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 modern day Middleweight great Gennady Golovkin to Toshiaki Nishioka.
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-We all know what the hard hitting Gennady Golovkin has done in recent years, becoming one of the most notable fighters of his era. Whilst he was well known as an amateur it's worth noting that he made his debut on May 6th 2006. On that very same day Japanese based Thai Den Junlaphan successfully defended the WBC Minimumweight title, defending the belt against Rodel Mayol. 2-Although he was from Thailand Den Junlaphan spent much of his career in Thailand, fighting out of the Kadoebi Gym. Another fighter who fought out of the same gym was the hard hitting, multi-time world title challenger Hiroyuki Sakamoto. 3-Although Hiroyuki Sakamoto failed to win a world title he did fight several times in bouts at the highest level. One of those world title bouts saw Sakamoto take on fellow Japanese fighter Takanori Hatakeyama, in what was a brilliant match up that sadly ruined Sakamoto, who was never quite the same after this bout. 4-Former 2-weight world champion Takanori Hatakeyama was a brilliant fighter to watch, one of the most fan friendly fighters of his era and was in so many great fights. His debut came on June 17th 1993. That was the same day that Rustico Torrecampo scored his first professional win, defeating Manuel Andales. 5-Although not a very notable fighter Rustico Torrecampo is best known for his 1996 win over Manny Pacquiao, the first loss on Pacquiao's record. Pacquiao's cherry wasn't the only one Torrecampo popped, with another being the less well remembered Reynante Rojo, who was then 20-0. 6-Whilst a pretty obscure fighter Reynante Rojo did face some pretty big names, one of which was future WBA Light Flyweight champion Sompoch Harnvichachai whilst another was future WBC Super Bantamweight champion Toshiaki Nishioka.
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Usually when it comes to these 5 Midweek Facts series we tend to talk about fights who few outside of their homeland remember. Today however we're going to talk about Masayoshi Nakatani (18-1, 12), who made a mark on the US scene when he fought Teofimo Lopez in 2019, and gave Lopez a surprisingly tough test.
Sadly after his loss to Lopez we saw Nakatani announce his retirement over social media, stating that he had planned to retire when he lost. Sadly that retirement to cost him the chance to strike when the iron was hot and build on what was a very hotly contested bout with one of the fastest rising stars in the US. Despite his retirement he has remained a figure that is spoken about by fans in the west, mostly fans who are confused by his retirement when he was just 30 years old. Sadly we can't explain the decision of Nakatani's but we can bring you some interesting facts regarding Nakatani! 1-He went to the same high school as two future stablemates at the Ioka Gym. They were multi-weight world champion Kazuto Ioka and former Minimumweight champion Ryo Miyazaki 2-As an amateur Nakatani compiled a record of 45-15 (30), meaning he had an impressive 50% stoppage rate in the unpaid ranks. 3-Interestingly the university Nakatani went to had the boxing team disbanded when he was there, and as a result he took up Nippon Kempo, and had very credible success there thanks to his balance, size and physical skills. 4-The only title held by Nakatani during his professional career was the OPBF Lightweight title, which he held from January 2011 to August 2019. During that time he made 11 defenses of the belt, a record for most defenses of the belt during a single reign. In fact only the legendary Flash Elorde, with 13 defenses over his 3 reigns, has more defenses of the title! 5-Rather surprisingly Nakatani's favourite fighter is Bernard Hopkins. Bonus Fact - Following Nakatani's bout against Teofimo Lopez the Japanese fighter explained there had been some issues with the way he had been treat in the US. He had been put in 2 different hotels, had been messed about in regards to a medical and had suggested that fellow Japanese fighters travelling to the US for a fight took someone who spoke English and always went for a finish due to the judging. He accepted defeat to Lopez, though felt that the scorecards failed to account for the competitive nature of the in ring action. One of many requests we've had for this series is Rocky Lin, the Japanese based Taiwanese fighter who fought as a professional from 1988 to 1998. Although not a big name in the sport he was certainly a notable fighter from an historical point of view.
Sadly despite being a rather major figure it is hard to get many details of Lin's life and career, despite that here are 10 facts you probably didn't know about...Rocky Lin 1-Although best known as Rocky Lin he was actually born Lin Ming-Chia, which has also been transcribed as Mincha Lin. 2-Lin went a reported 58-5 (30) in the amateurs, and won a number of notable awards, including international titles as well as domestic ones. 3-As a professional Lin fought out of the "Rocky" Gym in Japan. 4-With 7 defenses of the Japanese Minimumweight title to his name Lin is the tied record holder for successive defenses of the title. The figure of 7, which Lin set as the record, has since been matched by Satoshi Kogumazaka. 5-In just his third professional bout Lin fought in a 10 rounder. Not only that but he went up against Norikazu Kawana, an opponent who had previously challenged for OPBF and JBC honours 6-Rather oddly, given he fought 28 professional bouts, Lin only had a single bout in December, that was his Japanese title defense over Masahide Makiyama. 7-Lin was the first world title challenger from Taiwan 8-Lin's only bouts outside of Japan saw him fight Edwin Talita in Hong Kong and Rodolfo Guilos, in Lin's birth town of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. He won both of those bouts by stoppage. Of his other 26 bouts 24 took place at Korakuen Hall. 9-In 1992 Lin faced Ricarod Lopez, with Lin challenging the WBC Minimumweight title. This was Lopez's third and final bout in Japan, where he had won the WBC title in 1990, when he stopped Hideyuki Ohashi, and had made his first defense, again Kimio Hirano. 10 - In recent years Lin has become the National Coach of the Republic of China Boxing Association, and a Professor at the Department of Athletics, School of Physical Education, Taipei City University We continue with our Remarkable Rounds series this week with a recent round, coming from 2019. Although it's a newer round it is a phenomenal round with drama, excitement, a knockdown, bombs being traded and intense action between two talented youngsters. It also had one of the most remarkable moments, when the both men landed at the same time and both were rocked backwards! The fight this is taken from is one of the gems from 2019, and whilst the best round form it we suggest everyone does try and give it a watch if they do have the time for something a bit more meaty than this 3 minute excerpt from it. Toshiya Ishii (2-0, 1) Vs Haruki Ishikawa (8-1, 6) In one corner was former amateur standout out Toshiya Ishii He had impressed in his first two bouts but was stepping up here against as he took part in his first 8 rounder, taking on Haruki Ishikawa for the JBC Youth Bantamweight title. As for Ishikawa he wasn't a standout amateur but had shown a lot of promising, coming runner up in the 2018 Rookie of the Year and scoring two solid wins earlier in 2019. He had shown power, aggression, skills and a lot of promise. The round saw both men come out aggressively with Ishii on the front foot. Just seconds into the round however Ishii found himself on his backside in the round's first knock down. He wasn't hurt but it did take him out of his rhythm for a moment. Soon after the bout restarted the two men began trading and both men rocked each other with shots at the same time, with both being visible shaken. From there on the bout became a war, with huge shots landing through out. Although he was hurt several times Ishii relied on some of his amateur experience to clear his head and smother Ishikawa before finding his groove again and having Ishikawa on the verge of going down as we went into the final moments of the round. After this round the fight continued to be a dramatic one, and ended in spectacular fashion in round 4, but this round was certainly the highlight from one of the best JBC Youth title bouts we've had so far. Given both men are still very young fighters we might, if we're lucky, see these two share a ring again one day down the line... fingers crossed there! Yesterday talented and unbeaten Kazakh hopeful Janibek Alimkhanuly (8-0, 4) scored his latest win, as he scored a brilliant KO victory over Argentina's Gonzalo Gaston Coria (16-3, 6) and took his chance to make a statement. To date Alimkhanuly had been inconsistent in the professional ranks, and had needed a real standout performance.
Everyone knew he was talented, but it seemed that he had been struggling to show just how good he was. He had been calling out the big names at Middleweight, but had no hype and no there was no reason to fight him. He had nothing behind him, and he was very much high risk, no reward, for the top guys. After last night however there is hype, momentum and people talking about him thanks to a KO of the year contender. With all that now said, lets take a look at what we took away from last nights bouts. 1-Alimkhanuly looked super sharp Straight from the opening bell Janibek Alimkhanuly looked razor sharp, his punching, his movement, his foot work, his countering, everything seemed on point straight from the off. This did not look like a man who had been out of the ring since last November. This looked like someone who had been keep busy with tick over bouts and was ready to step up and make a statement. He looked fantastic and it's clear that everything is coming together for him after some underwhelming performances earlier in his career. It now appears he has firmly settled into a professional style, got one that suits him, and his attributes. 2-Coria wasn't there to make up the numbers Argentina's Gonzalo Gaston Coria was a legitimate opponent. He was there to win. He had never been stopped before and had given a very tough night to former 2-time world title challenger Artur Akavov. He was there for his own career and to progress things himself. Unfortunately for him he was in with a really talented fighter with a point to prove. Coria was a legitimate opponent, but was sadly up against someone with the ability to go all the way, very quickly. Don't write off Coria as a legitimate fighter after this loss, because, although he lost quickly, he is still a good fighter and will be a good test for other prospects and fringe contenders. Given the way he was destroyed it's now time that Alimkhanuly started to share the ring with former world title challengers, current contenders and work his way towards a world title fight in the next 12-18 months. 3-Man that KO! We seriously doubt we are the only ones who have watched that finishing sequence over and over. The right hand that wobbled and shook Coria was a great one, but the left hand that finished the show was something special. It landed hard, clean, fast, and sent Coria crashing to the canvas in spectacular fashion. This was up there with the best KO's we've seen this year, and whilst it's no THE KO of the Year, it's certainly going to be in the shortlist. Fantastic show. Also whilst an amazing fight can go viral it's much easier for a KO to go viral, and we think this is the sort of KO that will be played over, and over, and over online. 4-ESPN were playing silly buggers From our understanding this was supposed to be on ESPN+, but from what we're hearing it wasn't and was instead on ESPN News, though we're sure someone in the comments can correct us. Whatever it was on it seemed to end up being missed by a lot of American fans who missed out on a chance to see one of the top Kazakh prospects show what he can do in sensational fashion. We're not sure if this was ESPN's fault or Top Rank's fault but whoever is to blame have just squandered what would have been a great bout to get people talking about a rising Middleweight contender. Lets have this sort of stuff sorted before a bout starts folks! If you want to get eyes on a fighter let fight fans know where he is fighting. We understand there was American Football being shown, but this still feels like a huge, huge missed opportunity given the rest of the under-card had been shown on one channel before this bout seemingly saw the broadcast chance. Also big thumbs up to Khabar TV for showing it live in Kazakhstan! 5-Celestino Ruiz still fills us with dread There are some fantastic referees in boxing. Sadly there others who are terrible, and very few fill us with dread as much as Celestino Ruiz. The thing is Ruiz isn't a terrible referee, honestly he's not, there's much, much worse. But unfortunately when he's in the ring he still fills us with dread, and we continue to remember the absolutely fuckery of the 2013 bout between Artur Szpilka and Mike Mollo, which saw Ruiz really screw the bout up. We all have bad nights, and Ruiz's bad nights aren't that common in fairness, but that one bout has left a real permanent mark in our mind and it's one that is likely never going away. It also doesn't help when we see Ruiz counting after a knockdown like this one. He didn't need to, the bout was over, call it off buddy and let Coria get medical help. Note - We have gone with the spelling of "Janibek" and not "Zhanibek" due to it being how Kazakh TV and how himself has his name listed on his Instagram. After a hectic weekend of fights to begin October the last few days have been more restrained, thankfully, but there has still been some interesting action. Among that action was a bout between unbeaten youngster Rei Nakajima (4-0) and former OPBF and WBO Asia Pacific Middleweight champion Shinobu Charlie Hosokawa (12-6-1, 11). This bout took place at Korakuen Hall on Friday and despite lacking TV coverage it was featured on the brilliant Boxing Raise service, on the same day!
Having seen the bout a couple of times now lets share our take aways! 1-Nakajima is hilarious short We know this one didn't really need sharing for those that had seen Rei Nakajima, but it is something that needs to be shared for those unaware. Nakajima is tiny! He's a Light Middleweight, who fought at Middleweight for this bout and looked diminutive. At 5'4" he's closer, in height, to a Light Flyweight than a typical Light Middleweight. Notably he uses his lack of height well, and makes himself a hard target to hit, but against a busy guy with a good jab he's going to have issues. 2-Hosokawa is maybe starting to look his age Despite being the much, much taller man Hosokawa looked his 36 years of age through out this bout. He looked slow, he struggled to keep up his output and only threw a handful of flurries the entire bout. He was neutralised, in part, by Nakajima's movement and speed but he also never really seemed to get his own motor going and it could well be that father time is catching up to him, along with the number of tough bouts he's had in recent years. Alternatively it could be the fact that this was an horrific match up for him from a styles perspective, and he has often struggled with opponents who move and can keep the movement going. 3-The Korakuen Hall was weirdly empty Sure not every show at the iconic Korakuen Hall will be full, in fact right now we'd be worried if the Hall was full, but this looked weirdly empty. Even more empty than it's been in recent weeks. The promoters are limited by how many tickets they are allowed to sell, for obvious reasons, but this seemed much, much emptier than other recent shows. There was large, visible gaps in the people on the benches, and it seemed like social distancing was being used here, albeit from an under-sized crowd rather than necessity. 4-Nakajima is a real talent We mentioned he was slow, but it needs to be said that Rei Nakajima is a legitimate talent. He looked so relaxed and calm in there, he picked his shots excellently, has a tight guard, is light on his feet, has very nice hand speed, solid body movement and a very good boxing brain. Even giving away notable size he made Hosokawa think twice about letting his jab go and easily out worked Hosokawa through the 8 round bout. It's just a massive, massive shame that he lacks the size of a typical Light Middleweight and he lacks power, if he had those he would be a legitimate prospect with a very, very high ceiling. 5-The judging was questionable Typically judging in Japan is very, very good. World title bouts in Japan usually have 3 international judges to help make sure things are fair and for top level bouts judging in Japan is considered very fair. Domestically however there are some poor scorecards, and this very much seemed like one of those cases. For us this was a clear win for Nakajima who out landed Hosokawa, out boxed Hosokawa and showed off what he wanted to show off, whilst neutralising Hosokawa. Some how one judge gave Nakajima just 2 rounds, and the others gave him 5, in an 8 round bout that he seemed to win at a canter. Yes Hosokawa landed the heavier shots, we accept that, but he landed so few of them, and was tagged far more often himself. We struggled to give Hosokawa more than 2 rounds here and we're not sure how the judges had it so close. One of the many things we're guilty of here is focusing on professional boxing so much and ignoring amateur boxing. That's something we're going to try and change in the future and feature more amateur bouts in our various series. Today we're going to do that by bringing a major upset from the 2011 World Amateur Championships in Baku. Date October 4th 2011 Venue Baku, Azerbiajan Fighters Laishram Devendro vs Carlos Quipo Coming in to the tournament Ecuadorian fighter Carlos Quipo was regarded as one of the competition's favourites at Light Flyweight. He was one of the 8 seeds, who got a bye into the second round, and was regarded as being one of the fighters with real medal potential. He was 21 years old but had been competing at a high level in the amateur ranks for years. His amateur achievements coming into this competition included a Gold medal at the 2010 Pan Am Games, a Silver medal at the 2010 South American Games and in 2009 he had reached the last 16 at the World Amateur Championships, losing to eventual silver medal winner David Ayrapetyan. Quipo's second opponent at the Championships was little known Indian Laishram Devendro. Singh was a relative unknown with his biggest achievement up to this point being a Silver medal at the Asian Youth Championships. He had done very, very little else on the international stage, often being beaten in his first or second bout. Whilst he had fought on the international stage a few times he had struggled badly, and was eliminated from the 2010 AIBA Youth World Championships by Naoya Inoue. Looking at the draw this bout was supposed to be the logical step forward to a bout between Quipo and talented Korean Shin Jong Hun, who had taken a bronze medal at the 2009 World Amateur Championships. No one told Laishram he wasn't supposed to take this opportunity to shine. From the off Laishram came forward, pressing and pressuring the more experienced, and technically more skilled man from Ecuador. Despite the skills of the Ecuadorian he was often on the back foot, throwing little and fighting a negative fight. It wasn't like either was letting their hands go a lot in the first round but the eye catching work was coming from the Indian fighter who had the lead at the end of the round. Quipo responded well to being behind, picking up the pace early in round 2 but he failed to keep the pace up as Laishram's heavy hooks got him back into the into the bout. Laishram seemed to drop Quipo mid way through the round, though it was ruled as a slip. Despite that call from the referee the confidence of the Indian was growing and by the end of the round he was in a clear lead, leaving Quipo with a lot to do. With the scores against him heading into round 3 Quipo knew he was in a hole. He knew he had to take it to Laishram and to his credit Quipo did do better in round 3 than he had in the first 2 rounds, taking advantage of a tiring Laishram. Although he did better it was no where near good enough from Quipo to over-come the clear deficit he was in going into the round. Sadly for Laishram he was unable to build on this big win, losing in the following round to Shin Jong Hun. Thankfully however this wasn't the last we heard of him, and Laishram did go on to compete at the 2012 Olympics and went on to win a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth games. One of the huge number of fights we've have over the last week or saw was the Super Featherweight bout between Kenichi Ogawa (25-1-1-1, 18) and Kazuhiro Nishitani (21-5-1, 12), which took place on October 2nd and was televised the following Monday. The bout saw two world ranked Super Featherweights facing off on what may go down as one of the hidden gems of the year. It wasn't a bout that got much attention internationally, but was a very notable bout in Japan, with the winner being expected to land a world title fight sooner rather than later.
Those that watch this will know it was a great bout, those that haven't seen it should give it a watch. For those who just want to know what we made of it, here are our Five Take Aways from Kenichi Ogawa Vs Kazuhiro Nishitani 1-Fans have not turned on Ogawa One thing we've heard from those in the West is that fans in Japan soured on Ogawa after his controversial drug test fail. The reality is that they haven't, and never really did. Some certainly were disappointed, and others were surprised, but there hasn't been this big turn away from him. In fact there was a large, and very visible, number of people with t-shirts emblazoned with "Crush Right" on them. That's the nickname that Ogawa has. The fans can appreciate mistakes, and it appears this mistake has been put down as a genuine one. In fact the drug he tested positive for, androstanediol, is often found in skin creams, which is what he's stated it must have come from. They believe him, and haven't turned on him. Despite what some might suggest. 2-This was technical but exciting Usually when we talk about exciting bouts we talk about all out wars, slug fests and high octane battles. This, however, was a mostly technical fight but a very exciting technical bout. Both men had to take some serious leather, both were dropped, both landed some monstrous punches, but for the most part this was fought at mid range, and was fought from a technical standpoint. Both guys focused on their jabs and their straight punches, both looked to time and counter each other, and both fought smartly. Yes we had some moments where the tempo picked up and they exchanged, but for the most part this was a technical battle and a very, very engaging one. 3-Round 10 was tremendous and the crowd knew it! We've mentioned the bout was a good one, but round 10 in particular was fantastic, with both men digging deep and the pace from both men increasing. The crowd, who had been silent for vast swathes of the show, let the fighters know they were appreciating the action with roars and applause through the most exciting moments. Given the Korakuen Hall had around 700 people in it, and they were told not to cheer, and were wearing masks, they still managed to give a great atmosphere at times, especially in this last round. At times the fans in Japan have been quiet, especially since the sport restarted in the country with all sorts of rules regarding fan behaviour due to the on going situation. Here however they made a lot noise as we went to the bell and showed that limited fan numbers can still provide a solid atmosphere. Promoters in the US and UK, who are looking to bring fans back as soon as possible, may want to be aware that fans will need good action. Having fans in the venue and the venue being silent, as we'd had earlier on this card, is an awful optic. If fans are going to be back in venues promoters will need to deliver something for fans to get behind, or else they are, from a visual perspective, better off holding shows behind closed doors. 4-Nishitani wasted his prime Although never a big name Kazuhiro Nishitani is a talented fighter, he has been for years. Sadly though his best years were wasted toiling away in the hope of his team landing him a world title fight. In March 2017 he scored the biggest win of his career, stopping Shuhei Tscuhiya to claim the Japanese Lightweight title. That should have been built on, and he should have marched onwards and upwards. Sadly however he gave up the title without defending it, dropped back to Super Featherweight and had tick over after tick over. That saw him wasting more than 3 years of his career. He's now 33, and we suspect those 3 years of wasted nothingness will haunt him. The 130lbs division has been a stacked one in Japan and for Nishitani to never land a national or regional title fight after moving down in weight is unforgivable. 5-We want a Crush Right T-Shirt and fighters should do more of them We mentioned a lot of fans were wearing these shirts, which have Ogawa's nickname written on them, and we really want one. Nothing much to add here, but they look good and have a simple design. Fingers crossed more and more fighters start getting T-Shirts like this and make money from them as there is a big, and rather untapped, market for these types of things. Another really good design out there, is the "One Shot Kill Vanishing Right" shirt that Ryo Sagawa has! With the international rise in attention for Japanese fighters we'd love to be able to see these sent around the world, and would love to see more of them. Shirts for the likes of Kenshiro, Hiroto Kyoguchi and of course Naoya Inoue, would certainly do good business, and we do wonder if we'll see companies begin to take that idea up in the future. There are often limited runs, designed for a Japanese audience, but there is a growing international fan base for a lot of these fighters This really has been a crazy week for fights and we can't believe we're still looking at the bouts that took place last weekend, but we are as we look back on Saturday's bout between Mark Magsayo (21-0, 14) and Rigoberto Hermosillo (11-3-1, 8). The contest, shown on FS1 in the US and as part of the ESPNKnockout in certain Latin American territories, was seen as a chance for Magsayo to make a name for himself in the US and show what he could do in front of an audience that hadn't seen him before. But did he managed that? Did he shine? Or was the bout not one that the way he, and his team expected?
Lets find out as we discuss our Five Take Aways from the bout. 1-Magsayo looked damn sharp...early on In the opening round we were really impressed by how sensation Magsayo looked. He looked amazing both defensively and offensively, his movement looked easy and on point, his punching was razor sharp, and he was picking his spots with easy, landing clean, powerful counters and looked like a star in the making. If fans had never seen Magsayo before this first round would have convinced many that he was a future star. Sadly though as the bout went on he really looked more and more average and less "Magnifico". It was a shame that he couldn't keep up such an amazing start. 2-Punch numbers looked very suspect One thing that PBC have tried to include are punch numbers, and this bout had them in the bottom left corner. As least they had what were supposed to be punch numbers. The reality is that these seemed so inconsistent, in accurate and wrong that they were essentially useless. We love the idea of having punch numbers, and we love numbers and data in general, but live punch numbers always seem to be wrong and at the moment they really aren't worth the screen space they take up. They MIGHT be right, we've not bothered to rewatch the fight counting punches, but they really didn't seem to be reflecting what we were seeing and seemed to be added rather arbitrarily at times. We've often felt that punch numbers should be done post fight only and should be done in slow motion only, with numbers published a day or two after bouts, and should never, ever be shown live. 3-Hermosillo is a monster! We were expecting to be raving about Magsayo, and how he shone in his big chance to impress. Sadly though we were won over by Rigoberto Hermosillo who looked like an absolute monster in there. He lacked major power and was technically flawed and some what slow, but his output, desire and determination were incredible. He kept coming forward, kept through throwing, and forced his will and style on the fight. Whilst he was second best in terms of skills he was the man making the fight and, in all honesty, he's the one we were left wanting to see again. His style is fan friendly, his work rate is great and he will make or some great fights. If PBC are smart they will be getting him on under-cards in the future, and we really would love to see Hermosillo Vs Cobia Breedy. 4-Freddie Roach and Mark Magsayo haven't yet clicked Freddie Roach is one of the most legendary trainers in the sport, and the success he has had in the sport speaks for it's self. Notably however he has also failed to get the best from some fighters, and we do wonder whether he can get the best from Magsayo. Here it seemed like he was imploring for Magsayo to show him more and put his foot on the gas, with Magsayo not doing so. We do wonder whether there is perhaps a little bit of a disconnected between fighter and trainer. It needs to be noted that they haven't been working together long, and Magsayo really did look amazing at times, but we are apprehensive about this partnership and do worry that this isn't the best fit for Magsayo and his ability. 5-The judges were all over the place! We, like many others, felt this was a very close bout. It was competitive through out, hotly contested, but in the end Magsayo had done enough to edge it. We have no idea what Rudy Barragan was watching, with his 100-90 card for Magsayo, or Lou Moret, who some how had the bout to Hermosillo. In an ideal world both judges would be pulled in front of the commission and told to explain their scores, held to account, and potentially stripped of their judging licenses. Instead it was just another weekend in boxing and they'll be back with a scorecard in their hands sooner rather than later. There is absolutely no defense for having that bout a shut out, and any one who is scoring that 100-90 needs to be quizzed on how they score a fight. 96-94 to Hermosillo is bad, but much, much more understandable than the shut out to Magsayo. Just awful, awful scorecards from those two. Bonus - Magsayo is NOT a puncher One thing FS1 kept pushing was that Magsayo was a "power puncher". He's not. Yes he entered this bout with a 70% KO rate, but he's not a puncher. What he is a solid handed guy, who lands a lot, has a good work rate, and will break guys down. He's not feather fisted, by any means, but he's also not a concussive KO artist who will destroyer fighters with one or two clean shots. He's been the 12 round distance with fighters like Pungluang Sor Singyu, a former Bantamweight champion, Shota Hayashi, a former Japanese Featherweight champion, and Ramiro Robles, all of whom have been stopped. He's a very, very, crisp puncher, but don't confuse that for a power puncher. This past weekend we saw unbeaten Filipino Featherweight Mark Magsayo (21-0, 14) claim his latest win, as he earned a hard fought victory over Rigoberto Hermosillo on FS1 in the US. The bout was a competitive one, despite the scorecard of Rudy Barragan, and was a very interesting contest. At times Magsayo looked brilliant, crisp, clean and like a fantastic rounded boxer, but at others he seemed lazy, and unwilling to let his hands go, making for a rather frustrating outing.
Despite the frustrations Magsayo took home the important "W" and moves onwards and upwards towards a more important bout. With that in mind we've decided to look at 5 potential match ups for Magsayo as we given "Magnifico" the Five For treatment. 1-Cobia Breedy (15-1, 5) We start this with a we'd love to see as fans and that is a bout between Magsayo and Cobia Breedy. Just a few weeks ago Breedy gave Tugstsogt Nyambayar a really good test, pushing the Mongolian all the way in a terrific 12 rounder, and we suspect that he would ask all sorts of questions of Magsayo. We'd favour Magsayo to over-come the man from Barbados, but he'd have to work for every second of the fight, and this would drag the best from the Filipino fighter, who wouldn't be able to get away with being lazy. This might not be a FOTY contender but would be a damn good bout and a great chance for both men to show what they can do. 2-James Dickens (29-3, 11) A bout between contenders is always good and with that in mind a bout between Magsayo and British fighter James Dickens would be a great match up and a really meaningful one, with both men being highly ranked by the IBF. This would be a legitimate eliminator in 2021, with both men being talented fighters with a lot of potential. Sadly it may be one that we want but won't get, with Dickens likely to be manoeuvred in a very different route by his management team. Sadly any potential of this bout taking place is held up by Dickens having a postponed bout with Ryan Walsh, which was supposed to take place a few weeks ago but was postponed after Dickens and his trainer both had positive Covid tests. 3-Oscar Escandon (26-5, 18) Of course something every emerging hopeful wants is the name of a contender on their record, and even more so a contender that still looks live and should make for a good story. For Magsayo one potentially perfect opponent is 36 year old Colombian Oscar Escandon, who has proven to be an aggressive and exciting fighter and scored a huge win last time out, when he stopped Jhack Tepora. The win over Tepora was a massive upset, but showed Escandon can be a banana skin, and the win also came against a Filipino, giving the promoters the chance to see this as Magsayo fighting for Filipino pride and fighting for revenge of the man that beat his countryman last year. OIn paper this shouldn't be a tough bout for Magsayo, but it should be an interesting one, and there would be danger hanging over Escandon and his power. 4-Eduardo Ramirez (23-2-3, 10) We mentioned Cobia Breedy earlier, and his recent loss to Tugstsogt Nyambayar, it should be noted that Breedy was a late replacement to face "King Tug" after Mexican fighter Eduardo Ramirez had to pull out. With that in mind we suspect Ramirez will be looking for a bout and, of course, so will Magsayo. With that in mind a bout between the two will suit both, especially given that a win for either man would put them within touching distance of a world title fight. We suspect that stylewise this would be a compelling match up and one well worthy of making, if Ramirez can comfortably make the 126lbs Featherweight limit. 5-Julio Ceja (32-4-1, 28) A left of center choice as a potential opponent for Magsayo would be hard hitting Mexican Julio Ceja. Ceja is best known for his exploits at Bantamweight and Super Bantamweight but last year he missed the scales for a bout at Super Bantamweight, and actually came in above the Featherweight limit. With that in mind we suspect he should be campaigning at 126lbs going forward, and if that's the case then why not have him in with Magsayo? Whilst Ceja has struggled for form recently, and is without a win in his last 3, he is a fun, entertaining power punch, and could be the type of guy to give Magsayo a genuine chin check, before a world title fight in the near future. |
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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