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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 2012 Olympic bronze medal winner Satoshi Shimizu to touted Japanese youngster Ginjiro Shigeoka.
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-Japan's Satoshi Shimizu really made his name in the amateur ranks, where he competed at 2 Olympic games, fighting at the 2008 games in Beijing and the 2012 Olympics in London. His most notable amateur achievement was his Olympic Bronze medal, which he won in London. Interestingly his opponent in the 2012 Olympic semi-final was Englishman Luke Campbell, the eventual Gold medal winner. 2-English fighter Luke Campbell wasn't the only British fighter to win a Gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. In fact Campbell was one of 3 British fighters to achieve the feat along with Nicola Adams and Anthony Joshua. 3-Whilst the Olympic Gold medal at the London Olympics is the defining moment of Anthony Joshua's amateur career it was certainly not the only major triumph he has had in the sport, becoming a multi-time unified Heavyweight champion in the professional ranks. Among his most notable wins was his victory over Joseph Parker, on March 31st 2018. That very same day Kosei Tanaka defeated Ronnie Baldonado in Nagoya. 4-Although well known for winning 3 world titles in just 12 bouts Kosei Tanaka's first title wasn't a world title, but instead the OPBF Minimumweight title, which he won in 2014 when he stopped Ryuji Hara in 10 rounds. Surprisingly the OPBF Minimumweight title has rarely seen a champion dethroned by T/KO, though in 2019 we saw that happen when Lito Dante stopped Tsubasa Koura in the 12th round of their bout. 5-Following his OPBF title win Lito Dante would sit on the sidelines for the better part of a year, until he returned for a non-title bout, almost 9 months after his title win. That non-title bout saw the tough Filipino lose a 6 round decision to the the talented Yudai Shigeoka, who was fighting in just his second professional bout. 6-Although very talented in his own right, as both an amateur and professional, Yudai Shigeoka's career so far has been overshadowed by that of his younger brother, Ginjiro Shigeoka, who is widely tipped to be a mega-star of the future for Japanese boxing.
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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 Chinese world champion Xiong Zhao Zhong to hard hitting Japanese fighter Satoshi Shimizu.
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 2012 Chinese Minimumweight Xiong Zhao Zhong won the WBC Minimumweight title, becoming the first Chinese man to win a world title. Since then he has been followed by several other fighters, including former WBO Flyweight champion Zou Shiming. 2-Despite Zou Shiming not managing to be the break through star that many though he would be for Chinese professional boxing, he was one of the first Chinese fighters to be a star on the amateur ranks, and he really was an amateur star. In fact Shiming was a 2-time Olympic champion and a 3-time World Amateur Champion. Another 3-time World Amateur Champion was Azeri Super Heavyweight Mahammadrasul Majidov. 3-Hard hitting Mahammadrasul Majidov turned professional in 2019, following an excellent amateur career, with his first professional bout coming on September 13th 2019, when he stopped Ed Fountain at Madison Square Garden. Earlier that same day Ryo Sagawa won the Japanese Featherweight title, with a decision win over Reiya Abe in Tokyo. 4-Earlier this year Ryo Sagawa lost the Japanese Featherweight title, in his third defense, when he was stopped in 7 rounds by the highly touted Hinata Maruta. This was a mandatory defense by Sagawa of the title, albeit one that was delayed by almost a year due to the Covid19 pandemic and was supposed to take place in the first half of 2020. 5-The highly skilled Hinata Maruta fights out of the Morioka Gym in Hyogo, a gym that was originally set up by former fighter Eiji Morioka. Sadly however Mr Morioka passed away in 2004 before he got the chance to see Maruta having his success and winning the Japanese title. 6-Before setting up the Morioka Gym Eiji Morioka had a notable career as a fighter. His professional career was a short one, going 6-4 (3) but he was a very good amateur and at the 1968 Olympic games he won a bronze medal at, Bantamweight. Another Japanese fighter who won a Bronze Olympic medal in the Bantamweight division was Satoshi Shimizu, who achieved his feat at the 2012 London Olympics. Earlier this week Ohashi Gym held a show behind closed doors that saw OPBF Featherweight champion Satoshi Shimizu (9-1, 9) take card of business and stop the game but over-matched Kyohei Tonomoto. The win saw Shimizu record his 5th defense of the OPBF title and his first win since December 2018. Whilst we all know what has happened with world in recent months it also needs to be noted that Shimizu suffered quite a serious injury last year, in his loss to Joe Noynay.
With the win under-his-belt and the OPBF title still around his waist we though it would be a great time to look at 5 potential bouts for Shimizu as we return with another in the "Five For" series. This is the series where we take a recent winner and look at 5 match ups that we'd like to see them being involved in. At the moment the boxing world is a bit of a mess, given what's going on but given how things are evolving there's a good chance that a lot of international travel will begin to free up in the next few months, before we'd expect Shimizu to be fighting again. With that in mind we're not going to stick to just Japanese fighters for his next bout, which isn't likely until late October at the earliest. 1-Musashi Mori (11-0, 6) The most obvious of the bouts that we'd like to see Shimizu in is a regional title unification bout between himself and talented youngster Musashi Mori, the current WBO Asia Pacfic champion. The bout has been spoken about by both teams already, and is one that not only the fights want but also their teams. Hideyuki Ohashi, who promotes Shimizu, and Yasuei Yakushiji, who is the man behind Mori, appear to want to set this up. The winner of this would almost certainly be on the verge of a world title fight, and would feel like they have proven themselves as the best in Japan. This is the obvious choice, and the one we like, a lot. 2-Reiya Abe (19-3-1, 9) Whilst Mori would be the ideal choice for Shimizu if he was to take on a Japanese opponent, there are a number of others. We're going to look at two of those, Ryo Sagawa and Hinata Maruta, as they are expected to face off the Japanese national title later in the year but a bout with Reiya Abe would be a very interesting one and one that would see both men needing to answer question. Shimizu would see himself in the ring with a very smart, patient and technical fighter, who would make him pay for missing, and look to create space behind his southpaw jab. As for Abe the bout would see him in with a serious puncher, and force him to answer questions about his chin. We don't expect this one to be made, but we can't help but think this would be a brilliant match up! 3-Mark Magsayo (20-0, 14) Whilst Mori is the obvious choice for Shimizu to move towards a world title fight there would be an interesting option in unbeaten Filipino Mark Magsayo. Although Magsayo doesn't have a regional belt he is very highly regarded boxer who is ranked in the top 15 by all 4 title bodies, which would open up a lot of options for Shimizu down the line. Given Shimizu's age it may be worth keeping the doors open, rather than targetting a particular belt, and this would open up those doors. At least it would if he could beat Magsayo, and that is certainly not a given, with the Filipino having aspirations of his own. To us this is a very interesting bout and one that could tell us a lot about both men. 4-Sakaria Lukas (23-0, 16) If Ohashi can't secure one of the names above it may make sense for them to look at a fighter with an unbeaten record and a very high ranking with one of the title bodies. With that in mind unbeaten Namibian fighter Sakaria Lukas could be a perfect choice. He lacks name value but would likely be a cheap opponent to get over to Japan, where he would be risking his #5 IBF ranking. We're not sure how Lukas has gotten such a high ranking but the option to face a high ranked 36 year old who doesn't appear to have a notable win would surely be an option that Shimizu would consider, given it would almost certainly have him in the mix for a future world title eliminator. Of course Lukas could prove a banana skin, but at 36 what does he have in the tank? 5-Anselmo Moreno (38-6-1, 12) Rather oddly Panama's once sensational Bantamweight Anselmo Moreno is currently a world ranked Featherweight, with the WBA ranking him. If you're part of Shimizu's team the potential to get this bout sorted has to be considered. Moreno is well known in Japan for his two tremendous bouts with Shinsuke Yamanaka, he's a big name, even now at the age of 35, but he isn't a natural Featherweight, he's lost a good couple of steps from being the fighter he once was and he's got a world ranking. In terms of scoring a big win this would be a shrewd and cynical match up, but something that would help get Shimizu some buzz internationally. We see this as very much an outside choice, even more so than a bout with Lukas, but it's not something we're willing to completely rule out.  Over the last few years Japan has gained a reputation for ending the boxing year in style, with major shows in the final few days of the year. Typically those bouts get announced through November, as promoters officially announce the bouts and put their shows together along with major domestic television companies. As we enter November we thought it would be fun to look at some of those rumours for the month, and some of the confirmed bouts, as well as those that have been mentioned as possible, and those on the verge of being officially announced. We'll start by looking at what we know, with the confirmed notable bouts from the month. December 1st is set to be a crazy day with several major shows. In Tokyo we'll get a card televised by G+ which will be headlined by Valentine Hosokawa (23-6-3, 10) defending his Japanese Light Welterweight title against Takashi Inagaki (20-17-2, 9). The card will also feature a brilliant match up between Seiya Tsutsumi (4-0, 3) and Matcha Nakagawa (13-1-1, 5) as well as the ring return of former IBF Super Bantamweight champion Yukinori Oguni (19-2-1, 7) On the same day in Osaka we get two Shinsei Gym cards, featuring a combined 6 title bouts. The shows will be Real Spirits vol 60 and Real Spirits vol 61, with the first card featuring 4 female title bouts, including a WBO female Minimumweight title bout between Kayoko Ebata (12-7, 6) and Etsuko Tada (17-3-2, 5) and an OPBF Atomweight title bout between Eri Matsuda (1-0) and Minayo Kei (6-3, 1). The second card will see former world title challenger Reiya Konishi (16-1, 6) defending the WBO Asia Pacific Light Flyweight title against Richard Rosales (13-7-2, 7) and a potentially thrilling contest between Masao Nakamura (24-3, 23) and Carlo Magali (23-10-3, 12) for the WBO Asia Pacific Super Featherweight title. December 3rd will give us a single big show, headlined by OPBF Featherweight champion Satoshi Shimizu (7-0, 7) and Takuya Uehara (16-0, 10), with a brilliant supporting bout between Hinata Maruta (7-1-1, 6) and Tsuyoshi Tameda (18-3-2, 16), which is one of the bouts we're most looking forward to! On December 9th things get a bit crazy again. We will get a Japanese Welterweight title fight, as Ryota Yada (17-4, 14) defends his belt against Shusaku Fujinaka (16-9-2, 10), and a Japanese Super Flyweight title bout, with Takayuki Okumoto (21-8-3, 10) making his first defense against Masayoshi Hashizume (16-0-1, 10). These bouts have been officially announced and confirmed. The same day we're set to see to see Shohei Omori (19-2, 14) taking on Takahiro Yamamoto (21-5, 17) and Sho Ishida (26-1, 15) taking on Warlito Parrenas (26-8-1, 23). These bouts haven't been formally announced, though teams from both have confirmed they are taking place, and will be at the EDION Arena Osaka. It's unclear if they will share the same card as the other bouts or if the EDION will host another double dose of boxing with two shows. There is also some speculation that if this is a second show there will be one more big bout to add to the card. On December 13th we'll see Japanese Lightweight champion Shuichiro Yoshino (8-0, 6) defending his belt against Kazumasa Kobayashi (10-7-1, 6) at the Korakuen Hall and a week later we'll see Nobuyuki Shindo (20-4-1, 8) and Akinori Watanabe (37-7, 31) fight to unify the Japanese Light Middleweight title. The only other show of real significant that has been confirmed is the Japanese Rookie of the Year final on December 23rd. Nothing after Christmas, but before the start of 2019, has really been announced. But we have had a lot of rumours, speculation for December!  One bout that is supposed to be, finally, made is the long awaited IBF Light Middleweight world title eliminator between Takeshi Inoue (13-0-1, 7) and Julian Williams (25-1-1-1, 15), a bout that has seemingly been delayed, rescheduled and redelayed several times already this year. Fingers crossed this is actually made before the year is over, as it seems both fighters have wasted a lot of this year waiting for this bout to take place. Interestingly this could be the only bout to actually take place outside of Japan.
Another IBF eliminator which is rumoured to take place in December is a Super Bantamweight title eliminator between Ryosuke Iwasa (25-3, 16) and Cesar Juarez (23-6, 17). This bout is supposedly set to take place in Tokyo, though no date has been made public. If this is confirmed then we are in for a treat as these two, together, should be an amazing contest, with both being heavy handed and flawed. Fingers crossed we get this one announced shortly! Staying on the subject of IBF title fights there has been speculation in Japan that Masayuki Kuroda (30-7-3, 16) may get an unexpected shot at Flyweight champion Moruti Mthalane (36-2, 24). This rumour has come about after a scheduled eliminator with Kuroda and Eaktwan BTU Ruaviking fell through after the Thai suffered an injury. Kuroda's seemed to suggest this would be a long shot, but they are chasing the bout and it could, potentially, be on. The first of the rumoured big cards to end the year is expected to be on December 30th and is expected to be the Fuji TV card. The strongest rumour for this show is a WBO Super Featherweight title defense for Masayuki Ito (24-1-1, 12), with the named linked to him being Evgeny Chuprakov (20-0, 10). This bout is expected to be confirmed in the coming days, or at the very least Ito's part of it is, with Chuprakov perhaps not being the opponent. The same date is also pencilled in as a potential date for Kenshiro (14-0, 8) to make his next defense of the WBC Light Flyweight title, though no opponent has been linked to him. The December 30th Fuji card has also been set as the potential date for a WBC Bantamweight title bout between Petch Sor Chitpattana (48-0, 33) and Takuma Inoue (12-0, 3). This bout depends on another bout not taking place, as per an order at the WBC convention in early October, so we should see this bout being either confirmed or not very quickly. There is also a rumour that Takuma's stable mate at the Ohashi gym, Akira Yaegashi (27-6, 15) may also be involved on the same show. If the rumours for December 30th are a bit of an exciting mess things get even crazier for New Year's Eve. For weeks we've been hearing that WBC Minimumweight champion Wanheng Menayothin (51-0, 18) would be defending his title against Shin Ono (23-9-3, 6). This was rumoured to be part of a triple header, which has changed a few times but new seems most likely to feature a rematch between Ryoichi Taguchi (27-3-2, 12) and Hekkie Budler (32-3, 10), with Taguchi looking to reclaim the WBA Light Flyweight title from the South African. Along with that rematch is rumoured WBO Light Flyweight title bout between Angel Acosta (19-1, 19) and Hiroto Kyoguchi (11-0, 8). If this triple header is done, then TBS would be expected to show at least 2 bouts live on their Kyoguken show. Things get more complicated when we consider the other rumours, which include a potential WBO Flyweight world title defense by Kosei Tanaka (12-0, 7). His could be squeezed on TBS as an early bout, or could be used to stack the show to a quadruple header or could end up being only CBC live, with TBS showing it on tape delay. It's really unclear how he fits in, but he will almost certainly be wanting to fight on a year ending show, after missing out on the chance last year due to injury. Last, but certainly not least, is the rumoured WBO Super Flyweight title bout between Kazuto Ioka (23-1, 13) and Donnie Nietes (41-1-5, 23), a bout so big that TBS have seemingly given Ioka the option to take the date and broadcast if he wants it. This was rumoured strongly in September, and Japanese sources were suggesting that it could take place in the Philippines with TBS still airing it live, however the rumours did quieten quickly. It should be noted that Ioka's not been one for leaking news in the past, this could be well in the works. Given how silent things have gone however we may well see this bout being delayed into 2019, potentially as part of the next Superfly card. (Bottom image courtesy of boxmob.jp)  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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