As one of the hottest hopefuls in Japan there is a lot expectations resting on the shoulders of the unbeaten Shokichi Iwata (5-0, 4). Last Friday he was in the ring for his 5th professional bout, and faced off with the tough Ryo Narizuka (9-10-1) in the first of two Dynamic Glove cards to take place Korakuen Hall.
Although this bout wasn't shown live it did managed to get aired on a relatively short tape delay, being shown on Monday after taking place the previous Friday. Having now watched it back a couple of times we've decided to share what we took from the bout, with the latest in our Take Aways series. 1-Iwata is great fun to watch For many in Japan Shokichi Iwata's hype and potential comes from his days as an amateur, where he beat the likes of Kosei Tanaka. Whilst that's great we're actually a lot more excited about what we see of him in the ring. He's someone who can box and move, but also show an aggressive, exciting and offensive style when he wants to. At the end of this bout he really let his hands go, moved through the gears and put on a show to force a stoppage. Whilst he clearly has a good amateur fundamentals he's happy to not rely on them as a crutch and will instead be aggressive and be exciting when he wants to be. With that in mind we feel he's adapted to the professional ranks incredibly well and will likely become one of the must watch little men in the next few years, able to box, fight, brawl or bang. 2-A lack of power has held Ryo Narizuka back Although Ryo Narizuka lacks in too many areas to ever have been a big star it needs to be said that his complete lack of power has been a major issue. During his 20 fight career he has never scored a stoppage, and his inability to get respect from his opponents has hamstrung his career pretty notably. It's a shame that he doesn't have more bang on his shots as his record would likely look very, very different if he had a bit of pop. He's tough, he can box, he can move, but he can't make opponents respect him and he can't make them think twice. In many ways this has really limited his potential to make a mark and almost certainly held him back from bigger and better things. 3-Iwata is thinking about the future Although Iwata had to go 7 rounds here we suspect part of going later into the bout was a deliberate thing. He knows he will have harder bouts, he knows he'll face questions in regards to his stamina, and that he'll have to work hard. Instead of being super aggressive from the off he decided to test things, use his movement, attack in bursts and not try to finish off Narizuka too quickly. In some ways he was playing with his food, but did it in a way where he was trying new things, where he was fighting within himself to get ring time and experience. He had never been beyond 6 rounds prior to this bout and can now say he's done 7, he can now feel confident in his ability to do 8, and maybe even 10. Getting this type of ring time, this early, is really valuable for a young prospect. 4-It's time for Iwata to step up Our last take away in regards to Shokichi Iwata is that it's now time he stepped up. He really does need to be given a serious test and we'd like to see him in with a top domestic level fighter next. He's proven his skills and stamina, and now we'd like to see him prove himself against someone like Tsuyoshi Sato, Ryuto Oho, Daiki Tomita or Takuma Sakae as he moves towards a title fight. This was a decent match up to see where Iwata's at, but he's a long, long way above the likes of Narizuka and it's time we see him in with better competition than Narizuka 5-Takahiro Ao looked a natural in the corner We suspect most people missed this one, but this bout actually featured former Featherweight and Super Featherweight world champion Takahiro Ao working the corner for Iwata. It was the first time he'd worked as a chief second and whilst it's not a real he seemed eager to take on full time we thought he looked natural there, and with his excellent boxing brain he will likely prove a great asset for anyone able to get him in the corner. Fingers crossed he changes his mind and does become a regular chief second, as he we suspect he has the tools needed to really get the most out of his fighters going forward. Saying that however he is said to be a very good trainer, and that might be his calling if he doesn't choose to work the corner more often
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One of the more meaningful bouts from the last 7 days of Asian boxing saw Japanese Light Middleweight champion Hironobu Matsunaga (17-1, 11) score a 7th round TKO win over mandatory challenger Yuto Shimizu (14-5-2, 5), as part of the Champion Carnival. The bout was a pretty interesting one on paper, with the all action Matsunaga taking on the bigger, craftier Shimizu, and proved to be a decent one in the ring, though perhaps it was a little underwhelming given the pre-fight hopes.
With the bout now in the bag however it's one we want to talk about in more detail as we'll discuss our Five Take Aways from Matsunaga Vs Shimizu 1-Matsunaga is must watch Stood at around 5'5" Matsunaga doesn't look like a Light Middleweight, especially not in this day and age of Light Middleweights regularly coming in close to, if not over, 6' tall. Despite that he is among the most fun fighters in the division to watch. He's like a terrier, who is always pressing forward, a fast, aggressive fighter who brings pressure, output, and an exciting style. Whilst it's obvious that he won't be mixing with the top guys in the division, he is carving out a very solid career for himself and is also becoming one of the most fan friendly fighters in Asia. Yes he's diminutive, but he's don't let that distract from the exciting style he brings to the ring. 2-Shimizu never got Matsunaga's respect In recent years Yuto Shimizu has had real success by getting the respect of his opponents, using his size well and making the most of being a 6' foot tall guy with long arms and legs. He has used his reach well against the likes of Charles Bellamy and Nobuyuki Shindo, and made life tricky for them. Here however he never got Matsunaga's respect, he could never force Matsunaga back, and the champion just kept coming. In part that was due to the lack of output from Shimizu, who really did look timid, and in part that was due to the agility, movement and pressure from Matsunaga, who really never stopped moving, pressing and swaying. As a result of this we dare say Shimizu was a mentally broken man, well before he was stopped in round 7. 3-Open Scoring works Fine...but... For years now Japan has employed open scoring for JBC, OPBF and WBC world title bouts. They are one of the few countries, that use the system and use it well. Whilst we won't say we've never seen a fighter in the lead cruise the final few rounds, we will say, again, that it works, and it worked here, as it has regularly worked in Japan. But it does take certain things to be in play. Firstly you need fair judging, which is something that we've not always seen in some some countries. With out that open scoring, and scoring in general if we're being honest, doesn't work. It also requires consistency from the judges, again something we don't see, and it needs accountability, we think you know that that also doesn't seem to exist. From what we've seen in Japan open scoring isn't the issue, and we can't think of many cases where open scoring has harmed a bout in Japan. The issue, around the world, is poor judges repeatedly getting assignments and repeatedly messing up. With that said, we have no idea how a judge gave Shimizu 2 of the first 5 rounds here! We know others will disagree and are staunchly against Open Scoring, and we get that too, but seeing it in use, regularly, has left us feeling it works. Though it needs to be noted it works less well in Thailand, where judges have been less consistent, fair and even in their scoring of bouts. Fingers crossed that changes one day 4-There's interesting bouts out there for Matsunaga We'll admit the Japanese Light Middleweight scene isn't the most interesting to a global audience, and Takeshi Inoue aside we don't think many fans in the west could name a current Japanese fighter at 154lbs. Despite that the scene it's self is an interesting one for those who follow it and Matsunaga certainly has some interesting bouts available to him for the next year or two. Obviously a clash with Inoue would be great be we'd also absolutely love to see Matsunaga take on Akinori Watanabe. Alternatively a rematch with Yuki Beppu, who is the only man to beat Matsunaga, or a bout with Ryosuke Maruki, which would provide fireworks, or a bout with Rei Nakajima, or potentially a bout wih Keita Obara, if Obara can be tempted up a weight. 5-Kazutoshi Yoshida timed his stoppage well On first look at the stoppage, live and in real time, we felt that referee Kazutoshi Yoshida let the punishment go on a bit too long before stepping in. On reflection and reviewing, we take that back. He got the stoppage bang on. Yes Shimizu had been in trouble earlier in the round but he was fighting back, aware of where he was, trying to spoil and smother. The final, huge, right hook from Matsunaga however jacked back Shimizu head and it was the perfect time to step in. Credit to Shimizu for remaining up right but it's fair to say he had no issues with the stoppage. We dare say he knew he was a beaten man, and he knew Yoshida have given him every chance he could. Once again we're actually praising referees, what is wrong with us? This past weekend we had the latest WP Boxing event from Bang Phun. The main event of that show saw former 2-time WBC Super Flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (49-5-1, 42) fight in a stay busy bout against Filipino journeyman Jomar Fajardo (17-18-2, 9). The bout was all about keeping Srisaket sharp, after a poor performance last time out, and was never regarded as a competitive match up, more a public whooping.
Despite the bout being a complete, and utter, mismatch the contest has given up quite a few things to talk about in our latest Take Aways article! 1-Srisaket Should be more active! We start, as usual, with a really obvious point and that's that Srisaket Sor Rungvisai should be a lot, lot more active than he has been. The talented Thai destroyer was fighting for the second time this year with this bout against Fajardo and it was his 4th fight in 24 months. That might sound like the average amount for a Western fighter but Western fighters and Thai's are different. A sign of this was Srisaket's activity in the years before his career defining wins over Roman Gonzalez. In 2014 he fought 9 times, in 2015 he fought 6 times and in 2016 he fought 5 times. He should be kept active, kept busy and in the ring every few months to the end of the year. Doing this will keep him sharp, and keep the ring rust off him before he gets a big fight in 2021. If he's having 12 round wars then yes give him a rest, but if he's having easy bouts he should fight at least 4 times a year. 2-No Matchroom Sport For Srisaket's previous bout, in August against Amnat Ruenroeng, Matchroom Sport streamed the bout to an international audience. It now seems like Matchroom aren't bothered and they seemingly had no involvement at all here. We understand them not wanting to push this bout too much, but it would have been a good way to keep Srisaket in the public consciousness, even in a total mismatch. When Matchroom streamed the Srisaket Vs Amnat bout we were wondering if it was going to be a one off, and sadly it appears that it was. A bit of a foolish move as the Thai scene is chock a block with talent and getting in on the ground level will allow Western fans some familiarity with the rising Thai hopefuls. 3-WP Boxing's Production Quality is the best in Thailand Typically Thai cards have often been held out doors, full of pageantry and really drawn out, long, frustrating, dull affairs. WP Boxing however have got a much better way of doing things. There is no long parade of sponsors, and anthems and adverts. There is no delaying the action for 20 minutes at the start. Instead they show the fighters on an on screen graphic, then get to the fight. The only complaint is that the venue is a a bit sterile in the no crowd era, but other than that we love WP's production and it does feel much more professional than many of the other events in Thailand. 4-Jomar Fajardo needs to consider his future At one point in time Jomar Fajardo was a decent Light Flyweight. Not a world beater, but someone who was serviceable as a gate keeper. We saw that when he earned a very unexpected draw against Francisco Rodriguez Jr in 2014, and when he gave Jonathan Taconing a good test in 2015. Even as recently as 2018, when he upset Edrin Dapudong, he was considered a fighter who was much better than his record suggested. Sadly he has now lost 7 of his last 9 and been stopped in 6 of those 7 losses. He's fighting well above his best weight, taking punishment, being matched in bouts he has no chance in and really taking a beating. This was his 5th stoppage loss in 12 months and someone really needs to have a serious talk with him about hanging them up. 5-Wanchai Pongsri should have stepped in It's worth noting this bout was stopped with 1 second of round 2 remaining when Fajardo's corner man ran into the ring, literally sprinting across the ring. This was completely unnecessary and the referee should have stepped in prior to that. Sure one could argue Fajardo was always throwing back, but lets just be honest, he was taking big shots, he was taking a lot of unnecessary punishment and Wanchai Pongsri should have ended that earlier. Whether that was by his own volition or by someone making it clear the corner wanted to stop it. By the ending it was ugly, and Fajardo took quite a few shots he shouldn't have had to take. One of the many bouts this past weekend that deserved a little bit more extra attention was the contest between rising Japanese hopeful Hayate Kaji (15-0, 9) and the tough Hiroki Yajima (9-9-3, 4), who clashed on Friday but had their bout televised on G+ on Monday, on tape delay.
At one point, a few years ago, Kaji looked like he was going to be one of the future stars of the Teiken Gym but came into this bout on the back of a run of under-whelming performances that had seen some sour on him. However how he looked here is just one of a number of things we want to discuss in our Take Aways from the bout. 1-Kaji looks to be taking the sport seriously again We mentioned that Kaji had had some poor performances, and sources inside Teiken had explained that Kaji hadn't been fully listening to trainers and had been struggling to maintain his weight. There was also murmurs of him being frustrated at his career stalling, and potentially being annoyed at how slowly his career has progressed following his Rookie of the Year success in 2014. It was somewhat understandable that his career hadn't moved on quickly, but with poor performances it was easy to see where Teiken were coming from with his slowly, slowly progress. In this bout however he looked like a man with a point to prove. The silly mistakes were gone. He looked professional, mature, calm, controlling, and better than he has in a long time. It almost seemed like he had a point to prove, and did it. Fingers crossed Teiken repay him with a more meaningful bout as a result. 2-Yajima has balls! With a 9-8-3 record coming in to this it would be easy to think that he was going to be stopped by a solid puncher like Kaji. That seemed even more likely when he was dropped in the opening round. Kaji however gritted his teeth, gutted it out and and recovered from two knockdowns to see out the bell. Gritting it out in one fight is one thing, but Yajima has now gone the distance in all 9 professional losses, including 4 of his last 5. Even when he was way down and winning was beyond him, he held, spoiled and did all he could to clear his head and see out a torrid round 7. Credit to him for not taking the easy way out. Side note - Yajima lost on his debut to the brilliantly named Astro Cheerioboy Maura, a name that sounds almost like a perfect for a cereal mascot! 3-Kaji's jab is really solid We often get impressed by body shots and uppercutts from fighters but for Kaji the best shot in his arsenal is his sharp, stiff jab. He doesn't throw it quite as much as he should but it's a real solid shot, and something we'd like to see him building more work from. He's got a solid right hand, and if he puts them together more we could see him hurting a lot of opponents with his 1-2's. It's just a shame he often forgets to set his right hand up with the jab. Come on Kaji, pump that jab out more, it's a very nice shot, and then let the right hands fly behind it! 4-Crowds aren't the be all and end all For the last few weeks we've had crowds back in boxing in Japan. One big thing that certain promoters, especially those in the UK and US, are desperate for are crowds. Unfortunately a bout like this shows that crowds aren't the be all and end all. In Japan at the moment crowds aren't allowed to cheer and yell, and chant. Instead they've been told they need to wear masks and can only clap. Sadly for this particular bout the crowd seemed almost completely fed up. There was no clapping, and almost no noise from the Korakuen Hall at all. The often repeated myth of Japanese fans being quiet at boxing, which isn't as true as some will tell you, certainly seemed the case here. This was almost eerie at times. If promoters are to bring crowds back in the West they need to try and make sure there is some noise in the venue, some how. This wasn't actually a bad bout, even if it did drag a bit. But if fans are sat in silence for this Western promoters will need to realise they need to put on good bouts to have an atmosphere, and may even need to continue pumping crowd noises in anyway. 5-Akihiko Katsuragi doesn't like holding! It's fair to say holding is a bane of every boxing fan around the globe, especially when it's continual and ruining the fight. For fighters planning to do that, they better avoid Akihiko Katsuragi, who took two points from Yajima for holding, one in round 7 and one in round 8. The decision was a foregone conclusion by then, so the deductions didn't affect the result, but we'd love to see more referees look to stamp it out like this. The holding wasn't as bad as we have seen in the past, and Katsuragi did perhaps get a little overly antsy late on, but if he's consistent and points are taken quicker for holding going forth we won't be complaining! Our only complaint here is that he could have taken one earlier, and that may have sorted things out before the bout started to feel like it was dragging. Of the many bouts this weekend one we didn't think we'd be talking about, going into the weekend, was the 6 round contest between Shigetoshi Kotari (2-0, 1) and Motosuke Kimura (3-5-2, 1). It was, however, one of the more interesting bouts, though not for the reason we expected.
Going in we expected this to be an easy win for Kotari, who was a highly regarded amateur, is part of a solid boxing gym, the MT Gym, and is regarded as a really promising, exciting and notable prospect. Instead we saw this one serving as a real test for Kotari who was surprisingly taken to a decision. 1-Kimura is sneaky Firstly we want to heap praise on the surprisingly sneaky Motosuke Kimura, who really is a sneaky fighter. In the first round he landed a a brilliant counter left hand and put Kotari on the canvas. This was brilliant, sneaky, smart and something we wouldn't have expected from a fighter with a more losses than wins. Afterwards he kept trying to draw a mistake from Kotari, but could quite replicate the success that earned him a knockdown. He did land a huge counter in round 4, but did so whilst off balance in an exchange and didn't get the bang on it that he needed. 2-Records are for DJ's We've said this in the past and we will say it again. Records do not tell the full story of a fighter. Even recent results don't tell us everything about a fighter. Kimura had lost 3 in a row coming into this, and was 1-4 in his previous 5. On paper he should have been no problem at all, right? Well what that didn't show by it's self is the fact he had come within a round of beating both Hikari Mineta and Naito Oikawa. His record would have gone from 3-4-2 entering this bout to 5-2-2 with judges only swinging one round in 2 of those losses. In fact if we did the same with his draws, giving him 1 round more in both, he could well have been 7-2 entering this one, and things would look very different on paper. 3-Kotari has a lot of work to do We like to think that if a fighter is good enough, then they are good enough, and they don't need to waste time. That however doesn't mean all prospects should be rushed like they are something special. In the case of Shigetoshi Kotari it's clear he's a very talented boxer, his jab is lovely, he uses range well and pressure behind his footwork well. He does, however, have a lot of work to do and more bouts against lower level domestic talent will serve him very well. Not many fighters will employ the tactics Kimura did, not many will load up the left hand like he did, and wait for a mistake, but that tactic still showed Kotari has a lot of work to do. Thankfully we suspect he knows it, and we'll see him in with more domestic type fighters to help him develop. There's no point in fighting guys like Lasben Sinaba, the man Kotari debuted against, and taking a blitz win. 4-This was a learning experience for Kotari We mentioned Kotari's debut bout against Lasben Sinaba and how that was a blitz win, in fact Kotari took out Sinaba in 2 rounds, and in reality he learned little there. That's fine for a debut. Here however he got an education, he was forced to think, to learn to adapt, to show patience, to grit out some tough moments. For a man in his second bout to get a lesson like this will serve him very well and although we were under whelmed by Kotari there is clear a lot of positives to take from the bout, and he and his team will build on those positives. 5-Kimura should stick to being a southpaw Early in the fight Kimura had real success fighting as a southpaw, frustrating Kotari with the battle of the lead hands and scored a knockdown with a straight left hand. Later in the bout however he began to experiment and in round 5 Kimura made the strange decision to switch from southpaw to orthodox and tried to throw a huge, leaping left hook. We're not sue if he's ever had success switching in the past, but here it didn't work, as he pretty much threw himself, head first, into Kotari. He fought long portions of rounds 5 and 6 in the rightie stance and sadly he looked much, much less effective orthodox One of the many, many bouts this weekend for Asian fighters included Usman Wazeer (4-0, 2) win in Pakistan against the over-matched and under-sized Boido Simanjuntak (24-55-3, 10) for the Asian Boxing Federation Welterweight title. The bout was the first Amir Khan promoted event in Pakistan and was, given the turn out, and the pre-fight press, a massive success.
With that said, lets take a look at our Five Take Aways from this very notable clash in Islamabad. 1-Absolutely no respect for the Global Situation Once again we start one of these pieces by stating the obvious, and this time, sadly, it's a bad obvious. The venue, crowd and organisers really didn't take in to account the global situation. There was no social distancing, there was no visible limitations on the crowd size and, mostly worryingly, there was almost no masks at all. Given what is going on in the world right now we have been left absolutely dumbfounded by this event. Not only was there seemingly no considerations for what's going on in the world, but also there next to no safety and security, with the ring being mobbed by fans soon after Wazeer stopped Simanjuntak. It's worth noting that Amir Khan's name was all over the event, with Khan being the promoter and the venue being the Amir Khan Boxing Hall, fingers crossed his name doesn't get dragged through the mud for the unsafe environment here. 2-Simanjuntak had no right to be fighting at Welterweight Okay, another obvious one, but what the fuck was Indonesian fighter Boido Simanjuntak doing fighting at Welterweight? The tiny Little Indonesian fighter has often fought at Featherweight, and even he has looked small. He's a natural Super Bantamweight, if that, and going back a few years he was absolutely smashed by Super Flyweight Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. Who ever allowed him to get into the ring as a Welterweight really needs to answer questions here. It's not just that he was short, and stubby, compared to Wazeer, but he was under sized in every which way. Wazeer has taller, longer, naturally thicker, wider, stronger, and in better shape. If Simanjuntak wants to continue his career no one should be letting him fight any higher than 126lbs, Maximum, or he's going to end up getting badly hurt. 3-Asian Boxing Federation have questions to answer What on earth were the Asian Boxing Federation thinking? We know the OPBF are the standard bearer as a regional title body but the ABF have shown themselves to be absolutely inept. The idea of a regional title is to act as a stepping stone towards world titles, and to recognise the best fighters in the region. Sadly the ABF have essentially allowed themselves to be a tool here of promotion, and nothing else. Usman Wazeer might be one of the most promising, talented and best Welterweights in the region, or he might not be. The one thing we know here however, is that he's much, much better than an under-sized, limited, well past his best, Indonesian journeyman who was 1-20-1 in his last 22 bouts. Serious, what was the idea of this bout? Who thought that this was fit for a title? What is the ABF's ranking policy? And most importantly, do they want to make themselves seem like a fucking joke sanctioning a bout like this? If the ABF want to be recognised as a regional title body they need to sort this shit out....now! 4-Usman Wazeer looks class! Okay we've been negative so far, lets be positive, and point out that Usman Wazeer looks very, very good and like a genuinely big hope for Pakistani boxing. Yes he was in with an under-sized, under-powered opponent, but that can't take away how he looked, and the tools that he showed. He looked like a fighter who takes the sport seriously, is in great shape, is patient, has good hand speed, a decent defense, picked his shots well, judges range pretty well, moves easily around the ring, and is actually very solid for a 4-0 (2) prospect. He could easily have steam rolled his opponent, and he likely knows that, but instead he wanted to do more than just over-power a guy. He wanted to show some of this skills. It's still very, very, very early days for him, but from what we saw he's a genuinely good prospect and someone worth of having on your radar. 5-Boxing can be big in Pakistan Whilst we weren't happy with the seemingly none existent safety protocols here we can't deny that the crowd were hot, vocal and well and truly behind Usman Wazeer. The atmosphere was great, the vocal fans getting behind their man was amazing, and there does appear to be some genuine fanfare behind Wazeer. We have, in the past, seen places like China and India eyed as potentially big untapped boxing markets, but the reality is that the crowd here sounded much, much more lively than it ever did in China or India. With that type of crowd for someone who, in all honesty, is still a novice, the future seems bright for the growth of boxing in Pakistan. This had a party like atmosphere, a celebration, a loud, vocal cheering section and the atmosphere was more like the UK or Poland than we would ever have expected. The fans might not, yet, appreciate the intricacies of the sport, but with a crowd willing to get behind the sport and a new national sporting hero, the hope is that things will grow behind Wazeer. This was the ideal start and fingers crossed things really do blossom from here! This past weekend was a hectic one, with a lot of noteworthy bouts taking place in Asia. Among those was a WBC Asian Boxing Council Lightweight title bout between defending champion Apichet Petchmanee (7-0, 2) and Thai based Russian Musheg Adoian (7-2, 7), which was shown as part of the WP Boxing event in Bang Phun. The bout saw Apichet take home the victory, via majority decision, but left us with a lot of to talk about, making the bout ideal for one of our Take Away articles.
1-Apichet is well schooled This is somewhat a case of stating the obvious, given that Apichet Petchmanee was a real good amateur, but it is something that really stood out all the same. He does a lot of things correct. He moves around the ring well, uses his jab well and has nice hand speed. He also knows to hold, hold and hold, when he's hurt and does typically fight his fight. Technically he's better than most 6-0 fighters, though does still have areas to work on, more about those in a minute. In regards to Thailand he's well schooled and one of their more classically skilled fighters, who's amateur pedigree does show through. 2-Despite being talented Apichet is limited So we've began this by praising Apichet and now comes the criticism of the Thai. When he turned professional hopes were high for him. He looked great in his first couple of bouts, and seemed intent on making an impact on the sport. Sadly however he's not got the star making attributes he needs to reach the top. At least not that he's shown so far. We have seen him struggle in the past, with Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo, and he struggled again here. He's technically solid, but he lacks some things he needs to be a star. Notably he lacks power, and struggled to get respect from opponents, he has holes in defense and, as shown here, his chin is questionable and he appears to have poor stamina. He was down twice here, and had to dig very, very deep. He has the heart, but not the power, work rate, or engine to go to the top. 3-Scoring in Thailand is still questionable As mentioned Apichet was dropped twice here, and he was really put under pressure late on and very, very lucky to take home the decision, as Musheg Adoian seemed to out work a tired Apichet late on. Sadly however the judges disagreed, with two of them giving the decision to the Thai local. It's a real shame that the bad reputation of Thai officials really is still there, especially during these times when bouts are harder to make. Come on guys, get the scoring fair! The best we could see for Apichet was a draw, and so we have no idea how two judges saw Apichet winning this. Come on guys, sort it out! 4-Musheg Adoian is one to watch Russian puncher Musheg Adoian shouldn't be disappointed here. Yes he lost, but he impressed and we dare say his upside is much, much better than that of Apichet. Adoian can punch, he's exciting, and at just 25 years old he will come back from this set back. We dare say the loss could be a blessing in disguise for him, with fans now having sympathy for him, and he has learned a lesson. Never leave a bout in the hands of the judges. Of the two men he looked the less polished, the one with the more areas for improvement, but also the one we see going the furthest. He's certainly going to be a handful for everyone on the Thai scene. 5-A rematch would be great....over 10 rounds! Some close and controversial bouts deserve a rematch, and we certainly feel that this one does. Better yet lets have it done over 10 rounds, not 8. It would give Apichet a chance to prove he belongs at this level, and that he can earn a win rather than being given it, and it would give Adoian a chance to avenge the loss. The bout would be an ideal fight for WP Boxing to put on in December, for their year ending show and, given the controversy here, it would be good enough to headline the event! There was a lot of brilliant bouts over the last week or so, helped in part by G+ essentially showing two different shows over the space of 4 days. There was several good bouts on those shows, with the stand out, for us, being the Light Flyweight war between Toshiki Kawamitsu (5-0, 2) and Kenshi Noda (2-1, 2). The bout, won by Kawamitsu, was a genuine barn burner that over-delivered and gave us something to remember.
With that said we have got some take aways from the bout that are worth sharing. 1-This was incredible! As is becoming common place in this series we start with an obvious one. This was awesome! Genuinely this was a great bout between two men who were pretty well matched in terms of ability and hunger, they both felt they were the better fighter, they had the tools to deal with the other and they wanted to prove they were the better fighter. We saw the two men show their boxing ability, their fighting ability, their heart, desire, and willingness to go to the trenches. This really was something very, very special and truly brilliant to watch. If you've not seen it we really would advise checking it out. Sensational bout. 2-Kawamitsu hits harder than his record suggested Prior to the bout we had seen a bit of both men and, being honest, Toshiki Kawamitsu seemed very, very light punching. This wasn't just a case of him looking like a powderpuff puncher in the fights we had seen but his record as well. He had essentially gone the 4 round distance in his first 3 bouts and had struggled to get a stoppage win, in round 6, against Yuni Takada last November. He looked very, very light punching. Then he showed what he could do here, and in round 3 he had Noda in all sorts of problems. He's never going to be a 1-punch KO artist, but he certainly has some pop, which when added to his work rate and consistency makes him a very tough man to survive with. 3-The referee really tried to help Noda out In round 3 Kenshi Noda went down a number of times, with several looking legitimate. It wasn't until it was becoming too obvious that the referee finally gave Noda a count late in the round, incidentally we actually though that one was a push. Not only was the referee not giving Noda a count, as he should, but he was also letting Noda hold and continue on when he looked spent. Sadly by letting Noda take excess punishment he may have done the youngster more harm than good. Thankfully the beating didn't go on for rounds, but did go on longer than it needed to. 4-Noda wasn't helped by poor competition Prior to this bout Kenshi Noda had 3 minutes and 22 seconds of professional in ring time. He had blitzed two foreign opponents, neither of which were suitable for him, and he had really not had the ring time to develop and improve. They had both lost their previous bout, by stoppage, and were blown out by Noda. He had never had his stamina questioned, or his chin, or his mental attitude. He had destroyed his first 2 opponents with no issue and may well have come into this one expecting to do something similar. Sadly for him it seemed very much like he had gone from barrel scraping level of opposition to being in with a very, very good young domestic fighter. Unfortunately for Noda we don't think anyone expected Kawamitsu to be as good as he was. 5-Kawamitsu's tougher tests showed We've just mentioned Noda's poor competition but it's worth noting that Kawamitsu's competition in the professional ranks had been the opposite. He had been in with hungry, young fellow domestic fighters. All 4 of his opponents prior to facing Noda had come in to the bout on the back of a win, they all wanted to move their career forward, and they all wanted to try and pick up a victory. They resulted in Kawamitsu getting rounds under his belt, knowing what his stamina was like, knowing how to get through some adversity, and his win over Yuni Takada really was a great test. He believed in himself, he knew what it was like to fight when things got tough, and it really showed here. Bonus! - Noda shouldn't be written off This was a serious learning experience for both men, and we would go as far as to say neither man should be written off here. If Noda can take positivies from this, and remain hungry to be a fighter then there is no reason, at all, for him to see this as the end. He still has a very bright future ahead of him if he wants to continue in the sport, and he was just unlukcy to come up against someone who was really, really good. Do not write the Teiken younster off here. We keep the Take Away articles coming this week, as there really was so many damn fights worthy of extra attention. One of those was the intriguing 8 round bout between former world title challenger Ryohei Takahashi (19-4-1, 8) and Kiyohei Endo (3-4, 3). On paper this was a totally pointless match up, but in reality this was a really, really interesting, competitive, compelling and even bout. Not only was it well fought, but it was also dramatic and with a hint of controversy.
With that said lets take a look at our Five Take Aways from this bout which took place on Saturday at Korakuen Hall. 1-Endo is far, far better than his record suggests as is common place with this series we start with an obvious one and that is that Kiyohei Endo's record is very, very misleading. The talented Endo was a solid amateur before turning professional and losing to what was a freak show on debut in 2017. His second loss, to the brilliant Toshiki Shimomachi, came to a fantastic fighter before he had found his groove. Now he's looking like a much, improved fighter and his record is so misleading. We'll accept he's never going to become a world beater, but we wouldn't be surprised that, in the coming years, he goes on a long stretch of wins and earns a Japanese of OPBF title fight. There may well be no better 3-4 fighter in the sport today and write him off at your peril. 2-Takahashi is a million miles from another title fight We suspect those who recognise Ryohei Takahashi's name to know him best for his loss to TJ Doheny in 2019 in an IBF world title fight. Since then he has returned to Japan and racked up a few wins but looks a long, long way from getting another title fight. In fact if anything he looks like he's on the way to being shot. He's never been the most elusive, but he has, typically, been very tough. Here we saw him being hurt a number of times, and it's very, very clear that the 30 year old is paying for his hard, and painful career. Sadly however we suspect he's being lined up for something, so don't be surprised if he gets a Japanese or OPBF title fight in the near future. 3-Endo unlucky with knockdown In round 3 Endo had a knockdown scored against him which seemed incredibly unlucky. It seemed like he was off balance and pushed down, with Takahashi pushing the back of his head to send him down. This was really, really unfortunate for Endo, who didn't complain despite having a legit reason to complain. 4-The judging didn't reflect the bout One thing that was really notable was how wide the score-cards were. We had this as a razor thin bout, with Endo perhaps even doing enough to nick it. This view wasn't shared by any of the judged, who had it 77-74, twice, and a frankly terrible 78-73. Don't let those scorecards confuse you into thinking this was a one sided bout. It really wasn't. It was super close and Takahashi really had to work for the win. Add that to the knockdown call and we really see this as Endo being very unlucky and Takahashi being very fortunate. 5-We still have no idea what the referee did in round 6 So for those that haven't seen this one, Takahashi was dropped in round 6. A count was started, and taken up by the referee, who then seemed to decide, mid-count, that it wasn't a knockdown ,called a time out and called it a slip...we think. If anyone know quite what this was a bout we'd be grateful at an explanation as this was just odd, and seemed to buy a tiring Takahashi a few extra seconds of rest just as he needed them. Over the years boxing has had some amazing finishes to bouts and we look at another memorable finish today as we travel back to 2009 and focus on a bout in Monterrey, Mexico. The bout isn't as well remembered as it should be, but featured two huge names, at least for lower weight fighters, in a really interesting match up between East and West. Toshiaki Nishioka (33-4-3, 20) vs Jhonny Gonzalez (40-6, 34) In September 2008 Japan's Toshiaki Nishioka won the WBC "interim" Super Bantamweight title as he took a wide decision over Napapol Sor Rungvisai, winning a big one at last following 4 set backs against Veeraphol Sahaprom.That title was quickly upgraded to the full version by the time Nishioka returned to the ring and stopped Genaro Garcia the following January. The talented "Speed King" wanted to be a bigger name internationally however and whilst he could have stayed in Japan defending his belt for years he chased bigger things. That lead him to Mexico to face the monstrously heavy handed Jhonny Gonzalez, a former WBO Bantamweight champion. Although Nishioka was the champion he wasn't very well known outside of Japan. That was something he always seemed to want to change. Prior to this bout he had fought in France, being one of the very few Japanese fighters to win a bout in Europe, and in the US. In fact later in his career he made a big effort to become more well known in the West fighting his final two bouts in the US. Gonzalez on the other hand was well known. The Mexican was regarded as one of the most devastating punchers in the sport. He combined his freakish power with solid boxing fundamentals and was a really talented boxer-puncher. Although he had 6 losses to his name 4 of those had come very early in his career, and he had since gone 26-2 (22), with both losses coming by stoppage whilst leading on the scorecards against world class opponents. The Mexican challenger was the betting favourite and got off to a good start, putting Nishioka down in the opening round. He had proven he could hurt the champion but Nishioka wasn't there to just hand over his title. In fact the bout was a really technical match up with both men looking to line up their power shots. Neither man was wanting to give the other too many openings, with Nishioka knowing that Gonzalez could punch like a mule, and Gonzalez having been stopped in his last 2 defeats. About a minute into round 3 Gonzalez threw a rather slow straight, followed by a jab and then another straight. Nishioka slipped them well then took his turn to throw, throwing a blinding jab before landing a dynamite straight left hand. The shot nearly took Gonzalez's head off, dropping him hard. Somehow the Mexican got to his feet, defying everyone's eyes, but he was gone, wobbling when up as the referee called a halt on the contest. Whilst this wasn't the cleanest of KO's, in terms of leaving a man flat out, it was one of the cleanest shots you'll see land. This is a big of a forgotten finish, but was a spectacular one!
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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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