This past weekend we all got the chance to see Katsunari Takayama (32-9-0-1, 12) show what he could do, putting in a fan friendly showing in a loss to the younger, bigger, stronger, Elwin Soto. The bout, which ended when Laurence Cole did what Laurence Cole does, was the first time many had seen Takayama and it's fair to say he won fans over with his work rate, his toughness, and his desire to win.
We had assumed a loss there would be the end for Takayama, who is 37 and is very much coming to the end of his long and successful career. Instead however he and his team have made it clear that he intends to continue on. With that in mind let us bring you Five for... Katsunari Takayama, as we look at 5 men we want to see the "Lightning Kid" fight next. 1-Knockout CP Freshmart (21-0, 7) Typically we don't like including fighters here who have bouts lined up, but in reality Kncokout's May 29th bout against Pongsaklek Sithdabnij should be little more than a stay busy defense for the long reigning WBA champion. With that in mind we're considering him the #1 target for Takayama. The title held by Knockout is, as mentioned, the WBA one and it's the one that has actually eluded Takayama through his career, with the Lightning Kid only ever winning the interim version. With that in mind Takayama and his team, including Nobuhiro Ishida and Hiroaki Nakade, should do all they can to lure Knockout over to Japan for a bout at the end of the year. Knockout is a well polished boxer, a decent fighter, but doesn't have a high work rate, he's not quick and he's not a destructive puncher. With that in mind Takayama does have a genuine chance of out working him and winning the title, especially if they can secure this bout in front of a hostile fan base in Osaka. 2-Rene Mark Cuarto (19-2-2, 11) Staying on the idea that Takayama will want to remain in world title bouts he will almost certainly be looking at other champions for us we're not going to look at the Light Flyweight champions. The reality is that they are too big for him, and Soto looked 2, if not 3 divisions bigger than Takayama last weekend. With that in mind the division for him is, and always has been, the Minimumweight division. With that in mind one champion he should be eyeing up is Rene Mark Cuarto, the Filipino who won the IBF Miniumweight weigth title back in February. The Filipino is young and fresh faced, but in reality nothing he brings to the table should be a worry, of any kind, to Takayama. Cuarto is not a puncher, he's not physically intimidating, and is instead reliant on speed and boxing, two things that Takayama can do. In terms of damage a bout with Cuarto would certainly not be a punishing one for Takayamna, and would be a good chance for him to end his career with the IBF Minimumweight title. The title he literally chased around the globe earlier in his career. 3-Wilfredo Mendez (16-1, 6) Takayama is the only ever 2-time WBO Minimumweight champion and with that in mind there's the potential he also wants to become the first 3-time champion. To do that he should target Puerto Rican fighter Wilfredo Mendez, who like Cuarto and Knockout is not a big puncher, in fact Mendez is the lightest puncher of all the reigning champions at 105lbs. Although the quickest champion he is probably the most limited, and has a style that we suspect Takayama would love to be matched up again. A speedy boxer-mover against a speedy swarmer. This bout would also open the door to something else, something none of the other champions offer, a chance for Takayama to fight on US soil again. It's unlikely a bout with Mendez would land on a Canelo under-card, but there's no reason it couldn't land on a show shown by US TV, with Mendez's team likely happy to work with a big promoter to land Mendez a fight with big exposure. A world title fight for say Ring City USA would be huge for them, and this would certainly be a potential fight, and distribution outlet, that would serve everyone well. It's unlikely that boxing will do the right thing, and not only make this bout but also give it wider exposure, but it would be a fantastic sign of what boxing can do, when it gets it right! 4-Wanheng Menayothin (54-1, 18) The obvious choice here would have been WBC champion Panya Pradabsri but I'll be honest, I think that would be an horrific style match up for Takayama. Although not an amazing fighter Panya is taller, longer, younger, bigger, stronger and more physically imposing than Takayama. If I was in Takayama's team Panya is the one champion I would try to avoid for now. Instead I would look at former champion Wanheng Menayothin, especially given how these two men seemed to circle each other for several years when both were champions. The bout would have been better in 2014-2016, but better late than never! Style wise this would be amazing to watch, with both men having top tier experience, great styles that should gel, and their lack of power should give us a 10, or 12, round war. We would understand if both men wanted world title fights instead, but as selfish fans this is a bout we wanted 6 years ago and we still want it now! Better yet, winner gets a shot at a title and loser retires on the back of a FOTY contender! 5-Tetsuya Hisada (34-11-2, 20) If Takayama is determined to be a Light Flyweight going forward there are some bouts that we would like to see him have. One of those would be a bout with fellow Japanese veteran Tetsuya Hisada, in what would be a huge domestic bout between two men based in Osaka. The match up might not be the most appealing internationally, and certainly not a world title bout like both men would likely want, but it'd be an eliminator between two old school veterans who are both insane tough, have great engines and different, but exciting styles. If we are talking about bouts that are made because they'd be fan friendly contests there are few that would be as good as this one. We'd have Takayama's incredible energy and work rate against the strength and pressure of Hisada. We'd have a fantastic back and forth and standout contender for the Japanese fighter of the Year. From a fan's perspective this is a bout we'd love, if Takayama persists in chasing a Light Flyweight world title.
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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 Japanese star Naoya Inoue to former 2-weight world champion Soo Hwan Hong.
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-Japanese star Naoya Inoue is one of the biggest names in Japanese boxing, and one of the true Asian stars of the sport. Since turning professional his career has been guided by former professional fighter Hideyuki Ohashi, the Chairman of the Ohashi Gym. 2-Before setting up the Ohashi Gym Hideyuki Ohashi was a pretty successful fighter himself, winning the WBC and WBA Minimumweight titles and facing some true legends of the sport, including Jung Koo Chang and Ricardo Lopez. Ohashi's in ring career came to an end after his 24th fight, a close decision loss to Thailand's Chana Porpaoin. 3-When he beat Ohashi in 1993 Chana Porpaoin moved to 27-0 and would later amass an excellent record of 53-4-5 (19). Chana's journey to becoming a 2-time world champion began in 1988 and he debuted as a professional boxer on May 23rd 1988. That was the same day that Rocky Lin made his professional debut. 4-The talented Rocky Lin, the most successful fighter from Taiwan, had a solid 28 fight career, going 26-2 (11) and fighting some genuinely notable names, such as Ricardo Lopez and Wandee Singwancha. His career ended with his loss to Wandee Singwancha, on August 23rd 1998. Another man who lost on that show was Hiroyuki Sakamoto, who suffered a decision loss to Cesar Bazan in a WBC Lightweight title fight. 5-Despite the fact Hiroyuki Sakamoto failed to win a world title, losing in 4 different world title fights, he was a solid fighter, with dangerous power and managed to win both the Japanese and OPBF Lightweight titles during his often thrilling and dramatic career. Another man who won both the Japanese and OPBF Lightweight titles was Orzubek Nazarov, who also went on to win the WBA world title. 6-Interestingly Orzubek Nazarov is one of the very, very few Asian fighters to win a world title whilst fighting on the road, in South Africa. Nazarov won the WBA Lightweight title by beating Dingaan Thobela in Johannesburg. Another Asian to win a world title over in South Africa was South Korean fighter Soo Hwan Hong, who dethroned Arnold Taylor, to claim the WBA Bantamweight title in Durban. Japanese Middleweights rarely have success on the international stage and rarely even get a chance to show what they can do internationally. One of the few who did manage to do that in recent memory was the well liked and popular warrior Makoto Fuchigami (23-12, 14) who famously fought Gennadiy Golvokin in a WBA world title fight in 2012, in Ukraine. Unsurprisingly Fuchigami came up very short to Golovkin but still managed to make himself a footnote on the global scene at the weight.
For many fans in the west the bout with Golovkin is the only time Fuchigami did anything of note. In reality however he had a genuinely notable career winning the East Japan Rookie of the Year, the All Japan Rookie of the Year, the Strongest Korakuen, the Japanese Middleweight, unifying that title with the OPBF title and being a 2-time OPBF champion. His record isn't the most spectacular but his "zigzag" career, as he described it in an interview with Boxmob, was certainly a great one to follow and featured a surprising number of fantastic bouts. They include his incredible wars with Koji Sato and Tomohiro Ebisu, both of which are worth a watch any day of the week. Today we want to splash a bit more light on Fuchigami, his career, and his time as a boxer as we bring you 5 Midweek Facts about Makoto Fuchigami. 1-As an amateur Fuchigami went a less than stellar 5-7, a disappointing record by any measure despite winning a Kagoshima prefectural tournament. Despite that he had genuine success in the professional ranks, and as mentioned in the introduction even managed to earn a world title fight with Gennadiy Golovkin. 2-The Oishi Sake Brewery Co. in Japan sold Shochu, a type of Japanese alcoholic spirit, with Fuchigami's name on the label. The product was sold in part to help support Fuchigami and also to help raise funds for the areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, with 100yen from each sale being donated to the areas affected by the earthquake. The drink was 40% ABV and was sold in bottles of 720ml for a price of 1,770yen. 3-In 2011 Fuchigami married a triathlete. Although her wasn't freely available it is known that she was aiming to win the Under 23 World Championships and that she had competed in the Junior World Championships. 4-Fuchigami's nickname, and one that he still goes by, was "Satsuma kongu", which literally translates as "Satsuma Kong". We have asked for an explanation of this but sadly never got one, so we're assuming he just really likes oranges! However it appears that his favourite food is bananas which makes things even more confusing! 5-After retiring from in ring competition Fuchigami went on to become the chairman of the "18 Furukawa Boxing Gym", which is a gym in Furukawa Citya, Miyagi Prefecture. He took over that role in 2019.
Few would argue that China’s Xu Can is one of the top Featherweight boxers in the world today. However, the IBF nixed plans for a potential unification bout with their then-champion Josh Warrington and the WBA titleholder by refusing to sanction the fight earlier this year.
Fans in both Asia and Britain have long wished to see Xu Can and Warrington face off in the ring. The IBF’s stance on the situation resulted in the latter vacating his belt, and further delays to the much-anticipated super-fight then forced Warrington into boxing another opponent at short notice.
That was unheralded Mexican pugilist Mauricio Lara. Warrington had built up a 30-0 undefeated streak in pro boxing only to suffer a shock TKO loss inside nine rounds. This has left the dream fight with Xu Can in some doubt. When vacating the IBF title, Warrington’s promoters Matchroom said he was looking to make the bout for the coveted Ring Magazine belt. We haven’t seen Xu Can compete since 2019, when he won the WBA Featherweight title from Puerto Rican boxer Jesus Rojas in Houston, Texas in the USA, and then made successful defences both at home and abroad.
The Fight Fans Want
Two of the biggest names in the division have seemed destined to collide for some time. The question now is will it happen? Xu Can and his camp want fans to be in attendance. That makes a lot of sense, as the bout would draw money, not just at the box office through pay-per-view sales, but as a hot ticket to see live.
Warrington, meanwhile, has been reluctant to travel and take the fight in China. Politics and getting both parties to agree on when, where and how much their slice of the gate should be has scuppered many a boxing bout over the years. Both British and Asian bookies are still prepared to offer odds to bettors on the prospective Warrington v Xu Can fight, however. You may find prices on this boxing match expressed in a variety of different ways depending on the betting site used. Whether it’s decimal odds like those popular in Europe, Hong Kong odds or another format, the top Asian bookies on SBO side with Xu Can. It will come as no surprise that British bookmakers favour Warrington as the favourite instead. If the fight is confirmed expect the number of markets to increase significantly, with live betting available during the fight to take advantage of round by round fluctuations. Neither man has a flawless professional record between the ropes. That being said, there is no doubt the Lara upset puts Warrington on the backfoot. He may well seek a rematch before resuming talks with Xu Can over the fight. One loss doesn’t suddenly make Warrington that undesirable as an opponent. Xu Can himself lost a couple of his first five pro fights but has won his next 15 bouts leaving his early form well behind. There are other opponents he could take in the meantime with a numb er of credible challengers in the WBA rankings, but none are quite so appealing as Warrington. Fans in both the Far East and UK will be hoping they get to see Xu Can square off with Warrington eventually. When we talk about the best fighters to never win a world title one name that deserves a significant amount of attention is the tragic Kiyoshi Tanabe (21-0-1, 5) who looked on the verge of being a major success in the mid 1960's before his career ended due to an issue with his eyes. The talented fighter had began to adapt his style, moving from a purely outside fighter to that of a boxer puncher, he had battered a world champion in a non title fight and, at just 26 he was really coming in to his pomp.
Just as he was heading to a WBA Flyweight title bout Tanabe's career came to an end due to a detached retina in his right eye. This cost him a shot at Horacio Accavallo. Sadly the premature ending of his career has lead Tanabe to being both a curious case of "what if" as well as, sadly, a forgotten fighter, who sadly missed out on what should have been big career defining bouts. 1-Tanabe reportedly picked up the sport in 1958, while at High School in Aomori, and quickly became a dominant figure in Japanese boxing as an amateur. 2-Despite only beginning the sport in 1958 Tanabe managed to win an Olympic medal in 1960, taking a bronze medal. That was the first time a Japanese boxer had ever won an Olmypic medal. On route to that medal Tanabe beat Romanian fighter Mircea Dobrescu, who had picked up silver in 1956, as well as Nigerian fight Karimu Young and Irishman Adam McLean. 3-Staying with Tanabe's amateur career he twice beat 1964 Olympic gold medal winner Takao Sakurai, doing so when both men were amateur fighters in the early 1960's. When he ended his amateur career he had amassed an exceptional amateur record of 115-5 (30). 4-After graduating from University Tanabe would work for the Nikkan Sport newspaper. He left there about 6 months later to turn professional. Despite leaving the paper after only a short time there he has continued to have a good relationship with the paper, who had also covered his career before the Olympics. 5-During the mid 1960's Tanabe worked with famed American trainer Bobby Richard. Interestingly Richard left Tanabe's corner to train Ki Soo Kim, helping Kim to become the first world champion from Korea. 6-After Richard left Tananbe's side the Japanese fighter linked up with another well known American trainer, Eddie Townsend. Sadly Townsend didn't get to spend long with Tanabe, with Tanabe suffering his career ending eye injury within weeks of working with Townsend. In fact the two men only worked together for 20 days! 7-Interestingly Tanabe's injury opened up the door for a different Townsend fighter to get a title shot. Prior to his medical issue Tanabe had been training for a shot at world champion Horacio Accavallo. It was during the trianing camp for this bout that he suffered his career ending injury. Due to the injury Tanabe's shot was given to Hiroyuki Ebihara, who Townsend had also trained. 8-The respect between Tanabe and Townsend was incredible. Before he passed Townsend described Tanabe as the unluckiest fighter he ever trained, whilst Tanabe described his time with Townsend as the best, and that he couldn't express his gratitude to Townsend's teachings. 9-In 2020 Ikuo Beppu released a book focused on the relationship between Tanabe and Townsend, with a title that translates as "Boxing Bonds Spun by Kiyoshi Tanabe and Eddie". The softcover version of the book is 168 pages and retails for ¥1,760 (About £12-£13 at the time of writing). 10-Tanabe shared his name with a former Tennis player! The tennis playing Kiyoshi Tanabe, also known as "Kiyo", was 7 years younger than than the boxer and played as a professional through much of the 1970's. Sadly for the Tennis playing Tanabe his career wasn't a hugely successful one, despite playing in 4 David Cup's. His highest world ranking as a single was #174 in July 1974. His stand out result was a big upset win over Australia John Cooper in the 1974 Australian Open. When we think about great upsets we tend to think of the big shocks and some times over-look how great the bouts themselves are. Today we get to show an amazing upset, that came in a sensational bout way back in 1997. The bout was among the very best bouts of the year, and is something every fight fan should have seen by now. But if you haven't, then there really is no better time than now! Date November 22nd 1997 Venue Osaka-Jo Hall, Osaka, Osaka, Japan Sirimongkol Singwancha (16-0, 6) Vs Joichiro Tatsuyoshi (14-4-1, 11) Today's upset is a bout that really deserves to be mentioned at one of the best of 1997, and one of the best to ever give us an upset. In one corner was unbeaten Thai Sirimongkol Singwanchan, the then WBC Bantamweight champion who was just 20 years old but looked like he was going to be one of the major faces of Thai of boxing. He had debuted in 1994 and had won the WBC "interim" Bantamweight title in 1996 before being upgraded in 1997 when Wayne McCullough left the division. He had made 3 defenses of the title, including one against veteran Victor Rabanales. He looked like a long term champion in the making, he was young, talented, tough and skilled, with under-rated power that he was still developing. In the early 1990's the enigmatic Joichiro Tatsuyoshi was among the most popular Japanese fighters out there. He was charismatic, unique, a huge fan favourite, but also a fighter who often relied on his chin rather than his skills. As a result he took a lot of punishment very early in his career and his eyes were damaged by the wars that he was involved in. By 1997 he was widely regarded as being a done fighter, battled against the likes of Victor Rabanales, Yasuei Yakushiji and Daniel Zaragoza had taken their toll on him. He was "only" 27, but an old 27 who hadn't scored a win of note in well over 4 years and had had to comeback from a detached retina. Before the bout Tatsuyoshi seemed to suggest that if he lost he had no where left to go in the sport, and would retire. He was the under-dog. He was at home, but was up against a fighter who looked like an emerging star. Early on the bout had gone the way many had expected. The unbeaten Thai looked confident, calm, quick and accurate, he fought behind his jab and repeatedly tagged Tatsuyoshi up top through the first rounds. The Japanese local had moments, but was putting in a lot more effort than the Thai champion, who looked very composed and comfortable despite the crowd being well behind Tatsuyoshi. The first few rounds saw Tatsuyoshi working hard too close the distance, but struggling with the jab and intelligent boxing of the Thai, who limited Tatsuyoshi's success to just a shot or two at a time. It was smart work from the young champion, who was trying to take the fight out of Tatsuyoshi, pick his moments and neutralise the fans. Tatsuyoshi however wasn't having it, and kept coming forward. In round 4 and 5 we finally saw Tatsuyoshi get up close and force a higher tempo whilst the Thai began to look like some one who had struggled to make weight, or maybe over-looked his Japanese foe. Those rounds saw the bout turn in favour of Tatsuyoshi and the excitement level grew, the belief that we were seeing one great final performance from the popular "Joe of Naniwa". It seemed like Tatsuyoshi was going to break the unbeaten Thai champion. That we were going to see the the damaged and battle worn warrior claim a remarkable win. Then Tatsuyoshi began to look like he was feeling the pace. His effort and drive through the 4th and 5th round came at a cost whilst Sirimongkol appeared to be getting a chance to recover. Things were heading back to the way people had expected. Tatsuyoshi however wasn't willing to give up his dream of continuing, of proving he wasn't shot. That he wasn't done, and some how, despite being hurt early in the round, he pulled out a thunderbolt, landing a brutal body shot that sent the Thai on to the canvas. Sirimongkol beat the count but couldn't survive the follow up attack, which forced the referee to step ip. The man most thought was shot, was damaged goods and heading to retirement had pulled it out. He had put in one of the best performances of his career, dug deep and repaid the fans who shown him so much love. Surprisingly Tatsuyoshi would then make two subsequent defenses of the title, before losing the belt in 1998 to Veeraphol Sahaprom, who went on to have the type of reign some had expected of Sirimongkol. As for Sirimongkol he would bounce back well, and move up through the weights, claiming the WBC Super Featherweight title in 2002 and was still fighting more than 20 years after this loss, having a rather amazing career. The loss was a big set back, but was certainly not the end for the Thai. August 29th 1997 is not a date that will ring many bells for boxing fans. There were fights that day, of course there was, but nothing too important, despite fighters like Denkaosan Kaovichit, Osamu Sato, Orlando Salido, Yoddamrong Sithyodthong, Verno Philips, Eric Harding and Noel Arambulet all fighting that day. It is however a date that is incredibly important in modern day media consumption.
It was the date that Netflix was founded. Now, almost 24 years on, Netflix has grown, and grown and has been a key player in the move away from physical media, and renting games and movies, to digital media and online streaming. They have also come across a problem in recent years. They are a victim of their own success. Their brilliant idea, and the technology they've used to bringing movies and TV streaming to everyone's house has started to be a very saturated and fragmented market in recent years. Right now Netflix is under threat from Disney +, Amazon Prime, HBO Max, Apple TV, Hulu and so many other options that are seeing customers wallets taking a pounding. What used to be a cheap, all in one option to stream things has, within a decade, become a market so fragmented that it's no longer a cheap and cheerful option and there's always something on one of the other services that people will want to watch. With that said you're now wondering why I'm mentioning this on a boxing website. You're here for boxing, and not someone to tell you about Netflix. Well the reality is that we are about to see the same issue in boxing. The sport, which has never been cheap to follow, is now set to become incredibly expensive, at least you're a UK fan wanting to follow as many fights as possible. Boxing is set to have it's own Netflix situation. Going back to 2000 Sky were the only dog in town. They had a mix of UK fights, live fights from abroad and even fights from Japan. Amazingly they actually showed Hozumi Hasegawa's second bout with Veeraphol Sahaprom from 2006. Now however the broadcast of the sport is amazingly fractured in the UK. Sky have remained a player in the sport, and whilst their deal with Matchroom is about to end they are expected to remain involved in the sport, though have very much kept to the British scene over the last year or two. But there's now also BT Sport and Premier Sport, which includes Boxnation, involved in televising the sport. That's 3 TV subscriptions to watch boxing in the UK. There is also major bouts being shown on streaming services DAZN and Fite TV, as well the newly launched Fight Zone TV, another online streaming service focusing on domestic bouts in the UK. That's before we even look at some of the online services aimed at niche fans wanting to watch things regularly from Japan, such as isakura and Boxing Raise (which now requires a VPN it's self) or Punchinggrace.com for shows from Eye of the Tiger Management in Canada. Sky, which was once a one size fits all service showing a decent amount of action is now, is now a relatively minor player and fans are, at the end of the day, the losers missing out on fights that years ago would be expected to be shown on TV. Just for DAZN and FightZone the cost is around £7, then add in Sky (which is awkward to price up but we'll got with £33.99 which is a price available to everyone through Now TV), then add BT Sport on Top, then Premier Sport the month cost is well over £70 a month. That's ignoring all the Sky Sports PPV's, which have been creeping up in price from £14.99 up to £25.99 and are expected to hit £29.99 sooner rather than later, as well the Fite TV PPV's, which can be around £12.99. Again that's ignoring all the actual niche services, like Boxing Raise and Isakura, and we're already looking at needing 2 monthly services, 3 subscription TV services and the PPV's on Fight TV. The price to watch the sport in the UK is then looking close to, if not over, £100 a month. And there's no guarantee, month to month, about what fights will be shown where. Now, sure, Matchroom taking their content to DAZN, which is £1.99 in the UK, is a bargain. For now. The price there is expected to rapidly increase to accommodate the loss of revenue from not having PPV's on the service for fighters like Dereck Chisora, and could end up costing another £10 to £15 a month. I don't like taking the focus of articles on this site away from boxing in Asia but sometimes it needs to be said. Fight fans are set to have the piss taken out of them over the coming year or two. For those who have defended PPV costs, and those who have supported the digital revolution of the sport, just remember this isn't cheap and the more services there is providing pay to view boxing contest the harder and harder it is to grow the sports fan base. Having lots of services offering the sport might seem good to begin with, but longer terms it will mean following the sport is incredibly expensive, and will price the sport out of the reach of many, many would be fans. Fans who would, just 5 years ago, have seen a bout between Josh Taylor and Jose Carlos Ramirez shown on TV now need to go to a streaming service that few fans are aware of and sadly this is just the start. Thankfully the bubble of new services will burst, one day, but by then it'll be hard to know just how few dedicated fans there will be following the sport in the UK and how few new fans it will be attracting hidden behind so many pay walls. A lot of the bouts we feature in this series are relatively recent bouts, but today we've decided to go back in terms to 1972 for one of the strangest knockouts we've seen and one at the very highest level of the sport. This was from a Featherweight world title bout, and was a brilliant KO by a man who ripped up the script and scores a huge upset. In the opposite corner was a technically excellent fighter, but one with a weak chin, which proved to be an issue here. Kuniaki Shibata (35-2-3, 22) vs Clemente Sanchez (38-7-3, 25) In one corner was brilliant Japanese technical Kuniaki Shibata, one of the most well schooled Japanese fighters from the 1960's and 1970's. Shibata was a great technician, with a fantastic and piston like jab, but he was also blessed with one of the worst chins of any world class Japanese fighter in history. His trainer, and Japanese training legend, Eddie Townsend tried to get him to fight in a way that helped him protect his chin, which had let him down in both of his losses up to this point. At the time Shibata was the WBC Featherweight champion, having upset the legendary Vicente Saldivar in Mexico in 1970. After his title win he had defended the belt twice before taking on Clemente Sanchez. Sanchez was much less well known and with 7 losses in 38 bouts he was, understandably, the under-dog for what was his first bout outside of Mexico. On paper this was a big step up in class for Sanchez. Despite his competition being limited, and a number of losses on his record, he was certainly a decent fighter and had scored wins against the likes of Raul Cruz and Tahar Ben Hassen. Coming into this he had been on a fairly destructive run stopping his last 7 and had scored 13 stoppages in his previous 14 bouts. That run had seen him go from a pretty average looking 25-7-2 (12) to a much more impressive looking 38-7-3 (25). The bout started as a pretty interesting battle between two men looking to take control of the bout and through two rounds it was incredibly close and competitive. Neither guy would really manage to differentiate themselves in either of the first two rounds, with one many having success and the other come back at them. Then we got to round 3. The round was relatively close until until Sanchez landed a thunderous 1-2, with the right hand sending Shinbata to the seat of his pants. He quickly tried to get to his feet, and for a moment it looked like he was going to be able to continue. Just seconds later however Shibata stumbled, before falling, ending up flat on his back where he took the 10 count. Despite getting to his feet, Shibata was out cold in what seemed like a delayed reaction knockout. A very weird and unique ending to the bout, which deserves to be seen, and re-seen. Whilst we know this won't be the only KO like this, it is still a rather odd finish. Sadly for Sanchez he would the title on the scales before his first defense, whilst Shibata would later go on to have two more reigns as a world champion, both at Super Featherweight. 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 Thai world champion Veraphol Sahaprom, to Japanese star Naoya Inoue.
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-Former 2-time Bantamweight champion Veeraphol Sahaprom had a genuinely excellent professional boxing career, going a stellar 66-4-2 (46) during his time in the sport, which ran from 1994 to 2010. During his career he was stopped 3 times with the final one of those stoppages coming in 2008, when he was stopped in 4 rounds by South African fighter Vusi Malinga, in what would actually be Sahaprom's final loss in professional boxing. 2-The talented Vusi Malinga was one of the more notable South African fighters of his era, fighting some of the top fighters in and around the Bantamweight. They included Sahaprom, Hozumi Hasegawa, Leo Santa Cruz, Stuart Hall and Gavin McDonnell. Sadly he failed to pick up a world title but did pick up a number of minor titles, including the WBC International Bantamweight title, a belt that was also held by Thailand's Rocky Chitalada. 3-The hard hitting Rocky Chitalada racked up an impressive 16-3 (15) record during his short career, that spanned from 1985 to 1988. On the same card as Rocky's debut fans also saw the criminally under-rated Noree Jockeygym, aka Visan Thummong. Sadly it wasn't a day to remember for Noree, who suffered his first career loss on the show. 4-One of the most remarkable fights featuring Noree Jockeygym saw him travel over to Japan and suffer a loss to the then rising Japanese star Naoto Takahashi, with Takahashi looking a beaten man in round 2 before turning things around in round 3. Notably the two men would rematch the following year, with Noree exacting revenge over Takahashi, who looked shot fighter in their rematch. 5-Although not a well known fighter in the West Naoto Takahashi was one of the most popular Japanese fighters in the mid-to late 1980's and early 1990's. He was known as the "Prince of the Reversal", due to his amazing comebacks, but sadly his career was cut short due to a brain injury suffered in 1991. After his in ring career was over Takahashi worked with Jyoji Morikawa at the JB Sports gym. That's the same Jyoji Morikawa who created the brilliant Hajime No Ippo series, and in fact based a character on Takahashi! 6-In recent years Jyoji Morikawa has continued his success with Hajima No Ippo, the JB Sports gym and has also had his art work featured on the front cover of Ring Magazine. That Ring magazine cover was actually a Morikawa drawn piece of Naoya Inoue that he did in 2019, in one of the most unique Ring magazaine covers of all time. Boxing has a lot of unlucky fighters, and one of the big parts of professional boxing is luck. One such example of a fighter lacking luck when he needed it was Thailand's fantastic Thanomsak Sithbaobay (56-6, 33) who fought between 1985 and 1996, with a one off comeback bout in 1998 when he was 33.
The talented Thai had success at Flyweight, Super Flyweight and Bantamweight during his 62 fight professional career though sadly came up short in 3 world title fights, losing all 3 by close and competitive decision. Despite being a genuinely talented fighter he has, in recent years, become very much a forgotten man who doesn't get spoken about much, other than fans remember his lack of luck when he needed it. During his long career Thanomsak fought the likes of Soon Jung Kang, Kenji Matsumura, Frank Cedeno, Torsak Pongsupa, Luisito Espinosa, Katsuya Onizuka - twice, Rolando Pascua and Sirimongkol Singwancha and managed to win both OPBF and Thai national titles, though a world title repeatedly eluded him. Today we're not here for a career synopsis on one of the least fortunate Thai's of all time, but instead to shine a small light on him as we bring you 5 Midweek Facts about Thanomsak Sithbaobay. 1-Although best known as Thanomsak Sithbaobay it should be little surprise to learn that was not birth name, that was Tanom Kongsankam. Like many Thai's also fought under other names, and these were Khaoyai Mahasarakham, Khaoyai Pitsanurachan and Thalerngsak Sithbaobay 2-The talented Thanomsak was the 20th Thai fighter to hold an OPBF title, holding the OPBF Flyweight title from October 1986 to May 1987. During that time he made just a single defense of the title. Interestingly he was only the second Thai to win the OPBF Flyweight title, following in the footsteps of Pone Kingpetch, who had won the belt in 1957 and lost it in 1958, when it was still known as the OBF title. 3-In 1992 when Thanomsak lost to Katsuya Onizuka in a bout for the vacant WBA Super Flyweight title, in the first of two bouts between the men, the Japanese fans regarded the result as a suspicious decision, calling out the judges who had given the bout to the local favourite. This isn't a one off in Japan, but was still very notable at the time with Onizuka being a hugely popular fighter in Japan. Despite the questionable decision not a single judge for either of Thanomsak Vs Onizuka bouts was Japanese 4-Although best remembered for losing 3 times in close decisions in world title bouts, a feat that saw him being dubbed an "unlucky" boxer in Thailand it's even more remarkable that his record outside of Thailand was 0-4, with all 4 losses coming in Japan. Two of those losses came to Onizuka in WBA Super Flyweight title bouts, the others came to Kenji Matsumura, when Thanomsak lost the OPBF Flyweight title, and the final one came in Thanomsak's ill fated 1998 comeback, when he was stopped by Tetsutora Senrima. 5-Professional wrestler Makoto Hatori took his wrestling name, Tanomusaku Toba, from Thanomsak. |
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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