0, 7) In one corner was the once beaten southpaw Manabu Saijo who had blitzed many of his early opponents in double quick fashion. From his 11 professional bouts up to this point he had scored 6 stoppages in the first 3 rounds, and seemed to be a whirlwind in the ring, with power in both hands. Despite his destructive power and aggression he wasn’t unbeatable and in 1989 Sung Hwan Moon had beaten him over 8 rounds, though that was at Featherweight and not Saijo’s more natural Super Bantamweight, where he was unbeaten. The 22 year old looked like he had a bright future on the domestic and regional scene and ticked a lot of boxes that fans want to see from a fighter as they come through the ranks. His competition hadn’t been great but he had been doing exactly what was supposed, for the most part, and going through them quickly and destructively. The other corner housed the unbeaten Susumu Toyosato, a 23 year old who had also left carnage behind him up to this point. From his 9 professional bouts he had racked up 7 stoppages, with 5 coming in the first 4 rounds. Like Saijo his competition up to this point was somewhat limited, and mostly novices, but he had been slicing through them in an exciting, destructive, and thrilling fashion. He had the record of an unbeaten man, the confidence of someone who hadn’t just lost a few months earlier and was the slightly older man, though was certainly not an “old man” by any stretch of the imagination. Notably his longest bout coming into this fight had only gone 6 rounds, something that may well have been on his mind, and helped stir him into going for an early finish, rather than potentially fighting 10 long, draining, punishing rounds. The fight had started well with an entertaining opening 3 minutes that saw both men set down their stalls as they each found their range and got a read on their opponents. Saiji, sporting the gold trunks, was pressuring from the southpaw stance whilst Toyosato was looking to box and move from the outside. By the end of the round it seemed like Saijo was getting the better of things, but he was certainly not dominating the round. It is, however, round 2 that we’re focusing on for this “Remarkable Round”, and whilst the first round was good it wasn’t anything like what we saw in the second round. With Saijo feeling like he had figured out Toyosato in the first round he seemed to look for a faster start here and began to press and pressure his man with more tenacity. About 25 seconds into the round Saijo rocked Toyosato on to the ropes and he then went to town, unloading on Toyosato who was hurt, wobbled and rocked. He reeled from one set of ropes to another. Despite trying to fight back he was hurt a second time as Saijo continued to pile on the pressure. Somehow Toyosato survived the hellish storm and managed to create space. He backed onto the ropes again but this time he had a plan and caught Saijo as he stormed in. First it was an uppercut, then a huge right hand, sending Saijo down to the canvas. It was a solid knockdown and a huge potential shift in momentum. Having dropped his man Toyosato began to press and come forward as Saijo looked to recover. Thankfully for Saijo it wasn’t long until he cleared his head, at least enough to fight back, and he went on to rock Toyosato, before being rocked himself as the two men let some heavy leather go. With the round fading away it seemed the best Saijo could expect was simply to hold his own until the bell. Write the round off due to the knockdown and try to comeback in round 3. With just second left however he scored his own knockdown with a perfect right hook on the chin as the two men each threw massive head shots. Toyosato hit the canvas, though bounced up almost immediately with only seconds of the round left. Before the bout was able to resume the bell came to end the round. When we look over the history of a fighter it can be hard to imagine them being an under-dog in some fights. Today we however we look at the first in a number of big upsets scored by one of Asia's greatest ever fighters. It was a win that sent ripples through the lower weights, and the Asian scene, and began the ascent of a true being star. Date December 4th 1998 Venue Tonsuk College Ground, Phuttamonthon, Thailand Manny Pacquiao (23-1, 14) Vs Chatchai Sasakul (32-1-1, 23) In December 1998 Manny Pacquiao was a relative unknown in the boxing world outside of Asia. Even there he was only really known as an Oriental level fighter who had won the OPBF Flyweight title in 1997 and defended it once. Whilst his OPBF title win had been a good one, stopping long term champion Chokchai Chockvivat, he was still only a teenager and had done little other than stop Chokchai. The man Pacquiao was up against was 28 year old Thai Chatchai Sasakul. The once beaten Sasakul had avenged his sole loss, he was in prime, at home in Thailand and the WBC and Linear Flyweight champion. The Thai had beaten the man who had beaten the man who had beaten the man. The line to Sasakul had dated back more than 20 years, from the brilliant Miguel Canto. The sole loss on Sasakul's 34 fight record had been a close decision loss to Arbachakov in 1995. Just over 2 years later Sasakul avenged that loss, in Japan, by beating Arbachakov and sending the Russian great into retirement. The only other mark on his record was a technical draw in 1996. Since winning the title Sasakul had defended the belt twice, against Korean challengers, and was expected to be too good for the 19 year old Pacquiao, who was fighting away from the Philippines for just the second time in his career. Early on Sasakul did indeed look too good for the Filipino teenager. The skills, footwork and movement of Sasakul was too much for the crude, straight line offense of Pacquiao. The Filipino was all too happy to trudge forward, following Sasakul around the round, whilst the Thai moved smartly, landed single shots and retreated. Round after round the Thai just looked so much smart against the aggressive, but technically flawed, Filipino. Pacquiao had energy, and no one could fault his will and desire, but he didn't seem to have the skills to cut the ring off, or the boxing IQ to land his left hand. His lead hand essentially looked useless, jabbing at the air with no real conviction. Even when Pacquiao did have success, something he had a little bit of in round 4, he couldn't close the distance quick enough to follow up before Sasakul was out of range. Through 7 rounds it seemed like the champion was on route to a clear decision against the hungry and powerful teenager. There was plenty to like about Pacquiao's effort, but it seemed like he was simply too raw, too crude, too young, at this point to claim a world title. He looked like he was showing enough raw ability to become a champion, down the line, but like this wasn't going to be that night for him. He was proving to be tough and a real trier but a technically limited trier. Then we got into round 8 and Sasakul's good work early on, establishing a lead was all deleted in an instant. Early in round 8 Pacquiao began to find the target and Sasakul began to hold his feet just a touch more. The pressure from Pacquiao was likely to blame, but the movement of the Thai was slowing, it stopped him from escaping at will, and made him fight back more. This was giving the taller, longer Pacquiao more chances to land. With just over 30 seconds of the round left Pacquiao landed a left that seemed to hurt Sasakul, who stumbled. This time the Thai wasn't able to get away, backing on to the ropes as Pacquiao pressed forward. Only seconds later Pacquiao landed a dynamite left hand that dropped Sasakul face first. The champion tried to beat the count but struggled, falling again as he ended up being counted out. The win netted Pacquiao the first of his many world titles and at the age of 19 he had ripped up the pre-fight forecasts. Of course during his career Pacquiao would make a career out of scoring upsets, recording notable future upsets over Lehlo Ledwaba, Marco Antonio Barrera and Oscar De La Hoyam but they are all for another day. As for Sasakul he was never really the same after this loss. He would go 31-2 after the bout, but had to wait almost a decade for another world title fight, losing that to Cristian Mijares. By that point he was well past his best. You’d be forgiven for thinking that at 42 years old, Manny Pacquiao would have retired from the rigour of the boxing world and would spend his days enjoying himself. This is what a normal person would do, not a GOAT. Pacquiao is arguably the greatest of all time, and that shows through his past and present relationship with boxing, and will show in his future in and out of the sport. The warrior is spending less time in the ring and more time in political bouts these days, but he’s still a threat to the boxing world. Pac-Man doesn’t have the same knock-out power he used to possess, but the lean Philippine more than makes up for it with his agility and ability to land punches in bunches. The Southpaw is currently considering bouts with truly world class opponents such as Terence Crawford, Mikey Garcia and even Conor McGregor. Even though Pacquiao wouldn’t be favorite for any of those clashes, it’d be an excellent way to invest bookmaker account offers, as the welterweight is looking like his old self following three successive wins. Record After 71 professional fights accumulated over a lengthy 26-year career, Pacquiao should be a hall of fame candidate based on longevity in the sport alone. Pac-Man began his illustrious career in boxing as a diminutive and wild character. Then barely 4’ 11’’, the Southpaw struggled with weight and was seven pounds short of the limit for the lightest division. Bursting onto the scene with an aggressive, volume punching tactic, Pacquiao won by unanimous decision despite the weight disadvantage, and he hasn’t looked back since. His distinctive hairstyle and lightning quick strikes made Pacquiao an instant hit with the fans and, after developing his technique, he quickly learned to add more weight to his punches and developed a repertoire for emphatic knock outs. Pacquaio won his first world championship – the WBC Flyweight title – before the age of 20. The skilled boxer would go on to be the only fighter to win 12 world titles across eight different weight divisions. The Bukidnon born pugilist only accumulated a meagre three losses from his first 59 bouts, showing the dominance he produced despite the difficulties he faced with load. Pacquiao raised his body weight by 50% throughout his fighting career, going from 98 pounds in his debut through to 148lbs at Light Middleweight. Pacquaio was listed by ESPN as #2 on their list of the best pound-for-pound boxers of the last 25 years, and he can feel hard done by considering the obstacles he’s had to overcome. The 2000s Fighter of the Decade, as voted by the WBC, HBO, WBO and Boxers Writing Association of America, has won a gluttony of awards and also holds the prestigious title of being the only fighter to have been a world champion in four decades, from the 1990s right through to the 2020s. Style Stylish in both appearance and ring manner, Pacquiao was a fan favourite from the early days. Pacquiao battles with a devil may care attitude, taking the fight to opponents with a swashbuckling guile. Unlike the purists’ mentality of ‘hit and don’t be hit’, Pacquiao favours attacking with force and quantity, often landing multiple punches in the same phase before his challenger has had time to react. Whilst his power is no longer a feared attribute, with only one technical knock out since 2012, Pacquiao is still grinding opponents down and winning fights. The hand speed doesn’t seem to have fallen yet and Pacquiao is clearly using his considerable experience to find new ways to beat foes. Pacquiao’s technical ability is incredible, and he possesses a vast amount of abilities to cause trouble to his rivals, including a world class splitting jab, which is so successful due to the unusual angle he strikes from as a Southpaw. Quality of Opponents Pacquiao has never been one to shy away from fights, both in the set up of bouts and in the ring itself. The Philippines native has won iconic matches against world champions Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez, Ricky Hatton and even the Golden Boy, Oscar de la Hoya. Pacquiao is almost always smaller than his opponent due to his diminutive stature and his continued progression through different weight classes. For every weight Pac-Man struggles to move up, opponents are quite literally bigger and stronger, meaning it’s all the more impressive that he can impose himself. Pacquiao’s first fight at Welterweight against de la Hoya was supposed to be the turning point in which the impressive Pac-Man should have been beaten by a much taller and heavier opponent, who was also a six-division world champion. Following the same game plan as was the staple of his career, Pacquiao threw hundreds of punches and his flurries meant the de la Hoya camp threw in the towel after eight rounds. Pacquiao grew a reputation of not ducking key fights and even had an ongoing saga with Floyd Mayweather Jnr, which faced continued setbacks due to reported issues with unusual drug testing demands from Mayweather. Fanbase
In 2015, Pacquiao was listed by Forbes as the second highest paid athlete in the world, and that is quite incredible for someone who only had one fight in the whole year. The likability factor is huge for Pacquiao, both professionally as a boxer and politician, and socially. Even though Pacquiao is approaching the end of his boxing career, his social media presence continues to expand, with the star’s Instagram boasting over 6.2 million followers despite not having fought for almost two years. Pacquaio continues to grow his fanbase and demonstrate his core values and beliefs through social media as he develops his political career. Currently a Philippine Senator, Pacquiao’s political career started in 2007 as a military reservist and a congressional seat holder in the House of Representatives. Much like his boxing career, Pacquiao has wasted no time in rising to the top and is widely expected to run for President of the Philippines in 2022. Last time out in this series we looked at a body shot KO, this week we are back to head shots, facing planting victims and a genuine hidden gem of a KO from Japan that deserves a lot more people seeing it than we thing have already witnessed it. In the grand scheme of things is a pretty obscure KO but a brutal one all the same, and surprisingly it came in a rematch of a bout between two men who had gone 10 rounds with each other just over a year earlier. Satoru Suzuki (12-3, 7) vs Mitsuharu Yamamoto (12-7-4, 5) II In April 2000 Satoru Suzuki took a 10 round decision win over Mitsuharu Yamamoto in what was, at the time, a credible step up in class for Suzuki. Just 4 months after that win Suzuki won the Japanese Middleweight title, stopping Naotaka Hozumi in 8 rounds, and made his first defense in November 2000, blowing out Ikuo Yamanaka. He was taken the distance in his second defense, winning a close and competitive bout against Minoru Horiuchi, before rematch Yamamaoto in June 2001. Whilst Suzuki had gone from strength to strength, winning the Japanese title and making a couple of defenses, Yamamoto had struggled. He had beaten former OPBF title challenger Sung Chun Lee, but also been stopped by former Suzuki foe Naotaka Hozumi, who stopped him in 7. He seemed to be coming to the end of his career, and despite not having a lot of fights he had taken a lot of punishment. For Yamamoto this was likely to be his last chance. He had already come up short in bouts for Japanese and OPBF titles and was seemingly only getting a shot on the back of going 12 with Suzuki in their first bout. He certainly hadn't done anything since to earn a crack. For Suzuki this was a chance to stop one of the few men who had managed to last 10 rounds with him. The first round was a rather good one, given that most opening rounds are a bit tame. It felt more like round 11 in their rivalry than round 1 of fight #2. It wasn't all action packed but there was some intense moments with both men letting heavy shots go. To his credit Yamamoto was the one coming forward, proving himself to be a real handful, despite his poor recent form. Sadly for Yamamoto however his effort didn't yield much in terms of results. In round 2 we again saw the challenger giving things a go, and mid way through the rounds he had Suzuki near the ropes. He seemed to think he had a chance of getting to the champion, but was instead caught by a right hand, and soon afterwards a left, which left him wobbling. Suzuki sensed a finish was there and let loose with a salvo of head shots. Yamamoto managed to create some space before an uppercut caught him, and then a dynamite right hand. The right hand sent Yamamoto crashing to the canvas. He took a few seconds to before moving, only to look totally lost as he regained consciousness but had no idea where he was. This is one of the many KO's that look amazing in real time and is well worth checking out the slow mo for as well, showing just how clean the finishing shot was. Sadly for Yamamoto this would be his final professional bout. As for Suzuki he would go on to hold the Japanese Middleweight title until 2003, and then reclaim it in 2005. When he hung up the gloves Suzuki had amassed an stellar 23-6 (15) record and been one of the top Japanese Middleweights from 2000 to 2005.
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Thinking Out East
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