 It's fair to say that the month of August was relatively quiet for Asian fight fans. It wasn't “silent” by any means, but it was certainly quiet with the boxing turning down down during the Olympic period. That silence however ends tomorrow and we move in to a very busy, exciting and active September. With so much action during the month we've decided to try and mark off some key dates for the month with a 3-part article of the upcoming Asian bouts. This is the first of those three parts and briefly covers fights between September 1st and September 12th. September 3rd- Jerwin Ancajas Vs McJoe Arroyo The action kicks off on the first Saturday of the month as Filipino star Jerwin Ancajas (24-1-1, 16) takes on IBF Super Flyweight champion McJoe Arroyo (17-0, 8). The bout will be the first defense by the Puerto Rican fighter, who won the title last year with a technical decision win against Arthur Villanueva. On the other hand Ancajas will be riding an 11 fight stoppage run into what is his first world title bout. September 4th- Naoya Inoue Vs Petchbarngborn Kokietgym Just a day after the IBF Super Flyweight title be we see the WBO version of the title being fought for as Naoya Inoue (10-0, 8) looks for his third defense of the title. The “Monster” will be battling against Thai veteran Petchbarngborn Kokietgym (38-7-1, 18) in what looks like a straight forward defense for the champion. Whilst Inoue will be strongly favoured the Thai isn't travelling to just pick up a pay cheque and will instead be looking for one of the biggest upsets of the year. Takuma Inoue Vs Froilan Saludar On the same show on September 4th we will have several other bouts of note, including a mouth watering test for youngster Takuma Inoue (7-0, 2), who takes on Froilan Saludar (23-1-1, 14). This is a genuinely tough test for Inoue, who goes up against a man many tipped a few years ago to win a world title. Saludar knows that a loss here could be the end of his career whilst Inoue knows a win will help open the door to a world title fight either later this year or early next year. Koki Inoue vs Heri Andriyanto A third Inoue in action on September 4th is Koki Inoue (4-0, 3) who takes a step up in class as he faces Indonesian veteran Heri Andriyanto (22-22-2, 10) in an 8 round bout. The talented and exciting Inoue hasn't set the world on fire yet but has shown real potential and a win here against Andriyanto may be able to push him towards a domestic title fight. For the visitor the bout is likely to be painful but he's certainly proven his toughness in the past. Satoshi Shimizu vs In Kyoo Lee Still staying on that September 4th 4th card we'll finally see the professional debut of Satoshi Shimizu (0-0) who goes up against Korean visitor In Kyoo Lee (3-2, 1). The Japanese debutant is 30 years old and is expected to be fast tracked to the top so will almost certainly be looking to look fantastic here. But Lee is no push over and won't be travelling to just fall over in front of the 2012 Olympic Bronze medal winner.  September 9th-
Keita Obara Vs Eduard Troyanovsky One of the most interesting bouts this month takes place in Russia and sees Japanese puncher Keita Obara (16-1-1, 15) battle against IBF Light Welterweight champion Eduard Troyanovsky (24-0, 21). The bout hasn't got much attention but looks almost certain to be a war between two massive punchers each looking to score a career defining win. We don't see this one going the distance but it will be fire works from start to end and should be a bit of a hidden gem. September 10th- Kenichi Ogawa vs Kento Matsushita The month really steps up on September 10th, a day where an avid fan gets the chance to watch hours, and hours, of fights. The first of the many title bouts featuring Asian fighters takes place in Japan and sees Japanese Super Featherweight champion Kenichi Ogawa (18-1, 15) defending his title against veteran Kento Matsushita (34-9-7, 13). The bout should be a straight forward defense for the champion but he did look poor last time out before stopping Satoru Sugita. Johnriel Casimero vs Charlie Edwards The first of a number of world title fights involving an Asian fighter will see Filipino fighter Johnriel Casimero (22-3, 14) defending his IBF Flyweight title against unbeaten British novice Charlie Edwards (8-0, 3) in London. On paper this looks like an opportunity that has come too for Edwards however it's good to see Western fighters on the fast track and testing themselves against world class fighters like Casimero rather than padding their records. Gennady Golovkin vs Kell Brook Staying in London we'll also see a battle of unbeaten men trading blows for the Middleweight crown, as well as the WBC, IBF and IBO titles. The bout in question will see Kazakh star Gennady Golovkin (35-0, 32) taking on British fighter, and IBF Welterweight champion, Kell Brook (36-0, 25). Golovkin will be heavily favoured though some have suggested that this could be Golovkin's hardest bout so far and it could well open real doors in the UK for “GGG”. Jesus Soto Karass vs Yoshihiro Kamegai II Potentially the Fight of the Month is rematch as Japan's popular Yoshihiro Kamegai (26-3-2, 23) battles against Jesus Soto Karass (28-10-4, 18). These two men faced off in an all out war earlier this year and we're expecting something similar here with the two men both having styles which will always be fun to watch. Kamegai seemed to do enough to claim a win in their first bout, but the judges disagree and we'd not be shocked to see both putting it all out there for the win here. Carlos Cuadras vs Roman Gonzalez In a rare all-Teiken bout we'll see WBC Super Flyweight champion Carlos Cuadras (35-0-1, 27) defending his belt against pound-for-pound sensation Roman Gonzalez (45-0, 38). For Caudras the bout is great chance to legitimise his world title reign, which has been disappointing so far, whilst Gonzalez will be looking to become a 4-weight world champion. The bout is a rare title bout between unbeaten fighters and we can't help but be excited by this one. September 11th- Genesis Servania vs Alexander Espinoza Action continues through Japan for much of the much and on September 11th fans in Ishikawa will get the chance to see world ranked Filipino Genesis Servania (27-0, 11) take on the heavy handed Alexander Espinoza (11-7, 10). Servania has had a frustrating career recently with inactivity, fighting only twice last year and not fighting this year, but will have to be careful here against a big punching Venezuelan who has gone the world distance with two former world champions. Given the activity during the month part will be posted in the upcoming days and feature bouts from the 12th of September and onwards, including several world title bouts, the first of the WBO Asia Pacific title bouts to be held in Japan and a lot more!
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 We have to say that January 2015 was one of the least memorable starts to the year that we can remember, in a very long time. Thankfully however things get under-way properly in February and here are the bouts that we suspect will be the highlights.
WBC Minimumweight Title Fight [February 5th] The month kicks off in style as Thai boxing get it's first world title fight of the year. That fight will see WBC Minimumweight champion Wanheng Menayothin (36-0, 12) defending against unbeaten Filipino fighter Jeffrey Galero (11-0, 5). This bout looks a bit like a mismatch, given the competition Galero has faced so far, though we did see Wanheng step up big time last year and Galero may well feel he can do the same in his first world title shot. Pinoy Pride 29 [February 7th] The first major Filipino show of the year closes out the first week of February and although there are no world title bouts on the card there are 3 highly ranked Filipinos, and a former world champion all in action. The stand out fighter in action is Genesis Servania (25-0, 11) who is one of the most naturally talented Filipinos currently making his name on the boxing scene. Servania, who is very highly ranked in the Super Bantamweight division, is expecting to get a world title fight later this year though will have to get past Juan Luis Hernandez (17-3-1, 9) on this show first. Another man who will need to record a win if he's to get a chance at a world title somewhere down the line is Jason Pagara (34-2, 21), the older brother of the monstrously talented Albert Pagara. Pagara will be taking on Cesar Chavez (24-7, 12) and a win here us likely to lead him to a big bout in the US, though a loss will set him back big time. Talking about a man who cannot bare to take a loss right now it's fair to say that Arthur Villanueva (26-0, 14) cannot even think about losing. Ranked #3 by the WBO at Super Flyweight Villanueva has a lot to lose and little to gain as he takes on former WBO Flyweight champion Julio Cesar Miranda (38-11-2, 29). Miranda needs a win to keep his career alive and Villanueva needs a win to open up a chance at getting a world title fight later this year. It's fair to say that this is the most important bout of the day, by some margin. On the same day, albeit in Japan, we see the return to the ring of former WBC and Lineal Flyweight champion Toshiyuki Igarashi (19-2-1, 11) who fights against Mexico's Efrain Perez (17-5, 12) in what looks to be a must win bout for the Japanese fighter. On paper this looks like an easy win however Perez is a gutsy fighter who will almost certainly bring the best out of Igarashi in what could be a very tough 10 rounds for the Japanese southpaw who had only 9 rounds of action in the last 17 months. DANGAN 121 [February 9th] We get the first Japanese title fight of the year on February 9th as unbeaten men collide in a really enticing looking contest of speed and skills for the Japanese Super Featherweight title. Going into the bout the champion is the much touted Rikki Naito (11-0, 5) however his challenger is the equally as touted Masayuki Ito (16-0-1, 7) and the winner will almost certainly emerge as yet another Japanese Super Featherweight to keep an eye on. With both men being in their early 20's a loss isn't a major set back though neither will be wanting anything but a win in a contest that just looks a little bit special Legend Fight Vol 3 [February 18th] We've been fans of Ryosuke “Eagle Eye” Iwasa (18-1, 11) for a long time and finally he's getting his shot at the big time as he battles in an IBF Eliminator against American fighter Sergio Perales (24-2, 16). It's hard to see anything but a win for Iwasa here who will move towards a world title fight with Randy Caballero if he comes out on top here. Iwasa has been patiently waiting for a shot a world title and we suspect he'll be fully prepared for what is certainly the most important bout of his career so far. Earnest Efforts 3 [February 19th] Just a day after we get a world title eliminator we get a world title double. The key bout here is an all-Japanese bout for the IBF Light Flyweight title as Naoko Shibata (13-3, 4) battles against Saemi Hanagata (9-5-2, 4) in what looks like to be a really intriguing battle of wills. Shibata, entering as the champion, will be looking to record her 3rd defence of the title whilst Hanagata will be hoping to claim her first world crown. On the same show the legendary WBC Atomweight champion Momo Koseki (19-2-1, 6) will be hoping to keep her record setting run going as she hunts title defence #15. Rough, tough and a real handful it's hard to see anyone at 102lbs beating Koseki and we can't see Aisah Alico (5-4, 5) even coming close to beating her here. Thunderbolt [February 21st] The always exciting Gennady Golovkin (31-0, 28) returns to the ring for his first bout of 2015 and looks to defend his WBA “super”, IBO and WBC interim Middleweight titles against the touted Martin Murray (29-1-1, 12) of the UK. Murray is seen as being one of Golovkin's toughest tests so far and is expected to give him a tough bout however Golovkin does carry a sensational run of 18 straight stoppages and it's hard to see Murray ending that run which dates back more than 6 years! Wake Vs Paypa-OPBF Title Fight [February 27th] In Asia the last fight of note comes from Japan where the world ranked Shingo Wake (17-4-2, 10) attempts to defend his OPBF Super Bantamweight title for the 5th time. Wake will be battling against Filipino challenger Jimmy Paypa (16-2-1, 6) in a bout that was originally penciled in, though never formally announced, for December 30th 2014. It's thought that a win here for Wake will put him into a world title fight in Summer. Loreto Vs Joyi II-The Rematch [February 28th] In 2014 we saw a major shock as the then unheralded Rey Loreto (19-13, 11) knocked out the highly regarded South African Nkosinathi Joyi (24-3-0-1, 17). Not only did Loreto shock the boxing world with the win but he also claimed the IBO Light Flyweight title and left fans around the world talking about him. Sadly the momentum of that win faded however the memory hasn't and the two will get it on again to close out February 2015. We suspect Joyi will be more aware of the man he is up against whilst Loreto will know a win here could take him on to a “real” world title fight later in the year. (Image courtesy of www.sportsviewlondon.com)  One thing we all do with fighters is look at their records. I don't mean the who, when, where and how but the raw numbers, the wins, losses, draws and KO's. For some foolish reason we repeatedly think that these numbers tells us about a fighter, we think a fighter with a lot of wins is automatically great and a fighter with a number of losses is bad. We think that a fighter who has a lot of KO's is a power puncher and a go with a lesser number of KO's is feather fisted. Usually these numbers do tell us a lot, of course they do, but all too often they are misleading and tell us a lot, lot less than we may think and funnily enough we see this coming back to bite us in previews, in general articles and as fans. It's funny that no matter how many times we see an upset we still fail to spot how these records are so misleading and, more often than not, it can make us look rather silly and completely blow apart our predictions. There is no country out there with such misleading records as the Philippines. The country has numerous talented fighters with less than impressive records whilst other fighters have records that are more padded than anything else. These two groups make up the "misleading Filipinos" a huge group of fighters.  "Better than they are" The key group, for me, are those that are better than their record indicates. These are the fighters who have suffered a lot of losses though are genuinely talented fighters capable of giving more established foes a very tough test, if not scoring a major upset here and there. One of the most obvious examples is the WBC ranked Flyweight Rey Megrino (21-20-3, 17). If you just looked at Megrino's "numbers" you'd assume he was rubbish, he was never going to be much more than a journeyman and in fact he's never score any sort of win of note. The truth however is much different to what you'd assume. Megrino turned professional back in 2005 aged just 19. On his debut he lost to Roderick Agong and after 3 fights he was 1-2, after 15 fights he was an appalling 6-8-1. If that happened anywhere else on the planet we'd write a fighter off as a lost cause, a man likely to be little more than a domestic journeyman. What we have to remember however is that Megrino, at the point, was taking fights on a week or so's notice, and often against more experienced foes or those who were viewed as either going places or already having gone places, such as Kaichon Sor Vorapin, Fernando Lumacad and Pongsaklek Wonjongkam. Things continued to be relative poor for Megrino for another few years as he record fell to 12-15-2 after 29 fights and 15-20-3 after 38. Most would have accepted their place in the sport as being nothing more than a domestic level fighter though Megrino knew he had thunderous power, when he was winning he was often winning by KO. Amazingly though Megrino wasn't just losing to domestic scrubs but was actually losing to very good fighters like Sonny Boy Jaro, Nawaphon Por Chokchai, and Pungluang Sor Singyu. Those losses were marking up his record but few were looking at his actual performances which were often much better than one would suspect of someone with his record with the loss to Nawaphon being a narrow decision loss in Thailand. Surprisingly Megrino has stayed with the sport and has won his last 6 bouts scoring genuinely notable victories over Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, Myung Ho Lee and, the then unbeaten, Ernesto Saulong. Just looking at his record it may be amazing to consider this but Megrino has beaten numerous world class opponents such as Denver Cuello, Ratanapol Sor Vorapin and Wonjongkam. On the opposite side he has lost to Wonjongkam, Paipharob Kokietgym, Denkaosan Kokietgym, Tepparith Kokietgym and Sonny Boy Jaro, all of whom have held world titles. Currently ranked #9 by the WBC Megrino has a real chance to fight for a world title and at just 28 years old it's very likely he has the time to wait for that opportunity.  Whilst Megrino is arguably the best example of a Filipino fighter having a misleading record he's not the only one, and not even the only notable one. Another, that made the headlines this year, is Rey Loreto (18-13, 10) who debuted at just 17 years old with 4 straight loss. In the past year Loreto has scored back-to-back victories over former world champions in the form of Pornsawan Porpramook and Nkosinathi Joyi. Those victories have turned Loreto from unknown journeyman to world ranked title contender who is seen as being a top 15 fighter by the IBF, WBA and WBC. Another is the Filipino "Cinderella man" Gerpaul Valero (17-14-3, 11), pictured, who has managed to turn around from 5-13-3 start to becoming a top 30 Flyweight, according to the IWBR and Boxrec. Valero, like Megrino and Loreto, has scored a major upset in recent fights, out pointing former WBC and Linear Flyweight champion Sonny Boy Jaro. The victory over Jaro might be the only "stand out" win on Valero's record but it is a major one and one that could well help him move towards a genuine world ranking. One final example of a "better than they look" record that we'd like to mention is Richard Pumicpic (14-6-2, 4) who is best known for 2 bouts he fought in Japan. The first of those saw him fighting to a draw with Yohei Tobe, who has since gone on to claim the Japanese Super Flyweight title. At the time of the Tobe bout Pumicpic was 11-5-1 with his most notable wins being his preceding bouts which saw him beating Ratchasak Kokietgym and Rex Olisa. More recently Pumicpic returned to Japan and gave the very highly regarded Ryosuke Iwasa a very tough fight when Iwasa narrowly retained his OPBF Bantamweight title. Although currently unranked we are certain that Pumicpic will, one day, make a mark on the world stage.  "Worse than they are" Whilst many fighters from the Philippines are better than their records indicate there are also some with records that make them look significantly better than they are. One example of that is Lorenzo Villanueva (25-1-0-1, 22), pictured, who looks like a monster on paper though hasn't actually beaten a fighter of note. In fact from his 27 professional bouts his most significant win is probably his 10 round decision over the incredibly tough Jamie Barcelona. In his 27 fights Villanueva has stepped up once and was stopped in a thrilling contest by Duad Cino Yordan in just 2 rounds. Talking about Villanueva his name sake Arthur Villanueva (25-0, 14) is also not as good as his record indicates, though he is a capable fighter. "King" Arthur isn't as good as his record indicates and in fact he has been fortunate to keep his unbeaten record in fact with very narrow wins over Mark Anthony Geraldo, Jeffrey Cera, Taiki Eto and Fernando Aguilar. Whilst he does have good wins over Megrino and Marco Demecillo there is enough reason to be suspicious about whether or not he should really be 24-0 or not. One final fighter that I want to mention is Lightweight prospect Roskie Cristobal (7-0, 7). On paper Cristobal looks like a great prospect, and from looking at him as a physical specimen he does look a bit like one to keep an eye on. He's a 5'10" Lightweight who, from his record, would look like he has power and real potential. Unfortunately we have no idea how good he is due to his competition which saw far has been awful. Between his 7 opponents they have had a combined record of 3-21-0, with 3 debutants and 2 other win-less fighters. It's a shame that such an interesting prospect is being matched this lightly but it does appear that either his team wants to protect him or they know he's going to be a long term project, sadly however we can't imagine he's learning much from his current bouts and they aren't helping him in the long term.  Of course not every Filipino has a misleading record. Most are, like fighters from other countries, spot on and accurate. There is no doubting, for example, Donnie Nietes who has earned his very good record, in fact you could make a solid argument for him being undefeated, or Genesis Servania, pictured, who has really developed into a sensational young fighter.
What it comes down to however is a number of things. Firstly the fighter themselves, some are naturally blessed with talent that they work on to improve and thus pick up the wins in their early fights. Secondly the promotional situation of the fighter. Some are lucky that their promotional backer can "help" them get the wins in close fights, as seen in the case Arthur Villanueva who has probably escaped with a win or two due to his relationship with ALA gym. Thirdly is the opposition. In the case of Megrino this has worked against him in regards to his record, a lot, whilst in the case of Cristobal his level of competition has certainly helped bolster his record even though it is seriously padded. Finally, and maybe most importantly, is the attitude of a fighter. Someone with a record like Megrino could have given up but he believed in himself, he believed he could do something in this sport and will continue to try and reach the top. We've seen a lot of cases where a fighter goes unbeaten for a long time then lose and give up mentally, for example Naseem Hamed. We're not going to suggest that if "King" Arthur or Cristobal lost they'd leave the sport but for a fighter to lose a lot and continue on with the sport is impressive and for that I have the utmost respect for the likes of Loreto, Valero, Pumicpic and Megrino all of whom are a credit to the sport and the perfect examples of a fighters mentality. (Images courtesy of boxrec.com) |
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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