Over the last few months the WBA have been to their old tricks of handing out “interim” world titles, after announcing that they had planned to have a single title per division. Multiple times. In fact WBA President Gilberto Mendoza Jr famously held a meeting in Japan at the JBC head office in Tokyo, with the then JBC Chairman Hiroshi Akiyama and Hitoshi Watanabe, the then chairman of the East Japan Boxing Association and stated "We will narrow down the number of WBA champions to one." That was in 2017.
Despite that claim from Mendoza, we should have known better, and between December 7th and December 15th 2024, more than 7 years after that meeting in Japan, we had 3 separate bouts for WBA “secondary” titles. On December 7th we saw Kubrat Pulev (32-3, 14) beat Manuel Charr (34-5, 20) for the WBA "world title", with Charr losing the title he hadn't defended in close to 2 years, just weeks before “Super” champion Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14) faces Tyson Fury (34-1-1, 24) in a highly anticipated rematch. On December 13th we saw Antonio Vargas (19-1, 11) claim the WBA “interim” Bantamweight title, just weeks after Seiya Tsutsumi (12-0-2, 8) [堤聖也] won the title in a mandatory title shot against Takuma Inoue (20-2, 5) [井上拓真], and on December 14th we saw Murodjon Akhmadaliev (13-1, 10) [Ахмадалиев, Муроджон Кахарович] claim the WBA “interim” Super Bantamweight title, as he stopped Mexican fighter Ricardo Espinoza Franco (30-5-0-1, 25), just 10 days before Naoya Inoue (28-0, 25) [井上尚弥] was scheduled to defend the Super title against Sam Goodman (19-0, 8). Amazingly just days after Vargas’ title win, which saw him beat Winston Guerrero (22-1, 13), the WBA have decided that Vargas is the new mandatory for Tsutsumi, a man who, again, won the title in a mandatory in October. By itself a Tsutsumi Vs Vargas fight would be a lot of fun, with Tsutsumi’s all out, hyper aggressive style coming up against the good boxing but questionable chin of Vargas. However the WBA having an interim title fight, and then announcing the next mandatory is an odd decision, especially as the “real” title hasn’t been sat on the sideline, with it having been fought for 3 times this year, including just 2 months before their interim title fight. In recent days there has been articles about the WBA having been “shaken down” by Boxrec, whilst there may or may not be something to that story, it’s hard not to see the WBA’s recent expansion of multiple “world” titles, as something more sinister for the sport. It is as if the WBA, who are still led by the same Mendoza who spoke about only having a single champion in a division, have had serious memory losses, forgetting just how devalued they made their own titles, with every division having multiple champions. They appear to be on the road to replicating that, and perhaps are now heading to the point of no return. The point where they go the way of the WBU or the WBF and become a joke. There is talk that Boxrec removing the WBA titles from records has tarnished the history of the sport. The reality is the WBA are tarnishing their own reputation, the sport and the status of being a world champion. Something they did in the past, and are now doing once again. Whilst talk about a single champion in a division is never going to happen, we at least assumed we’d have a single WBA champion, something that had been looking likely in the last few years. Now however it’s clear that the sport will once again go back to having multiple people calling themselves the WBA “world” champion. Whilst interim titles do have a purpose in the sport, and the WBC, IBF and WBO have all used them correctly, the 2 examples of the WBA from recent weeks have not made any sense. The champions haven’t been injured, they haven’t been out of the ring for a prolonged period, or are expecting to be and both titles have been fought for 3 times in the last 12 months. The moves from the WBA really aren’t about using “interim” titles, but more about confusing the fans and delegitimizing what it really means to be a world champion. (A side note - All 3 of the recent WBA “secondary” bouts have aired on DAZN, whilst that’s likely just a coincidence, it is something worthy of noting at this point, another thing to note is that two of the bouts have lead to mandatory title fights for Japanese fighters, both coming after the JBC refused to allow the WBA "interim" title at 140lbs to be on the for the October bout between Ismael Barroso and Andy Hiraoka [平岡アンディ], again likely just a mere coincidence].
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Earlier today Ohashi announced their next big show, scheduled for September 3rd at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, which is set to be headlined by Undisputed Super Bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue (27-0, 24) [井上尚弥] defending his titles against former IBF champion TJ Doheny (26-4, 19). One of the bouts announced for the show will be a showdown at 140lbs between Ismael Barroso (25-4-2, 23), the current WBA "interim" champion, and the unbeaten Andy Hiraoka (23-0, 18) [平岡アンディ]. At the time there was some confusion over the status of that particular bout, with some mistakenly reporting it was going to be a third world title bout on the show. As it turns out, that bout is actually world title eliminator, as confirmed by Ohashi their bout listing for the show, see below. It was also apparent at the press conference, streamed on Lemino, that the show was only a double world title show, Hiroka not attending with while stablemates Inoue and WBO Bantamweight champion Yoshiki Takei (9-0, 8) [武居由樹] did. In the days coming up to the press conference for the show numerous reports had circulated about the contest, and about it being for Barroso’s “interim” title. What a lot of them failed to realise is that the JBC, who will be sanctioning the event, has not recognised the WBA “interim” titles since since February 19th 2011, back when there was 10 “interim” titles from the 17 weight classes, and when there was 3 different WBA Bantamweight champions, including “regular” champion Koki Kameda. The day after that decision they held a press conference with JBC Secretary General Tsuyoshi Yasukochi saying, "This is a terrible situation that is different from the original meaning (regarding "interim" titles). As the JBC, we cannot recognize interim titles as world titles." Whilst refusing to recognise the WBA "interim" titles, they did allow the WBC “interim” titles to continue to be recognised, as the WBC used their interim status for what was essentially the original meaning, a title created when a champion is incapacitated. This move by the JBC was followed by the WBA themselves a few years later, when they announced that they were going to be getting rid of the titles, except in exceptional circumstances. On February 22nd 2017 Gilberto Mendoza Jr, the president of the WBA, travelled to Japan and held a meeting at the JBC head office in Tokyo, where he met the then JBC Chairman Hiroshi Akiyama and Hitoshi Watanabe, the then chairman of the East Japan Boxing Association. During that meeting he explained "We will narrow down the number of WBA champions to one." He explained that the interim titles were "created to give opportunities to boxers from economically disadvantaged areas, but ultimately the value of the belt has become diluted." He went on to say that there were 7 out of the 17 weight classes with a single champion and is quoted in the Japanese press as saying “this will happen in all weight classes by 2018." At the time he was over trying to push for a new WBA regional title, and get the JBC’s support, though it doesn’t appear the JBC ever actually gave that support. The WBA echoed their own view on “interim” titles in August 2021, when Carlos Chavez, chairman of the WBA Championship Committee announced “The Championships Committee decided that all Interim Championship titles are withdrawn with immediate effect”.
Yet now we are in a situation where there is 1 single interim champion, Barroso at 140lbs. Along with multiple champions, be it any two of “Super”, “World”, or “in Recess”, in a subsequent 4 other divisions. They are Heavyweight (Usyk - “Super”, Charr “World), Super Middleweight (Canelo - “Super”, Morrell - “World”), Super Welterweight (Madrimov - “World”, Charlo -” In Recess”), Welterweight (Crawford - “Super”, Stanionis -”World”). As well as the 4 divisions mentioned above, there are 10 divisions currently having a “Gold” champion, which appears to have taken the place of what was once the “interim” title. (All champions, designations and names are according to the WBA’s website as of July 16th 2024). This does not appear to be fitting in with the WBA’s 2017 promise of all weight classes having a single champion by 2018, and in fact Baroso is the second WBA Lightweight “interim” champion since 2018, following Rolly Romero who actually beat Barroso for the vacant “World” title last year. Despite the WBA's own comments, and how they have failed to fulfil them, and only have a single champion at every weight, the JBC have not gone back on their word, and still do not recognise WBA "interim" title fights, something that isn't set to change. This was seen, notably, in 2014, when Koki Eto was unable to defend his WBA "interim" Flyweight title, which he won in late 2013, in Japan and instead dropped the title to fight for the OPBF title, stopping Ardin Diale in the bout after winning the "interim" belt. What is unclear is what will happen to the title. If Barroso wins there is a chance the WBA will regard it as a successful defense, however if Hiraoka wins the JBC will not recognise the title and it could either remain with Barroso, or end up vacant. Regardless, the winner will be expecting to face Isaac Cruz, for the World title in the not too distant future. [Ed’s note - David Morell’s next bout is for the WBA “World” title at Light Heavyweight, a division that has a current “Super” champion Dmitry Bivol] [Ed’s note II - When Koki Kameda was the WBA “regular” Bantamweight champion, Hugo Ruiz was the "interim" and Anelmo Moreno was the "Super" champion] [Ed’s note III - The “regular” tag was applied by the media and fans, and not by the WBA, who had “Interim”, “World” and “Super”] Last weekend we got the chance to catch the TV broadcast of Andy Hiraoka's (17-0, 12) return to a Japanese ring, as he took on Fumisuke Kimura (9-7-1, 6) for the second time. The bout was little more than a stay busy for the talented and promising Hiraoka, and saw him stop Kimura in 3 rounds, rather than going the scheduled as the two did in 2018. It was a win that looked easy for Hiraoka, but it was also a win that deserves a bit more attention than we originally gave it. With that in mind lets have look back over the bout, and give our Five Take Aways from the bout.
1-There's still work to do with Hiraoka With 17 bouts to his name we'd have assumed Andy Hiraoka would be a polished fighter, but in reality there is still a lot of work to do with him. His lack of an amateur career shows, and he's very much a great athlete who's not a good boxer. Technically there is plenty more for him to learn at the Ohashi Gym. One one hand that's a negative. Suggesting he's still got a lot of improvements to make and is still so limited as a boxer after 17 fights. On the other hand we see it as a positive and given there is a lot of room to improve, he, and his team, should realise that his potential isn't close to being reached yet. Fingers crossed they manage to make the strides with his development that are there for him. He has a lot going for him, and his team shouldn't be relying on what he's learned so far. In fairness however we are seeing improvements with every fight and that's a great sign for his future. 2-Hiraoka needs to be matched better! We understand the logic behind this bout, and we'd be stupid to think it was more than it was, but the reality is that he's re-running a bout with a guy he beat 3 years ago. Since then we've seen him impress against better fighters than Kimura and show what he can do to an international audience, though his fights with Top Rank. He now needs to be matched tougher. And we mean much, much tougher. Fingers crossed that the plans for later in this year include a bout with a title holder of some sort. We'd love to see Hiraoka take on someone like Daishi Nagata, the Japanese champion, or Rikki Naito, the OPBF champion. This should be the type of level Hiraoka is fighting by the end of 2021, and there's no real reason why he shouldn't bet getting that level of bout, especially given his dominant win in 2019 against Akihiro Kondo. 3-Kimura's a tough, tough dude! It's fair to say that Kimura didn't come to roll over. In fact he came with the belief that he could do better against Hiraoka this time than he did in their first meeting. Whilst he had the belief he could do better, it quickly became evident that he couldn't. Although Hiraoka isn't the complete article, he is a much, much, better fighter than the one who went 8 rounds with Kimura 3 years ago. The belief of Kimura however saw him refuse to just fold and instead he took a beating. A vicious, one sided, beating, especially in round 3. Despite being hammered from pillar to post he, somehow, remained upright. This was an incredible showcase of toughness from him, and one that really didn't need to be done. Credit to Kimura for not going down, but man was this brutal to watch at times. 4-A poor showing from Katsuhiko Nakamura Genuinely we need to credit Kimura's toughness, but in reality we need to question referee Katsuhiko Nakamura for letting this continue as long as it did. Nakamura could easily have stopped this a minute or so earlier. Kimura barely landed a shot of note after the opening minute of the round and took a genuine hammering until Nakamura stepped in. Either of the flurries with Kimura in the corner, with about a minute of the round left should really have been the end of the fight, but Nakamura left this continue as if he he personally disliked Kimura. It was ugly, and a rare case of a Japanese referee getting it wrong. We understand why he wanted so long, but he really didn't need to. 5-Time for Kimura to hang them up We've mentioned a few times that the ending to the bout was brutal and one sided. It was also thee third straight loss for Kimura, who is now win-less in 4 and has been stopped in back to back bouts. Whilst we were impressed by how tough the 33 year old was this was punishing and for the good of his health we would live to see this be the end for him. He doesn't need to take more punishment, and he doesn't need to take any more beatings like this. Fingers crossed he walks away from the sport now, on the back of a bout that was televised on Fuji TV against one of the brightest Japanese hopefuls at 140lbs. This past weekend we all focused on a show in Las Vegas to watch Naoya Inoue retain his WBA "Super", IBF and "Ring Magazine" Bantamweight titles. Prior to Inoue however the same card had unbeaten Japanese 140lb fighter Andy Hiraoka (16-0, 11) scoring his second win in Las Vegas, where he stopped American Rickey Edwards (12-5, 3) in the 4th round.
On paper this looked a decent bout for unbeaten Hiraoka. After all Edwards, although he had lost a few times, had gone the distance with both Kent Cruz and Mykquan Williams, both well regarded American prospects. It wasn't expected to be a thrilling bout, but we did expect to see Hiraoka being asked some real questions. Sadly it wasn't the test we had hoped for, with Hiraoka making light work of Edwards. Despite the easy nature of the win there was plenty of take aways from the contest. 1-Hiraoka is naturally quick and has some great tools One of the first things that was clear here is that Andy Hiraoka is a naturally quick athletic fighter. He's looks like a natural athlete with quick twitch fibres. His hand speed is impressive, his foot speed is good, which is no surprise given he was a former distance runner, and his upper body movement was quick. He is a natural athlete in the ring, and has those athletic assets that you can't teach someone. He's explosive, fast, big, strong and rangy. 2-Edwards couldn't get Hiraoka's respect From very early on it was clear that Edwards couldn't make Hiraoka take him seriously. Edwards lacked the power to make Hiraoka think twice, and he looked worried very early on. Even when Edwards did land clean he posed little threat to Hiraoka who took things clean with no issues at all. It would have been a much more interesting fight if Edwards did have something to trouble Hiraoka. What didn't help matters was that Edwards was also negative, and never seemed to really sit on his shots either, allowing Hiraoka to relax even more. 3-Hiraoka has a lot of polishing to do Whilst we are impressed by Hiraoka's athletic ability we're unconvinced by his boxing skills. At times he's open, his wide stance could be an issue in the future and he can be countered. It is early days for him still, and he did lack amateur experience, but it's clear that he's a work in progress, he has a lot of polishing to do and his team need to give him bouts that allow him to work on those issues. To develop he needs to be in with better fighters than Edwards, and he needs to be asked questions by opponents. Don't get us wrong, he's a decent boxer, but he's a fantastic athlete. Fingers crossed his boxing skills can, one day, match his athleticism. If that happens he could go a long way. 4-The bout could have been stopped earlier Whilst we are for giving fighters a chance, we do feel like Celestino Ruiz could have stepped in earlier here. The fight probably could have been stopped after the third knockdown of the bout. By then it was clear that Edwards was over-matched, he was doing little, he was showing almost no ambition, and had been down 3 times in around 4 minutes. We know Ruiz was giving Edwards the benefit of the doubt, but he really didn't need to, and it didn't really add anything. Edwards was mentally done by then. It wasn't a bad stoppage by Ruiz, but he could have stopped it earlier and no one would have complained. Especially given Ruiz did count 10 after the third knockdown... 5-"The Bubble" is a very interesting lay out If we're being honest venues are one thing that keep catching our eye in this current climate of boxing, with no or limited fans. The Bubble is one of the most interesting ones, with the lights every where a neon heavy look. It almost looks like it's a party venue or something rather than a boxing venue. Credit to those behind setting it up and is a very unique backdrop for a fight. Though we're not sure whether we really like it. It almost feel too bright, and too light. Like they are dressing up the bout too much, rather than letting the action speak for it's self in the ring. That might just be us though and we might be just a touch old fashioned. A few days ago we shared our Lightweight rankings and confessed that the division was a hard one to really talk about. There was a unified champion, Yuichiro Yoshino, but the rest of the division was a bit of a mess and there was no clarity within it. Things don't get any clearer at 140lbs. In fact Light Welterweight might be an even harder division to rank, but also one of the most interesting with a number of people all banging on the door of big fights.
1-Batyrzhan Jukembayev (18-0-0-2, 14) Unbeaten Canadian based Kazakh contender Batyrzhan Jukembayev is really banging on the door for a world title fight. Although not too well known internationally Jukembayev has ready scored noteworthy wins against the likes of Cosme Rivera, Patricio Lopez Moreno and Miguel Vazquez. A talented boxer puncher, but still a work in progress, Jukembayev is part of the chasing pack wanting a world title fight sooner rather than later. At 29 the Kazakh will be wanting to get back into the swing of things as soon as possible, and certainly doesn't have too much time to waste if he's going to have a solid time at, or around, the top of the sport. He's not old, but he's also no spring chicken. 2-Shohjahon Ergashev (18-0, 16) The most explosive and exciting fighter in this top 10 is the powerful, but technically flawed, Shohjahon Ergashev. The heavy handed American based Uzbek is a fighter who can completely destroy opponents with his left hand, but can also be made to look rather rudimentary and basic by those who can control the action against him. Ergashev burst on the wider scene in 2018, when he dismantled Sonny Fredrickson in a charismatic and thrilling performance, and has notched 7 more wins since then. He looked very human against the awkward Mykal Fox, but absolutely terrifying against Nazareno Gaston Ruiz and more recently Adrian Estrella. The crude dangerman of the division. 3-Shakhram Giyasov (9-0, 7) Another US based unbeaten Uzbek hopeful is 2016 Olympic gold medal winner Shakhram Giyasov. The talented "Wonder Boy" has shown a lot of potential, and looks to be a better boxer than Ergashev, but has got a lot of questions to answer before we move up any further up this list. Although he's a hard hitting boxer-puncher there are defensive holes we've seen from Giyasov and the now 26 year old did not look good against Emanuel Taylor last year. He scored an impressive blow out against Darleys Perez last time out, but still has a lot to prove. We suspect that when Giyasov steps up in class he will impress more than he has so far, but it might be a case of waiting for another year or so before we come close to seeing how good Giyasov really is. 4-Downua Ruawaiking (16-0, 13) Thailand's Downua Ruawaiking, also known as Apinun Khongsong, was preparing for a world title fight before the global situation pout a halt on worldwide boxing. When we come out of this current situation we would expect to see the Thai getting a shot at unbeaten Scottish fighter Josh Taylor. The Thai hasn't got many wins of note on his record, but his 2019 win over Akihiro Kondo in Japan was very impressive and certainly sees him deserving a high ranking here. Although he's not the quickest, he has shown under-rated technical ability, real power and he is much better than many Thai's around this weight. We don't expect him to defeat Taylor, when the two finally clash, but he is certainly among the very best at 140lbs in Asia, and is going to be someone who would be fancied against pretty much everyone in region. 5-Koki Inoue (15-0, 12) The unbeaten Koki Inoue is the "lesser known Inoue", and is the cousin of Naoya and Takuma. Inoue isn't as well established as his two cousins, but is another boxing product of Shingo Inoue and the Ohashi gym. Inoue has proven to be a solid punching boxer-mover who has shown the ability to bang when he wants to, as we saw against Jheritz Chavez last year, and box when he needs to, as we saw against Valentine Hosokawa. At times he's been a bit dull to watch, but there is always a sense of tension with his fights, knowing he can go into another gear as, and when, he chooses. Currently Inoue is the Japanese and WBO Asia Pacific and we see him moving onto the next level sooner, rather than later. 5-Daud Yordan (40-4-0-1, 28) Indonesian veteran Daud Yordan appears to have been around forever, but the former world title contender is still only 32 and his career, which began in 2005, is still very much active. Originally a contender at Featherweight Yordan has seen his body fill out over the last decade and he's now fighting between Lightweight and Light Welterweight. Although not the physically imposing fighter he was lower down the weights he's certainly still a handful and a genuine gatekeeper. His 2018 proved he still deserves to be mentioned here in among the best in Asia, with an excellent win in Russia against Pavel Malikov and a game performance in a loss to Anthony Crolla. Yordan is some way from being world class, but is a definite gatekeeper level fighter. 6-Zhankosh Turarov (24-0, 17) The second Kazakh to make it on to this list is the unbeaten 29 year old "Kazakh Kid" Zhankosh Turarov. The unbeaten Turarov has been a professional for more than a decade but has yet to make a real mark at the top, not help by the fact he spent around 21 months out of the ring from September 2017 to June 2019. Although talented there has, seemingly, been lacking direction and hunger in his career and he really needs some stiffer competition to see what he's really made out of. It'd be great to see Turarov taking on a test this year, but we do wonder if the desire is really there. He was supposed to be in a tournament last year but pulled out with injury and with that in mind we do need to wonder if he's perhaps, maybe, a touch fragile and injury prone. A talent, but one who needs to be questioned and needs to do more, soon. 7-Rikki Naito (22-2, 7) OPBF champion Rikki Naito is in an interesting position. He's clearly a talented boxer who has won the Japanese Super Featherweight title and now holds the OPBF title at 140lbs, but he's a talented boxer with some real issues. We know his stamina isn't great, and he tends to run on fumes in the championship rounds. We know he lacks power, which further makes his lack of stamina and issue, as bouts do go long, and physically he's not the strongest at the weight. Despite those flaws he's fast, very skilled, smart and know how to move around the ring. As with Turarov his ability isn't going to be questioned, but boxing isn't all about ability and we can all see Naito's flaws, so to will future opponents. Jheritz Chavez and Daishi Nagata have pushed Naito all the way, and we suspect any decent regional level fighter will do the same, but he has been finding ways to win! 8-Daishi Nagata (14-2-1, 5) It's hard to know how good 20 year old Japanese fighter Daishi Nagata is. It's clear he can fight, it's clear he's a warrior and his performances against Rikki Naito, in a razor thin loss, and Cristiano Aoqui, in a 2019 win, showed what he could do. Sadly though he's been fairly inconsistent, struggling past the unheralded Min Ho Jung and being battered into submission by Vladimir Baez. When he's on song Nagata could well be a nightmare for those ranked above him, as he was for Naito, but his next bout is likely to be against Inoue and we suspect there will be a clear between the two Japanese fighters when we get around to seeing that one. 9-Andy Hiraoka (15-0, 10) Talented Japanese fighter Andy Hiraoka is someone we should have seen fans talking about internationally back in April. He was pencilled in to fight on the under-card of the now cancelled Naoya Inoue Vs Johnriel Casimero bout and the reality is that he would have got a lot of eye balls on him there. The talented 23 year old is big, strong, tough, fast and has the athletic traits to be a real one to watch in the division, with the potential to quickly outgrow the Asian scene. Despite the athletic ability Hiraoka is still a work in progress and needs to develop the technical skills to go with his athletic tools. We saw Hiraoka make good development last year, and his decision win over Akihiro Kondo was a career best win, but the best is yet to come. 10-Ablaikhan Khussainov (11-0, 8) Rounding off our top 10 is another Kazkh, Ablaikhan Khussainov. Khussainov, like Jukembayev, fought much of his career in Canada but is now based in the US where he is hoping to have a big break through in the near future. The talented Kazakh fought much of his career at Lightweight but his last two bouts have suggested that a move to being a fully fledged Light Welterweight it now on the cards. Although not as proven as the others on this list Khussainov is a good former amateur, who has proven his professional ability around the globe and is clearly ready to be tested. His future may lie at Lightweight but for now we're ranking him at 140lbs, where his 29 year old body may be better, rather than draining the extra 5lbs. We're hoping that when the sport returns in 2020 we see Khussainov in a real test, as we genuinely believe he'll rise to the occasion. On the bubble: Hiroki Okada, Yusuke Konno, Baishanbo Nasiyiwula, Tuguldur Byambatsogt and Hwang Kil Kim |
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