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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 Filipino former world champion Dodie Boy Penalosa to former Indonesian world title contender Angky Angkotta.
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-During his career Dodie Boy Penalosa became a 2-weight world champion winning the IBF Light Flyweight and IBF Flyweight titles in the 1980's. In fact Penalosa was the Inaugural IBF Light Flyweight champion, stopping Satoshi Shingaki in 1983 to win the title in Osaka. On the same show that Penalosa won the IBF Light Flyweight title South Korean fighter Ju Do Chun won the IBF Super Flyweight title. 2-During his reign as the IBF Super Flyweight champion Ju Do Chun ran up 5 defenses of the title which stood as a record for most defenses in a reign until very recently. The 5 defenses figure was matched by Robert Quiroga and Julio Cesar Boboa but wasn't broken until 2018, when Jerwin Ancajas recorded his 6th defense of the belt. 3-Filipino "Pretty Boy" Jerwin Ancajas is best known for his long and lengthy reign as the IBF Super Flyweight champion. For much off his career he was a relative unknown, fighting on low key shows in the Philippines and occasionally in China. His international debut came in 2011 when he faced off with Chinese fighter Jing Xiang, who was 1-0 at the time. 4-The highly skilled, but feather fisted, Jing Xiang has had a criminally over-looked career, with several other Chinese fighters overshadowing him. Despite that he has scored a number of very notable wins, including victories over Ben Mananquil, and former world champions Merlito Sabillo and Kompayak Porpramook. 5-In 2011 Thailand's Kompayak Porpramook became the WBC Light Flyweight champion, beating Adrian Hernandez in arguably that year's Fight of the Year. For fans who haven't seen it, it needs to be watched, and it was a 10 round nail biting, action thriller well worthy of anyone's time. Sadly however Kompayak would lost the title in his second defense, in a rematch with Hernandez. His only successful defense of the title was a controversial technical decision win over Jonathan Taconing. The only other man to defend that title with a technical decision win was Jorge Arce, way back in 2003. 6-During his excellent, and other thrilling, career Jorge Arce fought a relative who's who, of who. Included in the long, long line of fighters Arce beat is Indonesian fighter Angky Angkotta, who Arce beat twice, first in 2010 and secondly in 2011.
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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 Korean world champion Min Keun Oh to former 2-weight world champion Dodie Boy Penalosa of the Philippines
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-Korean fighter Min Keun Oh was moved quickly after turning professional and quickly won the IBF Featherweight title less than 4 years after his debut. Interestingly his debut, an 8 round decision win against Cesar Ligan, was on August 8th 1980. That was actually on a card that was headlined by the then OPBF Middleweight champion Chong Pal Park, who stopped Peter Piamonte to retained the OPBF title. 2-Following his OPBF title reign the big punching Chong Pal Park went on to make a mark at world level, and was one of the big stars of the Super Middleweight division. At Super Middleweight he had a very solid and notable reign as the IBF Super Middleweight champion, before later winning the WBA title. Another man who would later go on to win the IBF Super Middleweight title is American fighter Caleb Plant. 3-"Sweethands" Caleb Plant was born on July 8th 1992, on that very same day Chokchai Chockvivat was in action in Bangkok, where defeated Rojanadej Sor Thassanee to retain the Thai Flyweight title, for the first time. This win saw the then 24 year old Chokchai move to 14-1 (4) and it was an 11th straight win for the Thai Fly. 4-After defending the Thai title Chokchai Chockvivat went on to win the OPBF Flyweight title, taking the title in 1993. After defending it 8 times Chokchai travelled over to the Philippines to defend it against a then unknown 18 year old Manny Pacquiao, who completely decimated the then 29 year old Chokchai in 5 rounds, giving the Thai only his third career defeat, and his second stoppage loss. Interestingly Pacquiao would defend the title twice himself before travelling over to Thailand to win his first world title, the WBC Flyweight title, with an upset win over Chatchai Sasakul. 5-In the years that follow his OPBF title win Filipino fighter Manny Pacquiao went from unknown to boxing sensation, and one of the most well known sporting talents of his generation. A hero to the Philippines and one of the most fan friendly fighters in recent years. A lot of his late career success was put down to Freddie Roach, who developed Pacquiao from a crude but physically impressive 1-handed young Filipino to becoming a whirling dervish in the ring and a true sensation. Of course Pacquiao isn't the only Filipino Roach has worked with, with another being the often under-rated Gerry Penalosa. 6-The incredibly skilled Gerry Penalosa was one of a number of talented fighters from the Penalosa family. Others included his father, Carl Penalosa, along with Gerry's two brothers Jon Penalosa and Dodie Boy Penalosa! 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 multi-time Japanese title challenger fighter Yuichi Kasai to former Korean world champion Min Keun Oh
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-Former multi-time world title challenger Yuichi Kasai began his professional career on August 12th 1989 with an opening round TKO win over Unchain Kaji at Korakuen Hall. That very same day future American star Shane Mosley picked up a win, over in Puerto Rico, in the World Junior Championships, stopping Mohamas Hassen Ali in the Lightweight division. 2-During his long and successful professional boxing career American star Shane Mosely faced a genuine who's who of who. Reading through his record makes it clear that he faced pretty much anyone who in, or around the his weight classes. Among the many great fighters he faced was Filipino hero Manny Pacquiao, who gave Mosley his 7th professional loss back in 2011. 3-Much, much earlier in his career Manny Pacquiao defeated Mexican fighter Gabriel Mira, stopping Mira in 4 rounds, after using Mira like a human yo-yo. The Mexican showed his guts and determination in the bout, but was dropped repeatedly during the 4 round massacre at the Araneta Coliseum. Interestingly this was Pacquiao's only successful defense of the WBC Flyweight title, with the Filipino icon losing the title on the scales less than 5 months later. 4-Whilst Gabriel Mira was embarrassed by the sensational Pacquiao it is worth being aware of the fact Mira wasn't a bad fighter. In fact he earned his WBC world title fight by out pointing talented Korean Young Soon Jang in 1998 and had previously won the WBC International Super Flyweight title. Another man who held that title was Thai fighter Oleydong Sithsamerchai, who actually made 8 defenses of the belt from 2011 to 2014. 5-At his best Oleydong Sithsamerhcai was a very talented Minimumweight, and he had a solid reign as the WBC Minimumweight champion before losing the title to a young Japanese sensational called Kazuto Ioka. Interestingly Oleydong, also known as Kittipong Jaigrajang, made his debut on September 6th 2002, the very same day that Orlando Salido defeated Carlos Gerena in Texas. A win that would help move Salido on to bigger and better things. 6-Among those bigger and better things for Orlando Salido was a reign as the IBF Featherweight champion, which he won in 2010 with a win over Cristobal Cruz. That was a title previously held by Korean Min Keun Oh. In fact Oh was the inaugural champion winning the belt in 1984 with a KO win against Joko Arter. 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 Korean world champion Soo Hwan Hong to former Japanese fighter Yuichi Kasai.
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-During his lengthy career Korean warrior Soo Hwan Hong held two world titles. The first of those was the WBA Bantamweight title before later becoming the inaugural WBA Super Bantamweight champion. Another fighter who later held the WBA title at 122lbs was Ryol Li Lee. Interestingly not only did the two men hold the same world title but both won the belt in results that were regarded upsets, with Hong beating Hector Carrasquilla in a legendary bout in Panama and Lee upsetting the brilliant Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym. 2-The talented Ryol Li Lee is one of the more forgotten recent world champions from Japan, only holding his world title for a matter of months before losing it to Akifumi Shimoda. Earlier in his career however he was regarded as a genuine prospect and in May 2006 he defeated Tomo Tanaka in an 8 round bout, in what was Lee's 4th professional contest. On that very same show Valentine Hosokawa made his debut, fighting to a draw with Yoshinori Kanzaki. 3-After drawing on debut Valentine Hosokawa went on to have a genuinely solid career. Whilst his crowing glory was a Japanese national title he also went on to challenge for the OPBF title, losing in a thrilling war with touted Korean Min Wook Kim in 2013. That was when Kim was regarded as the bright new hope of Korean boxing, and the man those in Korea hoped they could build behind. 4-As mentioned Min Wook Kim was a former OPBF champion, in fact he was a former OPBF champion at 140lbs, , with the Korean making 4 defenses of the belt. Another man who once held that title was Takeshi Fuji, who also went on to become one of the first Japanese world champions. 5-We mentioned that Takeshi Fuji was a former world champion, in fact he managed to hold both the WBA and WBC titles at 140lbs back in the 1960's. He was also one of the handful of champions trained by the legendary Eddie Townsend, who was one of the most notable trainers in Japanese boxing history. 6-Prior to becoming a trained Eddie Townsend was himself a talented fighter, though one who never managed to progress to the big time. Another fighter turned trainer, and in fact another man who had more success as a trainer than a fighter, was Yuichi Kasai, who used to be one of the top trainers at the Teiken gym. 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 Japanese star Naoya Inoue to former 2-weight world champion Soo Hwan Hong.
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-Japanese star Naoya Inoue is one of the biggest names in Japanese boxing, and one of the true Asian stars of the sport. Since turning professional his career has been guided by former professional fighter Hideyuki Ohashi, the Chairman of the Ohashi Gym. 2-Before setting up the Ohashi Gym Hideyuki Ohashi was a pretty successful fighter himself, winning the WBC and WBA Minimumweight titles and facing some true legends of the sport, including Jung Koo Chang and Ricardo Lopez. Ohashi's in ring career came to an end after his 24th fight, a close decision loss to Thailand's Chana Porpaoin. 3-When he beat Ohashi in 1993 Chana Porpaoin moved to 27-0 and would later amass an excellent record of 53-4-5 (19). Chana's journey to becoming a 2-time world champion began in 1988 and he debuted as a professional boxer on May 23rd 1988. That was the same day that Rocky Lin made his professional debut. 4-The talented Rocky Lin, the most successful fighter from Taiwan, had a solid 28 fight career, going 26-2 (11) and fighting some genuinely notable names, such as Ricardo Lopez and Wandee Singwancha. His career ended with his loss to Wandee Singwancha, on August 23rd 1998. Another man who lost on that show was Hiroyuki Sakamoto, who suffered a decision loss to Cesar Bazan in a WBC Lightweight title fight. 5-Despite the fact Hiroyuki Sakamoto failed to win a world title, losing in 4 different world title fights, he was a solid fighter, with dangerous power and managed to win both the Japanese and OPBF Lightweight titles during his often thrilling and dramatic career. Another man who won both the Japanese and OPBF Lightweight titles was Orzubek Nazarov, who also went on to win the WBA world title. 6-Interestingly Orzubek Nazarov is one of the very, very few Asian fighters to win a world title whilst fighting on the road, in South Africa. Nazarov won the WBA Lightweight title by beating Dingaan Thobela in Johannesburg. Another Asian to win a world title over in South Africa was South Korean fighter Soo Hwan Hong, who dethroned Arnold Taylor, to claim the WBA Bantamweight title in Durban. 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 Thai world champion Veraphol Sahaprom, to Japanese star Naoya Inoue.
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-Former 2-time Bantamweight champion Veeraphol Sahaprom had a genuinely excellent professional boxing career, going a stellar 66-4-2 (46) during his time in the sport, which ran from 1994 to 2010. During his career he was stopped 3 times with the final one of those stoppages coming in 2008, when he was stopped in 4 rounds by South African fighter Vusi Malinga, in what would actually be Sahaprom's final loss in professional boxing. 2-The talented Vusi Malinga was one of the more notable South African fighters of his era, fighting some of the top fighters in and around the Bantamweight. They included Sahaprom, Hozumi Hasegawa, Leo Santa Cruz, Stuart Hall and Gavin McDonnell. Sadly he failed to pick up a world title but did pick up a number of minor titles, including the WBC International Bantamweight title, a belt that was also held by Thailand's Rocky Chitalada. 3-The hard hitting Rocky Chitalada racked up an impressive 16-3 (15) record during his short career, that spanned from 1985 to 1988. On the same card as Rocky's debut fans also saw the criminally under-rated Noree Jockeygym, aka Visan Thummong. Sadly it wasn't a day to remember for Noree, who suffered his first career loss on the show. 4-One of the most remarkable fights featuring Noree Jockeygym saw him travel over to Japan and suffer a loss to the then rising Japanese star Naoto Takahashi, with Takahashi looking a beaten man in round 2 before turning things around in round 3. Notably the two men would rematch the following year, with Noree exacting revenge over Takahashi, who looked shot fighter in their rematch. 5-Although not a well known fighter in the West Naoto Takahashi was one of the most popular Japanese fighters in the mid-to late 1980's and early 1990's. He was known as the "Prince of the Reversal", due to his amazing comebacks, but sadly his career was cut short due to a brain injury suffered in 1991. After his in ring career was over Takahashi worked with Jyoji Morikawa at the JB Sports gym. That's the same Jyoji Morikawa who created the brilliant Hajime No Ippo series, and in fact based a character on Takahashi! 6-In recent years Jyoji Morikawa has continued his success with Hajima No Ippo, the JB Sports gym and has also had his art work featured on the front cover of Ring Magazine. That Ring magazine cover was actually a Morikawa drawn piece of Naoya Inoue that he did in 2019, in one of the most unique Ring magazaine covers of all time. 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 Thai great Veeraphol Sahaprom.
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-Before turning professional and winning a world title Akinobu Hiranaka was a solid amateur and competed at the 1984 Olympics, as a Welterweight. Another fighter who competed in the same division at the same Olympics was Indonesian fighter Francisco Lisboa. 2-It's fair to say that Francisco Lisboa isn't a particularly well known fighter, though he did manage to do quite a few notable things, including getting international experience in the US, Japan and South Korea and won the OPBF Light Middleweight title in 1988 with an upset win over Carlos Elliot. In one of his final bouts, in 1991, he faced Young Kil Jung. 3-Korean fighter Young Kil Jung is likely known by international fans for 2 bouts. The first is his 1988 loss to Lloyd Honeyghan, where he was KO'd off a low blow, and the second was his 1989 bout with Marlon Starling, which he lost by wide decision. Prior to those bouts he had held both the Korean and OPBF titles at Welterweight, before later claiming the OPBF title at 154lbs. He lost that title after 6 defenses, the same number of defenses that Tadashi Mihara had managed between 1979 and 1981. 4-On November 7th 1981 Tadashi Mihara did something very few Japanese fighters have ever done, won a world title at 154lbs. He claimed that title by narrowly out pointing Rocky Fratto over 15 rounds. The previous Japanese fight to claim a world title at the weight was Maashi Kudo, in 1979. 5-It's fair to stated that Masashi Kudo is the second most successful Japanese fighter at 154lbs, behind Koichi Wajima, and during his reign as the WBA champion he managed to record 3 world title defenses. Before winning the world title he had also notched up 8 defenses of the Japanese Middleweight title, between 1975 and 1978. Since his reign only 1 man has recorded more defenses of the Japanese Middleweight title than Kudo, and that was Satoru Suzuki, who notched 9 defenses. 6-During his Japanese title reign most of Satoru Suzuki's defenses came at Korakuen Hall. One of the ones that didn't was his 4th defense, which saw him scoring a 2nd round KO win against Naoki Kawahara at the Arena in Yokohama. In the main event of that show fans saw Thailand's Veeraphol Sahaprom successfully retain the WBC Bantamweight title, with a draw against Toshiaki Nishioka. 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 Indonesian world champion Nico Thomas to former Japanese world champion 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-Former Indonesian world champion Nico Thomas was born on June 10th 1966, that same day fight fans in Australia saw legendary Aussie Johnny Famechon fight to a draw with Domenico Chiloiro, in what was their fourth and final bout. 2-In 1969 Johnny Famcechon faced off with Fighting Harada in the first of two bouts between the two men. This bout was famously scored a draw by former Featherweight great Willie Pep, who held the Featherweight title through much of the 1940's and into 1950. 3-Another bout that Willie Pep served as a referee in was the 1962 OPBF Lightweight title bout between Gabriel "Flash" Elorde and Somkiat Kiatmuangyom, which saw Elorde retain the title with a 3rd round TKO win over his Thai challenger. 4-Filipino legend Gabriel "Flash" Elorde was one of the true legends of boxing and one of the most successful Filipino fighters in the history of the sport. His career spanned 20 years, beginning in 1951 and ending in 1971 and among the many fighters he fought was Korean warrior Kang Il Suh, who he scored two close decision wins against. 5-Although an often forgotten fighter Kang Il Suh was one of the best Korean fighters to never win a world title. Among the many notable opponents faced were Elorde, Yoshiaki Numata, Rene Barrientos, Raul Rojas, Hiroshi Kobayashi and Mando Ramos. In fact Suh gave Ramos his first professional loss in 1967! 6-The memorable Mando Ramos began his career in November 1965 and fought through to 1975 during which time he was a 2-time Lightweight world champion. Sadly he passed away on July 6th 2008, the same day that Japan's Yuki Chinen made his professional debut in Okinawa on a show promoted by former world champion Akinobu Hiranaka. 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 Eric Jamili to former Indonesian world champion Nico Thomas.
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-Although rarely spoken about now a days former Filipino fighter Eric Jamili was the first ever Filipino to win a WBO world title title, stopping Mickey Cantwell in London for the WBO Minimumweight title in December 1997. Other Filipino's to have won the WBO Minimumweight title since Jamili including Vic Saludar. 2-The hard hitting Vic Saludar won the WBO Minimumweight title in 2018, beating Ryuya Yamanaka with a 12 round decision. Prior to turning professional, in 2013, Saludar was a highly regarded Amateur fighter and regularly featured in international competition. They included the 2010 Tammer Tournament, where he beat Charlie Edwards. 3-Englishman Charlie Edwards was highly touted when he turned professional and was rushed to a world title fight, getting his first shot in 2016, in his 9th professional bout, when he faced off with John Riel Casimero for the IBF Flyweight title. Edwards was the second fighter to lost via TKO10 in an IBF Flyweight title fight, following Jacob Matlala in 1991. The third was Masahiro Sakamoto in 2018. 4-Osakan fighter Masahiro Sakamoto began his career in 2014 and retired in 2019, following a 6th round TKO loss loss to Yusuke Sakashita. During his career Sakamoto held the WBO Asia Pacific Flyweight title and won the 2015 All Japan Rookie of the Year, stopping Hiroyasu Shiga in 3 rounds. Another fighter who won Rookie of the Rookie of the Year in 2015 was Tsubasa Koura, who won at Minimumweight. 5-Following his 2015 Rookie of the Year triumph Tsubasa Koura went on a tear and ended up breaking into the world rankings and winning the OPBF Minimumweight title. He successfully defended that OPBF belt 3 times before suffering a surprise upset loss to Lito Dante in 2019, in one of the biggest upsets of the year. Amazingly Koura was the first man to be stopped in the 12th round of an OPBF Minimumweight title bout since Little Pono way back in 1986! 6-After being stopped in the aforementioned OPBF Minimumweight title bout Little Pono faced almost nobody of any note. The one exception to that was future world champion Nico Thomas, who Pono actually beat in November 1986! 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 Takashi Uchiyama to former Filipino world champion Eric Jamili.
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-Although best known for his success in the professional ranks Takashi Uchiyama was a very impressive amateur, who numerous titles in the unpaid ranks. That included a number of Japanese National titles, including one in 2002, at 60KG's. At the very same tournament we also saw Yu Kimura pick up a championship win, down at 48KG's. 2-As a professional Yu Kimura had an interesting and notable career after turning professional in 2006. His most notable achievement was winning the WBC Light Flyweight title, with an upset win over Pedro Guevara in 2015. Prior to that however he had been a key figure on the Japanese domestic scene and shared the ring with a number of notable Japanese fighters. They included Tatsuya Fukuhara, who he beat in 2013. 3-When we look back on his career Tatsuya Fukuhara will not go down as a legend, despite that he won the Japanese and WBO Minimumweight titles and was the face of boxing in Kumamoto for the best part of a decade. He also fought to a draw with Fahlan Sakkreeerin Jr and twice challenged Wanheng Menayothin for the WBC Minimumweight title, an was the opponent for Takuma Inoue's professional debut. That bout with Inoue came on a card headlined by Akira Yaegashi, in December 2013. 4-During his long and successful career Akira Yaegashi won world titles in 3 weight classes and had a genuinely excellent career. Sadly though he also suffered a number of painful losses, where his toughness and heart saw him taking prolonged punishment. The one strange exception to that was his IBF Light Flyweight title loss in 2017 to Milan Melindo. That bout saw Yaegashi being taken out in the first round by the talented Filipino. 5-Before winning the IBF Light Flyweight title Milan Melindo had won a number of minor titles, such as regional and youth belts. The first of those was the WBO Asia Pacific Minimumweight title, which he won in October 2007. Interestingly the previous champion to Melindo was Donnie Nietes. 6-The excellent Donnie Nietes was always closely affiliated with the WBO, winning the WBO Minimumweight title in 2007 before later winning the WBO Light Flyweight and Super Flyweight titles. He was actually the second Filipino to win the WBO Minimumweight title, following in the footsteps of Eric Jamili, who won the belt in 1997. Interesting that title win saw Jamili become the first Filipino to win a WBO world title, at any weight. |
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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