Having recently passed 6,000 twitter followers, we've decided to try and do some special one off articles as a thank you to everyone for the last few years of following us, helping us and being part of why we continue to do this.
With that in mind we've decided to collate 10 of our favourite facts from our lengthy weekly series "10 facts you probably didn't know about..." as one of those special one offs. All these facts have come from articles through the series. 1-Naoya Inoue's debut was the first time that a Japanese teenager had debuted in an A class bout, over 8 rounds, and he was the first Japanese fighter, of any age, to debut in an A Class bout so since Takeyuki Akagi had done it in 1987. This also made him only the 7th Japanese fighter to debut in such a bout. 2-Surprisingly Hozumi Hasegawa failed in his first pro-test bout, due to poor physical condition. 3-Ki Soo Kim's professional debut saw him take a 10 round decision over Sae Chul Kang, in fact Kim's first 2 wins were over Kang. What makes this note worthy is that Kang was the Oriental (OBF, which has now become the OPBF) Champion at Light Middleweight 4-Myung Woo Yuh began boxing at the Han River Middle School, in his first year there. As an amateur he reportedly went 1-3, whilst fighting at 45KG's. Due to his style not fitting the amateurs very well he turned professional aged just 18. 5-Guts Ishimatsu is well known for his love of Banana's with the fruit said to be placed all around his house so he can eat them at any time. His relationship with banana's has seen him co-authoring a book with his daughter about banana recipes. Together he and his daughter won the "First Banana Award" and took part in Banana day. 6-In December 1998 Puma Toguchi was pencilled in to fight the then WBA Super Flyweight champion Satoshi Iida. That fight was cancelled when Toguchi had a suspected stroke. It later turned out that he had been misdiagnosed, and it took a lengthy time for him to return to the ring. In his return he was stopped by domestic journeyman Motonari Kashima, in what would be the final bout for both men. 7-There was a plan for Yo Sam Choi to defend his WBC Light Flyweight in December 2000 and in Pyongyang, in what was supposed to be a rematch with Saman Sorjaturong. The venue had been selected, as the Pyongyang Indoor Gymnasium but the event fell through when the broadcaster pulled out, with some Korean sources also reporting that the promoter of the event, had passed away. 8--Johnriel Casimero's first international title was the WBO Asia Pacific Light Flyweight. In his first defense he stopped Ardin Diale, becoming the first man to stop Diale. That bout was however over-shadowed by a bizarre incident on the card when former world champion Ratanachai Sor Vorapin kicked Ramie Laput and suffered a DQ loss. This was Ratanachai's 86th bout, and his only career DQ loss. 9-The Uzbek press once ran a story that Ruslan Chagaev was having an affair with Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of the then President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov. 10-Yuri Arbachakov is pictured on the album cover of Sharan Q's debut album "Explosion! Hennachoko Punch". Those with eagle eyes will spot Yuri is wearing a WBA title in the image, that belt is borrowed from Katsuya Onizuka, as Yuri's own WBC title hadn't arrived by the time of the photo shoot. This album cover can be seen below.
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Earlier this week fight fans at Korakuen Hall, yes they are back!, saw Japanese Featherweight champion Ryo Sagawa (10-1, 5) successfully retain his title and record his second defense. With that in mind we've decided to give him the "Five for" treatment this week. Whilst we haven't featured any world title bouts for the Japanese fighter, who we do think is still a few fights away from competing at that level, there are still a lot of great bouts out there for him.
Here we have included a really obvious one, that we expect to see in 2021, along with a rematch we'd like, a couple of regional title unifications and then a bout against someone who appears to be heading towards becoming a divisional gate keeper. Note - Due to current travel restrictions we have limited this to just Japanese fighters. We're not totally sure when Filipino fighters, for example, will be able to easily get to Japan so it makes more sense to stick to bouts we know "can" be made, even if the reality is that Sagawa won't fight until those limitations are lifted. 1-Hinata Maruta (10-1-1, 8) The obvious match up, and the on we expect to see in 2021, is a bout between Sagawa and mandatory challenger Hinata Maruta. This bout was originally planned for this year, before the global situation forced it to be cancelled, and caused problems in rescheduling it. On paper this is about as good a match up as we could expect at domestic level and the winner will see their standing in the sport boosted massively. On one hard Sagawa would probably be the slight favourite, given his competition and wins, but talented Maruta should not be written off when, or if, this bout takes place. This would be high level, high speed stuff from both in a brilliant technical match up. 2-Reiya Abe (19-3-1, 9) II Another alternative for a Japanese title defense would see Sagawa taking on the man he beat for the then vacant title, Reiya Abe. The two men fought in an ultra close and competitive bout last year and to see them go again would be great. Sadly the originaly bout wasn't aired on TV in full, with only very brief highlights, but a rematch between the two would hopefully be shown in full. Both of these fighters are very highly skilled, well matched and make for an interesting match up. It should be noted that Abe has been out of the ring since their first clash, last September, but will be back in action later this year. If he comes through that bout this is one we would love to see being re-run. 3-Satoshi Shimizu (9-1, 9) The one weakness we think Sagawa has is his chin. He has been stopped once and dropped in the past. With that in mind a bout against the crude, technically awkward, but monstrously heavy handed Satoshi Shimizu looks like an interesting one for us. Shimizu certainly has the power to take Sagawa out if he lands clean, giving a real risk to Sagawa for fighting the man from the Ohashi Gym. On the other hand Shimizu is so clumsy, so crude, and so open, that Sagawa could have a field day with him, using his counters, and sharp fluid punching to burst up and break down the Olympic bronze medal winner. This bout would also have a few substories to it. Shimizu is the OPBF champion, meaning the bout could serve as a unification of the Japanese and OPBF titles, and it's also a bout for Shimizu to avenge the loss of stablemate Ryo Matsumoto, who was stopped by Sagawa. 4-Musashi Mori (11-0, 6) Another potential unification bout could see Sagawa risking his Japanese title against WBO Asia Pacific champion Musashi Mori. On paper Mori is an easier opponent for Sagawa than Shimizu, with Mori lacking the destructive power and heavy hands of Shimizu, but he is still no push over, with good technical ability, a smart boxing brain and a lot of confidence. A bout between Sagawa and Mori would be a technical delight, with one of the best Japanese offensive fighters in the division against one of the better defensive fighters. This would be high speed, high skill, and whilst perhaps not the most entertaining match up possible it would be a very engaging and competitive bout. 5-Tsuyoshi Tameda (21-5-2, 19) On paper a bout between Sagawa and Tsuyoshi Tameda doesn't look all that great, especially with Tameda losing his last bout and 2 of his last 5. In reality however his style could be the type of thing to give Sagawa fits. Tameda is crude, he's defensively poor, he can be hit, and he can be hurt. He is however an aggressive, heavy handed fighter who will be in the ring to win and that power and aggression could ask questions of Sagawa's chin. We suspect Sagawa would win, and would have the skills to take care of Tameda, but the quick starting of Tameda would make this a potential shoot out early on. Very much a high risk-low reward fight for Sagawa, but a fun one for 3 or 4 rounds. If Sagawa sees out the early storm we suspect he'd stop Tameda, but those early rounds would be incredibly interesting. Last time in Reliving the Finish we looked at Akifumi Shimoda's TKO loss to Rico Ramos. Sadly for Shimoda that's not even the worst KO loss of his career, that came several years later in 2014, in one of the year's best KO's of the year. Marvin Sonsona (17-1-1, 14) Vs Akifumi Shimoda (28-3-2, 12) In January 2011 Akifumi Shimoda won the WBA Super Bantamweight title and the following July he was stopped by Rico Ramos, losing his title in eye catching fashion. Following that loss Shimoda had managed to get his career back on track, going unbeaten in 6 bouts and getting himself on the verge of another world title fight. Whilst Shimoda was rebuilding his career after a loss Filipino Marvin Sonsona was in a similar position, if not an even more intriguing one. The Filipino had won the WBO Super Flyweight title in September 2009, lost it on the scales, just 2 months later and then suffered a loss to Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. Following the loss to Vazquez, in February 2010, Sonsona had fought just 3 times in almost 4 years, completely wasting his once promising career. This was the definition of a crossroad fight. Both men needed a win and neither could afford a loss. The first 2 rounds of the bout saw Shimoda being the busier man whilst Sonsona looked the quicker man, but also the lazier man, doing little in terms of output but looking like he was getting a read on the Japanese fighter. Although it was clear Shimoda was doing more he never looked like he could hurt the confident and cocksure Filipino. In round 3 things changed as Sonsona finally showed the touches of boxing genius that excited Filipino fans and seen him become one of the top youngsters in the sport. Before he ruined his own career with unprofessionalism. Just over a minute into the round and with Sonsona's back on the ropes he threw a blinding jab, it missed by kept Shimoda's attention before a perfect left uppercut crashed onto Shimoda's chin. It was the perfect uppercut from Sonsona and landed as sweet as a peach, dropping Shimoda flat. The win helped resurrect Sonsona's career. though sadly he failed to get things back on track and just a fight later had again turned the boxing world against him, with a dull and dreary non-performance in a rematch against Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. As for Shimoda his career continued with mixed results before he finally retired, having never got another world title shot. 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 contender Yoshihiro Kamegai to North Korean Olympic Silver medal winner Kim U Gil 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-Although a limited fighter Japan's Yoshihiro Kamegai built himself a cult following for his exciting, hard hitting wars, his energy and out put and his titanium chin. In his most notable bout he faced one of his hero's, and multi-weight world champion, Miguel Cotto for the WBO Light Middleweight title. Whilst Kamegai lost, he did manage to fight in a world title bout before finally hanging up the gloves. 2-Of course Miguel Cotto did fight other Asian fighters. His bout with Manny Pacquiao is one of his most notable, but his rivalry against Muhammadqodir Abdullaev is one that crossed between the amateurs and professional ranks. Famously Abdullaev beat Cotto in the amateurs, before Cotto avenged the result in the pros. 3-The amateur win for Muhammadqodir Abdullaev over Miguel Cotto came in the first round of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, where Abdullaev won a Gold medal in the Light Welterweight division. Another fighter who picked up a Gold medal at the 2000 Olympics was Kazakh Light Middleweight Yermakhan Ibraimov, who scored a notable victory against future professional Middleweight world champion Jermain Taylor. 4-Prior to winning gold at the 2000 Olympics Yermakhan Ibraimov had also competed at the 1996 games, where he beat Markus Beyer on route to a Bronze medal. He wasn't the only Kazakh boxer picking up a medal in Atlanta, with Light Heavyweight Vasily Jirov going on to win the Gold medal, thanks to wins against the likes of Antonio Tarver and Troy Ross. 5-Along with his Olympic Gold medal at the 1996 games Vasily Jirov was also awarded the Val Barker trophy as the best boxer at the Olympics. A prior winner of that award was Kenyan fighter Philip Waruinge, who won it in 1968. Waruinge, who later fought in Japan as Philip Nakayama, only claimed Bronze at the Olympics, but was widely regarded to have been robbed in the semi-finals against local fighter Antonio Roldan, hence how he picked up the the Val Barker trophy despite failing to even make the final. 6-The 1968 Olympics wasn't the only one where Philip Waruinge competed. In fact he had fought in the the 1964 Olympics, losing to Heinz Schulz in the round of 16, and then return to the Olympic stage in 1972 where he took a Silver medal. Another man who won a Silver medal at the 1972 Olympics in Munich was North Korean Light Flyweight Kim U Gil. What's rather notable about Gil's medal is that it was the first Olympic boxing medal for a fighter representing North Korea. (Image credit - Teiken) We continue this little series as we look at the now relatively unknown Noburu Kataoka (4-2, 2). Kataoka fought in the 1950's, between 1956 and 1957. His career was a short one, lasting just 6 bouts spread over 8 months, but it was a significant one as he became the first JBC Heavyweight champion in 1957, and the only one for over 50 years.
Whilst Kataoka certainly didn't have a big career, or one that is well remembered now, it is a career with intrigue, and with that I mind we bring you 5 Midweek Facts about Noburu Kataoka. He didn't use his real name, he didn't even set off to become a boxer, and he only fought 3 opponents during his entire career. His career is a small one, but one that plays an interesting role in Japanese boxing history. 1-Although Kataoka is best known for his boxing career, he actually picked up the sport after previously being a sumo wrestler. Interestingly Kataoka's debut opponent, Iwao Murashita, was also a former sumo wrestler. 2-Kataoka's birth name was Akio Kataoka, not Noburu Kataoka 3-During his 6 fight career, Kataoka only fought 3 opponents. He beat Iwao Murashita on debut, lost to American fighter Charlie Tims, then fought Yutaka Nakagoshi 4 times. 4-Rather oddly all 3 of the men that Kataoka fought only fought him. None of them ever fought anyone else. Murashita and Tims never fought again as pros and Nakagoshi only fought in his 4 fight series with Kataoka. 5-Whilst widely regarded as the first Japanese Heavyweight champion there is an argument that he was technically the second, although he was the first to be recognised by the JBC. That's due to an obscure claim of Johnny Freeman having won recognition as the Japanese Heavyweight champion in 1935. This is a pre-JBC title, and one that few recognise. With more than 100 total world champions from Japan, including female world champions, a number are relatively unknown and scarcely remembered, despite sometimes playing a major role in the sport. One great example is former Flyweight world champion, come gym chairman, come key figure at the JPBA.
Whilst we suspect many hardcore fans have heard of Susumu Hanagata we know fans may now know much about him. With that in mind we bring you 10 facts you probably didn't know about... Susumu Hanagata! 1-During his career Hanagata fought out of the Yokohama Kyoei Boxing Gym, a gym that has since changed it's name and is now the Kanagawa Atsumi Boxing Gym. He was the gym's first, and only, world champion. 2-Hanagata made his debut in November 1963 and would fight 3 times before the year was over. Surprisingly, given he would go on to win a world title, he lost 2 of his first 3 and 3 of his first 5 bouts. 3-Hanagata was 15-8-8 before having his first bout scheduled for 10 rounds. Amazingly those 31 bouts saw him go the distance on all but one occasion, with the exception being a 3rd round technical decision loss to Yoichi Nagumo in 1965. Those bouts were also packed in to just over 4 years. They were interestingly broken down into 16 bouts over 4 rounds, 11 bouts over 6 rounds and 4 bouts over 8 rounds. He also scored his first stoppage in his first 10 round contest! 4-In September 1968 Hanagata defeated Masao Oba, giving Oba his second, and final, loss as a professional. In the years that followed Oba would go on to make his mark as one of the truly legendary Japanese boxers, and would actually avenge the loss to Hanagata in 1972. 5-Hanagata would win a world title in his 5th attempt, and would actually go 1-7 in world title bouts. Despite that he was never stopped in world level bouts, with his only stoppage loss coming in a Japanese title fight. 6-After retiring he set up the Hanagata gym. The gym set a first in 2000 when Keitaro Hoshino won the WBA Minimumweight title, becoming the the first champion from a gym run by a former world champion. This is something that has since been matched with Ohashi Gym and Shirai Gushiken Gym both competing the feat in recent years. 7-Hideyuki Ohashi stated that he almost joined the Hanagata gym when it first opened, though Mr Hanagata was said to have told Ohashi to go with the more established Yonekura gym. The is one of many times where Hanagata, as a gym chairman, has put the fighters best interests ahead of his own interests. Other examples include signing several fighters on 1-fight contracts after the Kyoei gym and the Aoki gym shut their doors, so they could fight. 8-Despite sharing his surname with fighter Saemi Hanagata the two aren't actually related. Instead Saemi took the "Hanagata", and essentially adopted the name from Susumu. 9-In 2018, when Saemi Hanagata won the IBF Atomweight title with a win over Yuko Kuroki, the Hanagata gym became one of the very few gyms to have created both a male and female world champion. In fact Susumua Hanagata joined Yoko Gushiken and Hideyuki Ohashi as the only former world champions to have set up a gym and crafted both a male and female world champion under their guidance. 10-In 2019 Hanagata was appointed chairman of the East Japan Boxing Association and the Japan Professional Boxing Association. Last weekend we saw hard hitting Thai Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (48-5-1, 41) return to the ring after 16 months out and put on a rather under-whelming performance as he beat a game Amnat Ruenroeng. The bout was supposed to be a mismatch and a chance for Srisaket to make a statement ahead of a bigger bout later in the year. Sadly though it seemed that the former 2-time WBC Super Flyweight champion lacked the timing we'd seen from him in the past and he looked like a man with a lot of rust to shake.
Srisaket ended up winning, but that was, at least in part, due to Amnat's 40 year old legs struggling in the later stages of the 10 round bout. Going into the bout it was supposed to be a contest that would open the door to another world title fight for the power punching man from Si Sa Ket and we suspect that is still the plan. If, for whatever reason, Srisaket can't get a world title bout next there are other options out there for the Thai. Here we're going to look at two possible world title fights and 3 other interesting bouts as we give Srisaket Sor Rungvisai the "Five for" treatment! 1-Roman Gonzalez (49-2, 41) III The most obvious bout, for us at last, is a third bout between Srisaket and Roman Gonzalez. Although Srisaket has won the first 2 bouts a third bout makes sense now that Gonzalez is a world champion again, with the Nicaraguan now holding the WBA title. A third bout will give Gonzalez a chance to extract some revenge over the only man to have beaten him, and will give Srisaket a chance to become a 3-time world champion. The reason we think this bout would be the preferred choice to the other possible world title bout is that Gonzalez is a man that Srisaket has twice beaten. He knows he has the tools to deal with the Nicaraguan great, whilst Gonzalez will be desperate for revenge. 2-Juan Francisco Estrada (40-3, 27) III Whilst we'd prefer to see Srisaket against Gonzalez there is some real unfinished business between Srisaket and Mexican fighter Juan Francisco Estrada, who are 1-1 against each other. Given how Srisaket looked last weekend we wouldn't suggest this is a bout he should race head first into, despite the two very competitive bouts the men have already had. If he's anything less than 100% Estrada will toy with him, out work him, and counter him, something that Amnat did in the early stages. This rematch makes a lot of sense, but sadly for Srisaket if he's still struggling for timing he would not come out of this one with out suffering another defeat. In our eyes he really needs another bout before a rubber bout with "El Gallo". 3-Carlos Cuadras (39-3-1, 27) II Another man we'd love to see Srisaket face off with again is Carlos Cuadras. It was Cuadras that ended Srisaket's first reign, way back in May 2014, and there was some real unfinished business there. That bout was stopped in round 8 with Cuadras taking a technical decision and Cuadras did what he could to avoid a rematch with a then prime Srisaket. Since then both men have taken a lot of punishment, both men are on the slide. Despite that it would be great to see the rematch between the two men, even if it is well and truly over-due. We get the feeling Cuadras wouldn't be in a rush to take on Sriskaet, at either Super Flyweight or Bantamweight, but it is a bout that we'd absolutely love to see...still! 4-Liborio Solis (30-6-1-1, 14) Although Srisaket is expected to continue his career at 115lbs there is some potential that he will struggle to get his thick, muscular, powerful frame down to the weight going forward. He's now heading towards his 34th birthday and it may well be time for him, if he can't get one of the rematches above, to begin campaigning at Bantamweight. If he's going to do that then he may as well face a former world champion and someone who recently fought for a world title. With that in mind a bout with Liborio Solis would make for a great match up. It's one where Srisaket will be strongly favoured, but in terms of styles this should be a sensational fight. Solis is a decent fighter, he gave a decent effort against Guillermo Rigondeaux and had a brilliant fight with Shinsuke Yamanaka a few years ago. This would be great fun to watch fight, even if it's not a top tier match up. 5-Pedro Guevara (36-3-1, 21) Of course if Srisaket is going to remain at Super Flyweight, and can't get one of the 3 rematches we've mentioned, it'd be great to see him in with a top divisional contender. With that in mind a bout with Pedro Guevara, who is very highly ranked by the WBC and WBO, would be really a really good clash. Technically Guevara is the better boxer, but the natural size and power advantages of Srisaket would likely be the the difference between the two men. Despite this not being as good as the 3 rematches we mentioned Guevara would work as a decent tune up for a bout with Estrada, so if we end up with Gonzalez Vs Estrada II a bout between Srisaket and Guevara would make for a brilliant chief support bout on a "Super Fly" type event. On August 21st we were expecting to see a new WBO Flyweight champion being crowned as Junto Nakatani and Giemel Magramo were supposed to face off for the vacant title in Tokyo. Sadly that bout is now off, but regardless we felt this was a great chance to cover that title in our "Did You Know" series.
-The first champion was called Elvis! That as Elvis Alvarez, a Colombian fighter who won the belt in March 1989 with a unanimous decision against Miguel Mercedes. Sadly Alvarez, when was murdered in 1995, vacated the belt before defending it doe to a lack of interest in the title, though would later go on to claim the WBA title. -The bout between Alvarez and Mercedes is the only bout for the belt to be held in Colombia -There was 17 months between the first and second bouts for the belt! -The second champion was Isidro Perez, who won the belt in August 1990 with a TKO 12 victory over Angel Rosario. This was the first stoppage in a bout for the belt, and the only stoppage in a bout for the title in 1993. -Perez was the first champion to defend the title, doing so twice, and his two wins against Alli Galvez were the first time two fighters have battled each other more than once for the title, something that has happened a fair few times since. -Sadly Perez is also assumed to have died, having vanished in 2012. -The first European champion was Scotland's often forgotten Pat Clinton, who had represented Great Britain at the 1984 Olympics before winning the WBO Flyweight title in 1992 with a win over Perez in Glasgow. This was actually the first time a champion had been dethroned. -Following Clinton's title win the belt was then defended twice in Glasgow, making it the first city to host 3 WBO Flyweight title bouts. -Pat Clinton's reign came to an end at the hands of South African Jacob Matlala, who was less than 4'11" tall! -Matlala set a then record 3 defenses of the belt before losing it in 1995 to Alberto Jimenez, who set a then record 5 defenses of the belt -Jimenez's 5 defenses included 2 in the US, which were the first two times the title was defending in the States. -Jimenez's final successful defense came in 1996 when he fought to a draw with Carlos Salazar. Their draw was the first time a bout for the belt had ended in a draw. -Although the first bout between Jimenez and Salazar ended in a draw Salazar would claim the title in a rematch. -Salazar would tie the 5 defense record of Jimenez. He would also become the first man to be involved in two draws for the belt, fighting to a draw with Antonio Ruiz in their first bout before taking a win in a rematch just 2 months later. -In 1999 Spanish fighter José Antonio López Bueno, the 8th man to hold the title, became the second European to hold the belt, winning it more than 6 years after Pat Clinton. -José Antonio López Bueno wasn't just the second European to win the belt, but he was also the second fighter to vacate the belt, doing so 10 years after Elvis Alvarez had done it. -Although he held the title for less than a year Fernando Montiel, the 10th champion, managed to defend the belt 3 times, with each defense taking place in a different country, Germany Mexico and the US. He was also the third fighter to vacate the title. -Adonis Rivas was the 11th champion, winning the title that Montiel vacated. His reign is the shortest of any fighter to lose the belt, as opposed to vacating, and lasted from May 4th 2002 to July 13th 2002, just over 2 months. -Rivas' incredibly short reign was followed by the longest reign in the title's history, with Omar Andres Narvaez holding the belt from for several years from his July 2002 win. His final defense came in June 2009, he vacated in May 2010 and the next champion wasn't crowned until June 2010. During his reign he ran up 16 successful defenses, that was the same as the top 4 champions before him, combined! -Unsurprisingly Narvaez holds a lot of interesting records to go along with his lengthy reign. He defended the title in 4 countries in total, more than anyone else. He also made 5 defenses in Europe alone, a number that would have seen him tying the total defenses record, He defended the belt in Argentina, Italy, France and Spain. -Narvaez was also the 4th man to vacate the title. -The 12th champion was Julio Cesar Miranda who defended the belt 3 times. He lost to Brian Viloria who also defended the belt 3 times. -Viloria's 2011 defense against Giovani Segura was the first time the title had been defended in Asia, and was followed up 5 months later by the second title defense in Asia, when Viloria beat Omar Nino Romero. -Viloria is the only man to successfully unify the title, doing so when he stopped Hernan Marquez to unify the WBO and WBA titles. -Juan Francisco Estrada became the first man to win the title in Asia, when he beat Brian Viloria in Macau. -Since Zou Shiming won the title in 2016, beating Kwanpichit OnesongChaigym the title has only been fought for in Asia. It has twice been fought for in China and 5 times in Japan, with the first of those Japanese bouts coming in December 2017. -When Sho Kimura stopped Zou Shiming to claim the belt he became the first Japanese fighter to win a world title on Chinese soil. He also became the first Japanese fighter to defend a world title in the Chinese mainland when he stopped Froilan Saludar in 2018. -From December 2017 to March 2019 there was 4 bouts for the bout, 3 of which were all-Japanese bouts. -Sho Kimura's title loss, to Kosei Tanaka, was the first bout that we streamed live to a global audience through a partnership with Japanese broadcaster CBC. It was also a bout that resulted in Tanaka tying the world record for fewest fights to become a 3-weight world champion, 12 bouts, tying with Vasyl Lomachenko. Since Omar Narvaez vacated the title the 6 champions that followed have combined for 16 defenses, the same as Narvaez had by himself. -There has never been an interim champion! -From the 72 bouts for the title there have been 3 draws, to of which involed Carlos Salazar. The most recent was in 2003, when Omar Narvaez draw in Italy with Andrea Sarritzu -Fernando Montiel's opening round blow out against Juan Domingo Cordoba is the only T/KO 1 in any bout for the title -The title has only been fought for in 16 countries: Argentina (17 times) Mexico (15) USA (7) Japan (5) United Kingdom (5) Spain (4) South Africa (3) France (3) China (2) Italy (2) Macau (2) Philippines (2) Chile (1) Colombia (1) Germany(1) Nicaragua (1) Puerto Rico (1) 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 champions Ruslan Chagaev and Ben Villaflor. 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-Uzbek Heavyweight Ruslan Chagaev made his name in the amateur and as a top Heavyweight of his era, albeit a relatively weak era. Although his professional career started in an odd manner, in what are regarded as exhibitions in some circles, he turned professional properly in 2001. In September that year he was on a card in Tashkent, in what was either his professional debut, or his third professional bout. The bout was his only one in the country, and came on a show that also featured Korean fighter Hyuk Jin Kwon. 2-Korean fighter Hyuk Jin Kwon was blasted out in a round on that Uzbek card, in a bout for the WBO Asia Pacific Light Middleweight title. Prior to that loss he had fought much lower down the weights, and had managed to take Japanese puncher Hiroyuki Sakamoto the 10 round distance in 2000. 3-Whilst Hiroyuki Sakamoto failed to win a world title he was a very notable fighter in Japan, and a popular power puncher. His career, and life in general, was full of bad luck, though he has turned things around amazingly and now helps provide assistance to children in care. Sakamoto was born on December 30th 1970, the same day that Takatsune Shimizu won the Japanese Welterweight title. 4-Although an obscure fighter Takatsune Shimizu held the Japanese Welterweight title for almost 2 years and challenged for the OPBF title. In 1973 he made his US debut, and was stopped in 3 rounds by Zovek Barajas in Los Angeles. 5-Mexican fighter Zovek Barajas, also known as Hipólito Barajas Ayala, not only beat Shimizu in 1973 but also beat Filipino Ernesto Villaflor, actually doing so in the bout before he faced Shimizu. Rather impressively Barajas actually went 8-1 (7) during a busy year. 6-What few may know is that Ernesto Villaflor was the brother of the excellent Ben Villaflor. Sadly few details are known about Ernesto's career, and it seems that things like his birthday and complete record are a mystery, but Ben was a 2-time WBA Super Featherweight champion and one of the most over-looked and under-rated Filipino fighters in history. It's sad to think of just how many fighters have gone under the radar of the average boxing fan. There is so much talent and excitement out there that fans are just unaware of. One great example of a fighter who was talented and exciting, but is rarely spoken about, is Kozo Ishii (31-4, 21). Ishii fought between 1995 and 2003 and multi-time world title challenger and an OPBF champion, with an exciting style and real charisma.
Whilst Ishii is over-looked, that doesn't mean he should be forgotten, and today we want to shine a light on the former fighter form Nagoya, who was taken from the world far too early. During his career Ishii fought at world level 3 times, facing Nestor Garza, Yober Ortega and Oscar Larios for world titles. Although he came up short in all 3 of those bouts that doesn't take away from how good they were, at least the first two. So for those unaware of who Ishii is, here are 5 Midweek Facts about Kozo Ishii. 1-Ishii attended Aichi Reimei High School, sadly the school doesn't have many notable students other than Ishii, though there was two professional baseball players and actor Masami Yamamoto. 2-Like many Japanese boxers from the 1990's and early 00's he was inspired to box thanks to Joichiro Tatsuyoshi. 3-Although Ishii came up short in his world title bouts he was still able to leave an impact on the sport. His 1999 bout with Nestor Garza was selected as the best match of the year in Japan, and what a great fight it was. It's worth noting he was also supposed to face Antonio Cermeno in 2000, before Cermeno ended up in legal trouble, resulting in Ishii battling Yober Ortega for the WBA "interim" Super Bantamweight world title. 4-In 2004 Ishii had planned to face off with Yoshikane Nakajima, in an attempt to reclaim the Japanese Super Bantamweight title. Sadly those plans were scrapped when Ishii was forced to retire due to a herniated disk in his back. He was less than years old at this point, but this wouldn't be the only tragedy in Ishii's life 5-After retiring from in ring competition he opened the KOZO BOXING FITNESS GYM, in 2004. Sadly he wasn't unable to get the gym well established as he passed away only a few years later in a traffic accident, in 2012. He was just 34 at the time. His death came only days after he had promoted a show, and spoke about being able to take a break on his blog. |
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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