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We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect former 2-weight world champion Lakva Sim to one time contender Kanat Islam.
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-In 1994 Lakva Sim was one of 7 Mongolian boxers at the Asian Games, which was held in Hiroshima between October 4th and 13th. Despite going on to become a 2-weight world champion Sim didn't fair well in at the 1994 Asian Games, where he lost in his first bout to Venkatesan Devarajan, who took a 20-11 decision over the future Mongolian great. 2-Although rarely spoken about in international boxing circles over the last 20 years or so Venkatesan Devarajan was a genuine legend of Indian boxing. In fact he was one of the first Indian boxers to really make a mark on the sport, winning a medal at the world boxing cup and competing at the 1992 Summer Olympics. With a little bit of luck he would have been the first major Indian professional fighter, but he lacked that luck, and failed to get the funding he needed to make a mark on the professional ranks. Despite failing to turn professional he did win the Arjuna award in 1995, an award that was also won 21 years later by Vijender Singh. 3-During a long amateur career Vijender Singh competed at 3 different Olympics. The 2004, 2008 and 2012 games. He also managed to win medals at 3 Commonwealth games, the 2006, 2010 and 2014 games. His first medal at a Commonwealth Games was a silver in 2006. Interestingly just a division higher Canadian fighter Adonis Stevenson also took home a silver medal. 4-As a professional fighter Adonis Stevenson made his name as one of the best Light Heavyweights of his era and held the WBC title from 2013 to 2018. He made his debut on September 30th 2006. That same day fans in Argentina had the chance to see Luis Alberto Lazarte fight in his 40th professional bout, beating Reginaldo Martins Carvalho in 3 rounds. 5-During his career Luis Alberto Lazarte was quite possibly the dirtiest player in the game, and he was disqualified a ridiculous 5 times, including a rare No Contest due to a double DQ. Another super rare double DQ bout was the professional debut of Yamaguchi Falcao, with Falcao and Martin Fidel Rios both being disqualified in their January 2014 bout. 6-In April 2006, whilst he was still an amateur, Yamaguchi Falcao was stopped by a then 21 year old Hanati Silamu, competing for China, at the Cuban Olympiad. Hanati Silamu would later become better known as Kanat Islam!
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Light Heavyweights in the Orient have always been few and far between. On the whole the region doesn't have the genetics or body type to make a mark at 175lbs on a regular basis. There are however a handful of exceptions with Korean fighter Lee Soo Hang (5-6-2, 4) being one of the very first exceptions to the rule.
Notably Hang's career only ran from 1979 to 1986, and consisted of just 14 fights with him winning less than half of those, but he is certainly a footnote in boxing history, and someone who deserves a lot more attention than he gets, and ever will get. Rather than having a long introduction here, lets just take a look at 5 Midweek Facts about Lee Soo Hang, and explain why his career is worthy of some series attention. 1-Lee Soo Hang began boxing under the guidance of Mong Hyun Lee at the Gwangdon High School in 1977. The following year he competed as an amateur, winning silver in a national tournament and then turned professional in late 1979. 2-At the time of writing (April 2020) Boxrec do not have a full record of Lee Soo Hang, despite having several profiles of Hang. We won't go through all the bouts of his that Boxrec are missing but they don't have his first two bouts, which took place on back to back days in November 1979 and saw him win Korean Rookie of the Year at Middleweight! Boxrec also list him as being a southpaw, with Korean sources insisting he was orthodox. 3- Whilst his professional record on Boxrec is incomplete, what is agreed on by Boxrec, and all other sources, is that Lee Soo Hang is that he was the first ever OPBF Light Heavyweight champion, making him a legitimate footnote in the history of the OPBF title. He claimed the belt in July 1982 when he stopped Toshiaki Suzuki in 4 rounds. Sadly he would become the first fighter to lose that title less than a year later. Incidentally Lee Soo Hang won the OPBF Light Heavyweight title after previously coming up short for the Korean Middleweight title. With his OPBF title win Korea then held 12 of the 13 OPBF titles, with the only exception being the Bantamweight title held by the brilliant Eijiro Murata 4-Sadly winning the OPBF title for Lee Soo Hang was the start of the end and the Korean failed to pick up another win before retiring. In fact he went 0-5-1 afterwards to retire 5-6-2 (4). 5-Unsurprisingly, given he won an OPBF Light Heavyweight title, Lee Soo Hang was a tall man for a Korean. In fact he was reportedly 184cm (just over 6'), which was huge for a Korean in the 1980's and saw him tower most of his fellow fighters from the time. In fact pictures of him that emerged on the internet a few years ago still show him towering over people. Whilst many fighters we feature in this fortnightly series will only be included once, as not many fighters score multiple great knockouts, a small handful will be featured mutliple times. For today's "Reliving the Finish" we think we'll probably be included the most obscure multi-time entrant, but to be fair this was even better than his previous entry, and was far more needed. Takenori Ohashi (16-5-2, 10) vs Shun Wakabayashi (9-3, 2) Regular readers of this series will likely remember us featuring Takenori Ohashi and his brutal win over Kosuke Saka for the Japanese Featherweight title. It was a finish that came when Saka mistook the 10 second clacker as the bell to end the round, turned his back and got laid out big time by Ohashi. The finish saw Ohashi claim his biggest win, by fair, as well as picking up the Japanese Featherweight title and ending an impressive run from Saka. In the eyes of some that knockout for Ohashi proved the old adage of "protect yourself at all times", and it was Saka's huge mistake that Ohashi jumped on. Sadly for Ohashi his title reign was a short one, and he lost the title just 4 months later, when he was battered and beaten up by Taiki Minamoto in his first defense. He had then bounced back with a win over Ruito Saeki before being matched with Shun Wakabayashi. Before we talk about Wakabayashi we just want to quickly explain who Ohashi was as a fighter. He was crude, slow, unpolished, defensively naive, but boy could he punch, and his record, showing just 10 stoppages in 23 bouts, is not indicative of his power. Instead it was a sign that he struggled to get to his opponents, who were often happy to pick him off and use their speed, or get away and survive. What he hit he hurt, and when he landed clean he tended to see off opponents. The then 28 year old Wakabayashi had once been 4-3 (1) as a professional before rebuilding with 5 straight wins, including minor upsets over Taichi Ueno and Chinlei Lin, as well as a more notable upset win over Xian Qian Wei. He wasn't much of a name but was in good form and had been impressive, winning not just as home but also picking up two wins on Chinese soil. Wakabayashi wasn't a puncher. Not by any stretch. He was however a very good boxer-mover, who was light on his feet, used the ring, and boxed well at range. He seemed to have the momentum behind him and the skills needed to take a win over the slower Ohashi. Technically he was likely seen as the under-dog, against a former Japanese champion no less, but plenty would have been picking him against the very slow Ohashi. Those who picked Wakabayashi would have been very pleased by what they saw in the first 6 rounds as he out sped, out boxed and out manoeuvred Ohashi. The smart movement and simple, but effective, boxing of Wakabayashi seemed to be taking him to a clear decision win. He was making it look easy. That was until round 7, when we got a sign of just how devastating Ohashi's power really is. Ohashi managed to land a big right hand over the top, a shot that may have shaken Wakabayashi, though he took it well and didn't show any signs of being hurt. Just moments later however a shorter, stiffer counter right stiffened Wakabayashi's legs. The short right was immediately followed by a brutal left uppercut which instantly turned out the lights on Wakabayashi, who crashed to the canvas. This was a brutal finish by Ohashi, who had to have been behind before pulling out one of the best KO's we saw in a Japanese ring in 2018. Whilst maybe not quite as good as Ohashi's brutal free shot finish on Saka this was still something to behold. A brilliant combination and a truly gorgeous finish by a true Japanese domestic level puncher. 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 Japanese world champion Akinobu Hiranaka to former Mongolian 2-weight world champion Lakva Sim.
1-The heavy handed Akinobu Hiranaka made his professional debut on March 24th 1985 at the Konan High School in Naha. Hiranaka successfully debuted with an opening round KO win over Kazumi Yokoi. On the very same show Yasuo Yogi also made his debut, and like Hiranaka he scored a KO1 win, as he stopped Mituso Nakamura. 2-The talented Yasuo Yogi is best known for his Japanese Minimumweight title win in February 1988, when he beat Norikazu Kawana in a fire-fight that saw both men hitting the canvas, multiple times, in a thrilling second round. Sadly though Yogi's reign was a short one and he lost in his first defense, to Missile Kudo just 4 months later. Later in his career Yogi would go on to lose to a number of international fighters, including Kwang Sun Kim. 3-Sadly the talented Kwang Sun Kim had a super short career, going 6-2 (4) in his professional career. Despite failing to make a major mark on the professional ranks, losing in two world title fights, he had been an excellent amateur and had won a Gold medal in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. On route to that gold medal he beat American fighter Arthur Johnson. 4-The talented Arthur Johnson, much like Kwang Sun Kim, was a very good amateur who didn't have the success in the professional ranks that many had expected from him. That was despite getting 4 world title fights. The first of those world title fights came in 1994 when he challenged the then IBF Flyweight champion Pichit Sithbanprachan, over in Thailand, with Pichit taking a decision over Johnson. 5-Although Pichit Sithbanprachan retired several times during his career, his very final bout came in 2000, when he beat Oscar Vargas. On the very same card Yodsanan Sor Nanthachai scored a 6th round KO win over Jose Luis Tula, to retain the PABA Super Featherweight title. 6-The exciting Yodsanan Sor Nanthachai is best known for his reign as the WBA Super Featherweight champion. It was a short reign, lasting just over 3 years but was an interesting one, with wins over Lamong Pearson, Ryuhei Sugita and Steve Forbes. For those wondering he won the title in 2002 when he over-came Mongolian warrior Lakva Sim! One country that often gets over-looked when it comes to boxing in Asia is Indonesia. The country obviously has the ability to create great boxers, and it's undeniable that Chris John was a genuine talent. Sadly Indonesia hasn't developed anything close to the amount of top fighters that they probably should have. And in fact they tend to be better known for two things. Horribly padded records, and padding records of fighters in Thailand, the Philippines and Japan.
Sadly one man who fit both "the padded record" and "padding the records of others" was Vicky Tahumil (33-5-2, 12)* who fought between 1998 and 2011. He was a Light Flyweight who, at one point, was knocking on the door world a world title fight but ended his career in disappointing fashion as thing really fell apart. Strangely it felt like Tahumil had spent years crafting an impressive before cashing out later in his career, when he and his team felt he could make money as a loser. Of course Tahumil isn't a big name, and he's not a well known, he is a man with some interesting facts about him. With that in mind, let us bring you 5 Midweek Facts about Vicky Tahumil. 1-In 2005 Tahumil was lined up to fight Sonny Boy Jaro, though was pulled out of the bout just days before the contest and replaced by Angky Angkotta. Amazingly Angkotta, who took the bout very short notice upset Jaro. Reportedly the reason for the late change was that Tahumil was ranked #3 by the WBA and had been hoping to land a world title fight with his team likely angling for a shot at Roberto Vasquez 2-Tahumil had the nickname "Viking", a rather unique nickname for someone from Asia! 3- The record of Tahumil isn't as clear as it seems. He was reportedly 30-0-5 going into into the bout with Daiki Kameda, not 33-0-2 as Boxrec list him as being. It could well be that Boxrec have recorded 3 wins of his wins as draws, or that the Japanese sources were given the wrong details. Given how incomplete records of Indonesian fighters are, however, it's very possible that there may be bouts missing from his record all together. 4-Rather staggeringly Tahumil lost his final 5 bouts, after going unbeaten in his first 35 bouts, with 4 of those 5 losses coming to fighters who either had, or would, win world titles. These were Daki Kameda, Zolani Tete, Veeraphol Sahaprom and Poonsawat Krataingdeanggym. For those wondering, the only man to beat him and never win a world title was Sukkasem Kietyongyuth. 5-In 2018 Tahumil was serving as a boxing coach in Indonesia, taking his in ring experience and trying to pass it to the next generation of fighters. 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 Nobuo Nashiro to Akinobu Hiranaka.
Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-The teak tough Nobuo Nashiro was a 2-time WBA Super Flyweight champion, winning the title in 2006 and then gain in 2008. Of course he wasn't the first Japanese fighter to win this particular title, in fact that honour belongs to the legendary, and hugely controversial, Jiro Watanabe, who won the belt in 1982. 2-In his first world title fight, for the WBC Super Flyweight title, Jiro Watanabe lost a decision in South Korea to Chul Ho Kim, who actually made his first defense with his win against Watanabe, in what was a razor close bout. 3-Sadly the talented Chul Ho Kim rarely comes up in the conversation about Korean greats, but he is regarded in Korea very highly, and was sadly one of the many fighters who burned out. He won the WBC super Flyweight title when he was just 19, before making 5 defenses in 18 months and the losing the title, a few months later. His career was essentially over in 1983, before he had even his his physical prime. His final career bout was a loss to Prayurasak Muangsurin on a show that also featured Ju Do Chun defending the South Korean Super Flyweight title. 4-Following his reign as the Korean national champion Ju Do Chun go on to become the first ever IBF Super Flyweight champion, winning the vacant title in 1983 and recording 5 defenses before he was beaten by Indonesian puncher Elly Pical in 1985. The only other Korean fighter to win the IBF Super Flyweight title was Tae Il Chang. 5- During his career Tae Il Chang fought a number of notable fighters, including Elly Pical, Khaosai Galaxy and Soon Chun Kwon in a career that saw him win the Korean, OPBF and IBF titles. Interestingly he debuted on the same show that also featured the final bout of Royal Kobayashi's career, in 1981. 6-Royal Kobayashi was the first Japanese Olympian to also go on to win a professional world title, something that very few have managed to do. The next Japanese fighter to do that was the heavy handed Akinobu Hiranaka! One of the first men to get us really excited about the "new wave" of Japanese prospects was Yohei Tobe (13-3-1, 9), who made his professional debut in 2011 and really impressed us almost from the off. Even in his debut he looked like a special talent, even if it only 70 seconds, and through his first 4 bouts he was genuinely impressing every time he stepped in the ring.
Sadly Tobe's career never ended up panning out quite like we'd hoped. He suffered early career set backs to Ryo Akaho and Richard Pumicpic and struggled really find his groove. He did manage to put together some glimpses of brilliance, stopping Taiki Eto to win the Japanese title, and blasting out Luzuko Siyo to claim the WBA International title, but the once touted Super Flyweight could never quite put together the performances he needed to become a star. There was always talent, but Tobe was plagued by injuries and inactivity and his career, which promised so much, failed to deliver, with him fighting for the final time in 2018. Today we're not here to talk about what could have been, and maybe what should have been, instead look to shine a light on Tobe as we bring you 5 Mid Week Facts about Yohei Tobe. 1-Tobe went to the Kamogawa Reitoku High School, a private high school in Komogawa City. Among others who have gone to the school are manga artist Shizue Takanashi and actor Sousuke Takaoka. The school has also been used for a number of Japanese music videos, including one from the hugely popular AKB48. 2-As an amateur Tobe ran up a very solid record scoring more than 40 wins and suffering just 10 losses. In the unpaid ranks he won a number of tournaments, including being a 2-time champion at the National Athletic Meet. He also came third in the All Japan Amateur Championships and when he turned professional there was real expectation on his shoulders. 3-For his 2014 defenses against Sho Ishida, Tobe had to wait around an hour for the weigh in as Ishida was stuck in traffic. The traffic was unexpected and had been caused due to the issues of Typhoon Halong, which was causing all sorts of issues at the time. 4-Early on in his career Tobe was dubbed the "Golden Rookie", due to how much of an advanced talent he was and how highly regarded he as a professional prospect. It's worth noting that due to his potential he was moved incredibly quickly as a result he debuted against the Korean champion, Jin Ki Jung, and took on former world title challengers in his second and third bout, with the third of those being Koehi Kono who would later become a 2-time world champion. 5-After retiring from boxing, which Tobe did at the end of 2018, he became a civil servant working at the Kamogawa City Hall. Usually when we look at upsets in this series we focus on upsets where the Asian fighter walked away with the win. Today however we are going to look at a bout where the Asian fighter was on the wrong end of a notable, and often forgotten, upset. The bout is a brutal and one sided one, that saw history being set, and deserves to be more than just a footnote in boxing annals, though is sadly very much a forgotten bout. Hideki Todaka (17-2-1, 8) Vs Leo Gamez (32-7-1, 24) I In one corner was WBA Super Flyweight champion Hideki Todaka. Aged 27 he was supposed in his prime and was in great form. Despite having 2 losses against his name he had avoided defeat in his last 14 bouts, going unbeaten for more than 5 years, after a 4-2 start to his pro career. During his unbeaten run he had claimed the Japanese Light Flyweight title, in 1996, and gone on to fill out his frame and take the WBA Super Flyweight title in 1999. Although not amazingly well remembered now a days Todaka was regarded as one of the faces of Japanese boxing at this time and a notable star in Nagoya, where he was based. After winning the WBA Super Flyweight title, beating Jesus Rojas in their second bout, following a technical draw, he had made successful defenses against Akihiko Nago and Yokthai Sithoar whilst proving his ability and building his profile. At the start of the year 2000 Todaka was ranked #3 by Ring Magazine and just months into the year he solidified his ranking with a win over Yokthai, who had began the year ranked #6. He was legitimately regarded as one of the very best in the division behind only In Joo Cho and Mark Johnson. In October 2000 he returned to the ring for his third defense. In the opposite corner to Todaka was 37 year old Venezuelan veteran Leo Gamez. Although Gamez was a solid name at this point he was seen as being well past his best and it seemed like he had been brought over to Japan to be an easy defense for Todaka. "Torito", as he was known, hadn't fought in over a year, with his previous bout being a KO loss to Sornpichai Kratingdaenggym 13 months earlier. Not only had he been inactive but he had lost 3 of his previous 6 and had gone 5-4 since 1995. Despite being regarded as a faded force Gamez had been a major player in his prime. He had been very closely associated with the WBA and had won the WBA Minimumweight title in 1988, before adding the WBA Light Flyweight and Flyweight titles to his collection. Despite his haul of world titles Gamez had been quite smart in how he had gone about his title bouts. He had been the first WBA Minimumweight champion, he had won the vacant WBA Light Flyweight title and had won the WBA Flyweight title from the rather limited Hugo Rafael Soto, who was making his first defense. Notably none of his reigns had lasted long, and he had never really been the best in any division. Given his age, inactivity and form few gave Gamez any chance against Todaka in Nagoya. In the early moments Todaka looked bigger, younger, stronger and more powerful than Gamez. The challenger was forced backwards pretty much every time Todaka landed and it looked like the pre-fight perceptions were right, Gamez was over-matched. Despite that Gamez was finding some very clean, accurate shots, boxing well off his jab and using the ring well whilst making Todaka land on the arms and fall short. Sadly for Todaka his successes in round 1 were quickly forgotten, with round 2 being a nightmare for him as he struggled to defend against anything Gamez threw his way. Time and time again Gamez would land clean shots and make Todaka miss. It was a testament to Todaka's spirit that he shrugged off some of the shots that Games was starting to landing, such as the big right hands Gamez began landing at will mid way through the round. Todaka was trying to come forward but was eating a lot of leather. The punishment from Gamez intensified in round 3, as he continued hammering Todaka with huge shots, likely realising that Todaka was having some sort of problems, which we'll get on to a little later. The punishment added up by the end of round 4 Todaka was bleeding from the mouth, a tell tale sign of a broken jaw. Given the shots he was taking it was little wonder, and Games could certainly smell blood. Todaka came out for round 5 busy, active, throwing a lot of jabs and trying to turn the bout around. He was hungry and brave, and putting in a great effort, despite being clearly a damaged fighter. This was his best round since the opening stanza, and he gave everything, likely knowing his title was slipping away. Gamez took it, defended himself well when he needed to and continued to target Todaka's head with hooks and uppercuts on the inside and big right hands at range. Towards the end of the round it seemed clear that Gamez had seen out the worst of the storm from Todaka. Gamez resumed control in round 6, landing big shots with both hands. Todaka continued to grit his teeth and fight hard, but repeatedly missed, and walked into huge shots. Round after round he was taking massive uppercuts, being countered and having his already damaged jaw tagged clear, over and over. Every time Todaka built some momentum Gamez took the play away with head shots and punished Todaka, with interest. In round 7 Gamez put his foot on the gas and hurt Todaka who stumbled. Todaka responded by yelling at Gamez, who followed up by hammering Todaka with sustained head shots until Todaka hit the canvas. Todaka was done and he knew it, staying down a broken, beaten man. With the win Gamez became the first fighter to win world titles at 105, 108, 112 and 115lbs. That's a feat that even now, more than 20 years on, has only been done by 3 other fighters. It was a massive shock, not just that Gamez had won but how bad Todaka had looked. The rising star of Japan had looked like a brave but out classed fighter by someone most assumed was on the slide, big time. It was later revealed that Todaka had gone into the bout suffering from Ophthalmoplegia, an issue that caused him to see 2, or even 3, Gamez's. It was why he struggled to defend against Gamez's shots and why he struggled to land his own. Sadly for Gamez his reign was a short one, losing in his first defense to Celes Kobayashi. He would then lose 4 of his 6 subsequent bouts, including a rematch with Todaka in 2003 for the WBA "interim" Bantamweight title. He would retire after a 2005 loss to Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym, whilst the wrong side of 40. After this loss Todaka took close to 17 months away from the ring. That gave him time to heal his jaw and rest his body, which was in desperate need of a break. He picked up 3 low level wins in 2002 before beating Gamez in a rematch, then losing to Julio Zarate in 2004 and retired at the age of 30. For this series one thing we don't want to do is stick to the well known KO's that are in high profile bouts. We'll put them in, of course, but we also want to shine a light on less well known KO's. That's certainly this week in "Reliving the Finish" as we bring you a KO scored by a Japanese Light Heavyweight-come Cruiserweight in the US. This is a truly brilliant KO and came in a very obscure bout that took place almost 30 years ago! Despite it's age it is still a brutal finish and a great way to leave an impression! Yosuke Nishijima (3-0, 3) vs Derrick Edwards (2-4, 1) We genuinely don't think many will recognise the name Yosuke Nishijima. That's despite the fact he spent most of his career in the US. His first 3 bouts were in Japan before he made his US debut, incidentally this bout, and would only fight in Japan 8 more times in his career. The rest of his career was spent fighting entirely in the US, where he fought 16 of his 27 career bouts. The reason Nishijima spend so much time in the US was that there wasn't anything for him in the Orient. His 3 early Japanese opponents were all making their debuts, none of which every fought again and two of which were Americans. The only notable opponents, of any real note, that Nishijima ever fought back in Japan was Jerry "Wimpy" Halstead, who was having his 101st professional bout, and Pakistani legend Hussain Shah, who had been a successful amateur but failed to make a mark on the professional scene. Both of those bouts didn't come until 1996. Way earlier than those bouts Nishijima had fought Derrick Edwards a US novice in Las Vegas, way back in 1993. Entering the bout no one really knew much at all about Nishijima, his style or what he was about. Whilst little was known about Nishijima not not much more was known about about Edwards. He had fought 6 times and had lost 4 of those bouts. He had been born in Jamiaca but had fought entirely in the US and was known to be a limited fighter. He had began his career in 1988, with a win, before suffering two KO losses in 1989 and hanging them up for 3 years before returning to the ring in 1992. Interestingly Edwards had ended a 4 fight losing streak just over a week before facing Nishijima. Through the first round Edwards had looked the much better boxer. He looked to have all the edges in skill, but Nishijima had the edge in power and rocked Edwards in the first round whilst pressuring throughout, and landed a number of solid, clubbing blows through the round. Round two had been somewhat similar to the first. Edwards looked to have the edge in skill, thought couldn't get Nishijima's respect, whilst Nishijima walked forward looking for bombs, almost dropping himself at one point. The warning signs were there. Nishijima was only throwing bombs. Sadly for Edwards his stamina was already being an issue, and he was slowing down, and getting caught clean by some thunderous left hooks from the Japanese fighter. Early in round 3 Nishijima twice gave Edwards a chin check, but Edwards stayed up right. That was until around 2 and a half minutes into the bout when Nishijima landed a a gorgeous left hook dropping Edwards hard. Although Edwards had withstood some other heavy shots through the early portion of the bout none had landed quite as clean as this. What helped here for Nishijima had been the fact he had caught Edwards as the American was looking to throw his own left hook, essentially catching Edwards turning into the shot. Edwards was out on contact, though thankfully was aware of where he was relatively quickly. After this bout Nishijima did go on to claim a few minor titles, and the OPBF Cruisrweight title, but failed to make a mark at the highest levels. He would end his career in 2003 with a 24-2-1 (15) record, before competing in MMA and Kick Boxing. Edwards on the other hand was pretty much a career loser. He would win just 1 bout after this loss en route to recording a 3-13 (1) record.
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 Filipino world champion Marlon Tapales to former Japanese world champion Nobuo Nashiro.
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-In 2015 Marlon Tapales won the WBO Bantamweight title, with a brilliant win against Pungluang Sor Singyu in Thailand. Tapales was the third Filipino fighter to win the WBO Bantamweight title, following Gerry Penalosa and Nonito Donaire. He was then followed, a few years later, by Johnriel Casimero. 2-The explosive, heavy handed and enigmatic Johnriel Casimero has had a rather interesting career, with some huge wins, and some very under-whelming performances. When he's on song however he is brilliant, explosive and incredibly heavy handed. He made his debut on June 3rd 2007, the same day that Kyotaro Fujimoto won a kick boxing bout against Ryo Takigawa. 3-After a successful career as a kick boxer Kyotaro Fujimoto turned his hand to professional boxing and had a successful career, unifying the Japanese, OPBF and WBO Asia Pacific titles. One of his most notable rivalries in the professional was with Nobuhiro Ishida, with the two men fighting twice, in very competitive bouts. 4-During a professional career that ran from 2000 to 2015 Nobuhiro Ishida scored several wins of note. There is however one of those that stands out more than any other, and that it is his opening round blow out win over James Kirkland, in what was the 2011 Upset of the Year. A year later the Upset of the Year was Sonny Boy Jaro's upset shock win against Pongsaklek Wonjongkam to become the WBC Flyweight champion. 5-Despite his huge 2012 win, for the WBC Flyweight title, Sonny Boy Jaro was essentially a career journeyman who suffered notable losses through his entire career. The fifth of his defeats came in 2006 to Thailand's Pornsawan Porpramook, who stopped Jaro in 5 rounds. 6-In 2012, years after beating Jaro, we saw Pornsawan Porpramook win the WBA Minimumweight title scoring a 12th round majority decision over Indonesian fighter Muhammad Rachman in Jakarta on July 30th 2011. On the very same day Nobuo Nashiro took the unbeaten record of Filipino fighter Rey Perez, taking a decision win over Perez. |
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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