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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 Mongolian hopeful Tugstsogt Nyambayar to former 2-time IBF Minimumweight world champion Ratanapol Sor Vorapin.
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-Talented Mongolian Tugstsogt Nyambayar made his professional debut in March 2015, stopping Gabriel Braxton on a card in Ontario, California. On the same card as Nyambayar's debut was a bout featuring Mexican fighter Miguel Vazquez, who defeated Jerry Belmontes with a 10 round decision. 2-Years before beating Belmontes the talented, slippery, and criminally under-rated, Miguel Vazquez won the IBF Lightweight title, with that title win coming way back in 2010 when he defeat Korean slugger Ji Hoon Kim. At the time Kim was making his mark as a talented and exciting fighter, with a string of KO's but he lacked the skills needed against the brilliant "Titere". 3-Just 2 bouts after losing to Vazquez the heavy handed Ji Hoon Kim won the Korean Lightweight title, taking a razor thin split decision over the previously unbeaten Dong Hyuk Kim. This win ended a 2 fight losing streak for Kim, with the loss to Vazquez being followed by a loss to Leonardo Zappavigna. 4-Following his loss to Ji Hoon Kim we saw Dong Hyuk Kim drop down in weight and have success at Super Featherweight. He first won the South Korean national title there, beating Sung Tae Kim, before moving up a level and beating Ronald Pontillas to claim the OPBF title. That title had also been held by Japan's Takashi Uchiyama, who had managed 5 defenses of the belt before winning the WBA world title. 5-The hard hitting Takashi Uchiyama enjoyed major success in his career, where he became the face of the Watanabe Gym. During his long and lengthy reign as the WBA Super Featherweight champion he helped make the gym what it is, and helped make it an attractive proposition for emerging hopefuls and prospects. One of those men who followed in his footsteps, joining the Watanabe gym and becoming a world champion, was Hiroto Kyoguchi, who has since become the newest face of the gym thanks to his rise through the ranks and in ring success. 6-The first world title won by Hiroto Kyoguchi was the IBF Minmumweight title. He made 2 defenses of the title before before he moved up and became a 2-weight champion. Another man who held the IBF Minimumweight title, twice in fact, was Thailand's Ratanapol Sor Vorapin, who damn near monopolised the title in the 1990's during his 2 reigns, and 18 combined defenses between 1992 and 1997
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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 world champion Katsuya Onizuka to Mongolian contender Tugstsogt Nyambayar.
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 WBA Super Flyweight champion Katsuya Onizuka was one of the faces of Japanese boxing in the first half of the 1990's. Back in May 1989, when Onizuka was climbing through the domestic ranks, he was one of the main supporting bouts on the same card that Biney Martin made his professional debut on. Both men scored wins, with Onizuka stopping Masao Kawanishi and Martin taking a decision over Hiroshi Kumagai. 2-In recent years Biney Martin has turned from being a fighter in the ring to being one of the most recognisable officials in Japan, and is regularly seen as a referee across all levels of Japanese boxing. By going from in ring fighter to referee he has followed in the footsteps of the legendary Ken Morita, arguably the most famous Japanese referee the sport has had. 3-As an official Ken Morita was involved in at least 5 bouts featuring the once touted Takao Sakurai. Although it's unclear how many of Sakurai's bouts Morita worked what is known is that Sakurai went unbeaten in bouts Morita worked of his, and there was at least 3 where Morita was the referee an at least 2 where he was a judge. 4-Before turning professional Takao Sakurai had secured his place in history, by being the first Japanese boxer to ever win an Olympic Gold medal. He did that by winning Gold at Bantamweight in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. Some 48 years later Britain's Luke Campbell took home the Bantamweight Gold medal whilst boxing in the London Olympics. This means both men won Gold in the same division in the Olympics that took place in their home nation! 5-Talking about Luke Campbell's Olympic success in 2012 he actually beat Japan's Satoshi Shimizu on route to that Gold medal, beating Shimizu 20-11 in the semi-final. This saw Campbell progress to the final, where he won and took Gold, and left Shimizu with a Bronze medal, making him the first Japanese boxer to pick up an Olympic medal since Eiji Morioka in 1968! 6-Of course top amateurs prove themselves outside of the Olympics and Satoshi Shimizu did just that by picking up numerous medals away from the Olympics. Among those was a Bronze medal at the 2009 Asian Championships in Zhuhai, China. Another fighter who won Bronze at the same Asian Championships was Mongolian fighter Tugstsogt Nyambayar. This past weekend we saw Tugstsogt Nyambayar (12-1, 9) score his latest win, beating Cobia Breedy by a split decision in what was an entertaining, well fought and competitive contest. The plan was for that to be a WBC Featherweight title eliminator, but the performance it's self seemed to leave us with more questions than answers in regards to what Nyambayar can do, and will do. With that in mind we've decided to look at 5 potential bouts for the Mongolian, including two potential bouts for the WBC Featherweight title, and 3 other bouts that could be what he needs to show what he can really do.
1-Gary Russell Jr II The obvious match up that's next for "King Tug" is a rematch with Gary Russell Jr, the current WBC Featherweight champion. The two men fought this past February, with Nyambayar losing a clear decision to the American, though the assumption is that he has learned from that loss. That bout was lost in the first 8 rounds, with Nyambayar doing little more than following Russell Jr early on, whilst the American cased his skills and speed. Nyambayar did get going late in the bout, and gave Russell something to think about, but it was far too little far too late. If we're being honest we don't see Nyambayar having the intensity to ever beat Russell Jr, but he'll surely want to run it back and try to avenge his sole defeat. 2-Jessie Magdaleno There has been talk about Gary Russell Jr vacating the WBC title, in search of bigger tests, and if that happens "King Tug" would be the mandatory challenger for the vacant title. Currently ranked #1 by the WBC is Jessie Magdaleno, who would likely make up the other side of a vacant title fight. Magdaleno is a former WBO Super Bantamweight champion, he has something of a name value, and has a style that we suspect will force Nyambayar to actually go for it and fight. Although not the best fighter out there Magdaleno hits hard, he hits fast and he's a legitimate world level contender. He should make for a great fight with Nyambayar and it will be a sink or swim type of contest for both men. 3-Julio Ceja Another fan friendly potential option for the Mongolian would be a bout with the dangerous Julio Ceja. The Mexican might not be a natural Featherweight but he is world ranked by the WBC, is dangerous, comes to fight, and should force Nyambayar into a fight. We suspect we need an aggressive and dangerous fighter to get the most from the Mongolian and Ceja is that type of fighter, boasting heavy hands, a good work rate and questionable toughness. Ceja and Nyambayar make a good stylistic match up, should provide fireworks, and would see the Mongolian enter as the clear favourite and in a position to get a big win. 4-Can Xu Although really, really, unlikely we would absolutely love to see Nyambayar to take on WBA champion Can Xu in what would be a sensational fight to watch. One of our big complaints with the Mongolian is that he doesn't let his hands go often enough, and it's something we feel is holding him back from reaching his potential. Matched against Can Xu, a man who never stops throwing, we suspect we'll see the best from the Mongolian. We also suspect we'll see Xu being in yet another thriller against a tough and hard hitting challenger and of course, the elephant in the room, the build up. This will be China Vs Mongolia, and the hype videos and build up have Genghis Khan and his conquest of China to use as a visual backdrop for any hype videos. This would be great to watch, a bout that sells it's self and fight that would have historic rivalry behind it. Come on boxing, this is too obvious not to happen! 5-Jesus M Rojas Another bout that would be fun would be a bout between Nyambayar and former WBA champion Jesus M Rojas, which would be a fight that would give us action, be a fun one to watch and give both men a big bout, just as they need it. Of course both men would prefer a world title bout, and Nyambayar would clearly prefer a bout with Russell Jr or Magdaleno, but if those bouts can't come off a contest with Rojas would certainly not be a bad alternative. The Mongolian would be up against a Puerto Rican willing to let his hands go and make a fight of things, whilst Rojas would get a chance to take a huge step towards a second world title fight. Style wise this would be fun, both men would have their chins checked and both would be firing off heavy leather. Rojas is also the type of fighter who would draw the best from Nyambayar, who couldn't get away with being lazy in this match up. This past Saturday we had a fair bit of action, with Showtime and ESPN running shows at the same time. Whilst neither show provided a Fight of he Year contender the best of the fights was a hotly contested WBC Featherweight world title eliminator between Tugstsogt Nyambayar (12-1, 9) and Cobia Breedy (15-1, 5). The bout was regarded as a mismatch by the bookies, but turned into a really, really good fight. We had drama, heart, desire, and moments of genius.
The bout won't be mentioned in the end of year awards shortlists, and it shouldn't be, but it was still a very a solid fight well worthy of a watch. For those that missed it, and for those who watched it and care about our opinions, we have decided to share some of our take aways from the bout. 1-Nyambayar needs to show more intensity We need to begin this with the obvious, Tugstsogt Nyambayar is missing that fire needed to really shine. The Mongolian is talented, heavy handed, tough, has under-rated hand speed, a solid jab and is technically very, very good. He does however lack intensity in the ring and he repeatedly falls to sleep during bouts. It wasn't just this one but seems to be a regular habit of his. When we see him throw combinations he looks sensational, he's got smooth offensive work and looks amazing. But far, far too often he looks for he looks for the perfect shot, and doesn't go for the kill. We saw it a lot here, especially in round 2 following the second knockdown. He could have made this easy for himself, but instead he turned off and let Breedy into the bout. 2-We want to see more of Cobia Breedy Cobia Breedy came into the bout as an unknown, he was expected to get stopped and after being dropped in the first two rounds it looked like the bout was a foregone conclusion. Following that however he looked great, was ultra competitive and did enough to lose a close decision and earn another big fight. This was a massive step up for him and he legitimately impressed us. It would be great if PBC could give him another opportunity, and we doubt we're the only ones wanting to see him. He's quick, tough, brave, exciting, lets his hands go and has the intensity that Nyambayar lacks! 3-Don Trella...what the hell was he watching? We'll give Cobia Breedy a lot of credit for his performance. He made the bout incredibly close, fought back well after a horror start and made us into fans. Sadly however there was no way we could see to give him the bout. As for Don Trella he somehow had the man from Barbados as the winner. We'd love to see him explain his scorecard here. We saw it as a close, but clear, win for Nyambayar, helped in part by the two knockdowns, but couldn't possibly see a way to get a win for Breedy. 4-Nyambayar gives odd interviews After the fight Tugstsogt Nyambayar gave an interview and it was...odd. We're sure there was a lost in translation effect here, but it was still a very, very odd interview and we'd love to see more of these. He's not the most naturally charismatic, but the awkward, strangeness of his interview made us want to hear more of him. He's lacking the catchphrase of a Gennady Golovkin, or the simplistic turn of phrase of Can Xu, but there was still something charming about the strange vibe of his answers. 5-Don't blow your bloody nose! Cobia Breedy made 3 big mistakes. One was getting dropped in round 1, one was getting dropped in round 2 and one was blowing his damn nose between rounds 6 and 7 that caused his left eye to almost swell shut. This was nasty and could have caused the bout to stop, either from the swelling it's self or from giving Nyambayar a nice big target to aim for. This was very much a self inflicted injury and not a good one. Hopefully everyone learns from this. If in a fight, don't blow your damn nose! Many division's out there are really interesting, and have a lot of brilliant match ups that could be made at any moment. One of the most interesting is the Featherweight division, which isn't the "deepest" but is among the most "interesting", not just in Asia but globally. Despite not being as deep as the Bantamweight and Super Bantamweight division's it's still a very, very good weight class.
Again we're only considering Asian fighters for these rankings. 1-Can Xu (18-2, 3) The stand out Asian fighter in the division is Chinese "Monster" Can Xu. Unlike another monster, who is known for his power and being a physical freak, Xu is a monster in terms of stamina, chin and output. The 26 year old is the current WBA "regular" Featherweight champion and really came along wonderfully in 2019, when he beat Jesus M Rojas, Shun Kubo and Manny Robles III. Although not a technically perfect boxer, or a big puncher Xu is a nightmare to fight with a swarming busy style and an ability to take a punch whilst letting his shots go. A total nightmare to take on. 2-Tugstsogt Nyambayar (11-1, 9) Earlier this year we saw Tugstsogt Nyambayar come up short in a competitive, but clear, loss against Gary Russell Jr. That may have ended Nyambayar's unbeaten record but with wins over Harmonito Dela Torre, Oscar Escandon and Claudio Marrero it's hard to question his #2 ranking. Yes he's not scored a world level win yet, but in reality he's done more than anyone on this list, other than Xu. The heavy handed boxer-puncher was a former amateur standout and is a quality professional, but needs to be much more active and he has fought only 4 times in the last 36 months, completely wasting some of his prime years. Incidentally enough that's the same accusation that has been sent Gary Russell Jr's way over the years as well. 3-Ryo Sagawa (9-1, 4) The Japanese domestic scene at Featherweight is legitimately crazy with 6 very good and interesting fighters in and around the top top. The best of those is, probably, Ryo Sagawa, who holds wins over 2 of the other top Japanese guys at the weight. Sagawa is the current Japanese national champion, an excellent boxer, who controls distance well and looks like a true natural in the ring with a really eye pleasing and smooth style. When he needs to brawl and fight he can, though at his best he is an excellent boxer. Despite being a genuine talent Sagawa also has some questions still hanging over him, and his chin is certainly still suspect, meaning that whilst he's talented, there is always a risk he'll be stopped, making his fights the type that will have you on the edge of your seat. 4-Reiya Abe (19-3-1, 9) The man Sagawa beat for the Japanese title was Reiya Abe, another of the excellent Japanese fighters at Featherweight. Abe is a brilliant technical boxer, an intelligent southpaw with a very good jab and he controls distance fantastically well. He was unfortunate in 2019 to fight to a draw with Taiki Minamoto and then lose a very close one against Ryo Sagawa. Abe is clearly below Sagawa in the rankings, but there was much that separated the men when they fought and in reality there's still not much between them. In fact whilst Sagawa does have the head to head win, Abe has solid wins himself over the likes of Daisuke Watanabe and Satoshi Hosono, among others. With a tough 2019 behind him we're really looking forward to seeing what the future brings for the skilled Abe. 5-Mark Magsayo (20-0, 14) As well as a bunch of fantastic Japanese fighters at Featherweight we also have a number of talented Filipino's. The best among the Pinoy's is Mark Magsayo, who has been banging on the door of a world title fight for a while now, but not managed to get the shot at the big time yet. Despite not getting a fight at world title level yet Magsayo already has wins over Chris Avalos, Shota Hayashi and Pungluang Sor Singyu. He made a smart move a few years ago, in leaving ALA Promotions but hasn't yet managed to secure a big fight with his new promoter. Magsayo is an excellent boxer puncher, and like many fighters we feel he will look better when he steps up faces tough competition. 6-Hinata Maruta (10-1-1, 8) Back to Japan for our #6 entry in the form of 23 year old Hinata Maruta. The talented Maruta has promised a lot since making his professional debut way back in 2015 and whilst he's yet to accomplish what was expected of him there is no doubting his ability. The one thing we need to see from Maruta is his chin being tested and his ability to move through the gears. It's often felt like he's only had 3 gears and that really did cost him against Hidenori Otake, in his sole loss. Thankfully since his defeat to Otake he has shown a lot to be excited about and wins over Tsuyoshi Tameda and Takenori Ohashi have been excellent. If Maruta can continue to improve as he has done recently he'll be finding himself with some big wins soon. Interestingly he is mandated to fight Abe in a Japanese title bout, though it now seems likely that that bout could slip to 2021 due to the ongoing situation. That may actually be a good thing for Maruta, give him extra time to grow into his man strength. 7-Jhack Tepora (23-1, 17) It's really hard to know what is going on with Jhack Tepora. At times he looks fantastic hi KO of Lusanda Komanisi in 2017 was brutal, and his win in Malaysia against Edivaldo Ortega should have helped launch him to some huge fights. They didn't and instead he fought a meaningless bout to Jose Luis Gallegos last June before being upset by Oscar Escandon in December 2019. That loss was among the bigger upsets of 2019, and completely killed what moment he had. Rumour from the Philippines circulated suggesting he had fallen out with his team, and that they had gotten fed up with some of his out of the ring habits. Whether their is truth to those rumours or not is unclear, but what is clear is a lack of activity has been a major issue for Tepora, who has fought just 3 times since the start of 20918. He needs to sort his career out before it's too late. 8-Musashi Mori (11-0, 6) Talented youngster Musashi Mori is the current WBO Asia Pacific champion and is very much "one of the future". At the time of writing he's just 20 years old but has already accomplished a hell of a lot, winning the 2017 Rookie of the Year and winning his regional title, taking it from Richard Pumicpic, which he has defended twice. Although still a work in progress two wins over Pumicpic and one over Takuya Mizuno pretty much show that he's already incredibly talented. For recent bout he has been training under the guidance of Ismael Salas so we're expecting to see significant improvements form the youngster in his next few fights. He's a talented southpaw, though does lack his man strength and power, and it will be interesting to see if he can develop that side of his game as he matures. 9-Richard Pumicpic (21-11-2, 6) With two close losses to Musashi Mori and a close loss to Ryosuke Iwasa it's easy to understand why Richard Pumicpic had double digit defeats. He has been matched hard, had to travel for bouts, and still run good fighters very close. He has now lost 3 in a row, but in reality he's deserved better from the judges. He's not the most powerful, or the quickest, or the biggest, but he's a nightmare. He's tough, rough, knows his way around the ring and really makes life difficult for anyone in the division. On his day he could beat men ranked well above him on this list, but has certainly lacked any form of luck and good fortune during his career. Fingers crossed we see the now 29 year old getting another opportunity to show what he can do in the near future. He's one of those fighters where you need to ignore his record, and just watch what he can do. 10-Ryo Matsumoto (23-3, 21) Arguably the most over-looked man in the division is former world title challenger Ryo Matsumoto, who moved up to Featherweight in 2018 following his loss to Daniel Roman. Matsumoto has all the things needed to be a star. He's good looking, powerful, quick, skilled, has great size for the division and is someone with an amazing story, fighting through a nasty illness. He also has a sense of vulnerability, with 2 stoppage losses against him. He has the things needed to be a feel good story in boxing, but needs to be given time to adapt to the division, which he has naturally grown into. A rematch with Ryo Sagawa would be interesting and is potentially something he and his team are viewing for the future. On the bubble: Satoshi Shimizu, Jhon Gemino, Genesis Servania, Shohei Omori and Shun Kubo Over the next 12 months we're expecting to see a lot of changes in the world of professional boxing. As a result we have put together a list of 30 Asian fighters to keep an eye out for 2016. These range from champions to novices but all are expected to make a mark on the sport over the next 12 months.
We hope to have part of this up in the coming days, and it will feature more notable names, though we feel the 5 men listed here are all fighters who will become bigger in 2016, despite being relatively unknown by those other than the hardcore fans.
We have often been accused of being focused on several countries, particularly Japan. As a result we've decided to try and bring your attention to the 5 best Asian prospects, from countries we tend not to focus on. That means no fighters from Japan, Thailand or the Philippines.
out of Manuel Rubalcava was incredibly impressive given that the Mexican had never previously been stopped. In regards to footage of the Mongolian the best we have is of his most recent bout, a victory over Arturo Badillo, which is listed incorrectly on boxrec.com. In the footage you can see a lot of promise in Nyambayar, but still improvements will be made before he's moved into 10 round bouts, never mind the all important 12 round title bouts.
and last time out he scored a KO of the year contender against Luyanda Jako suggesting that he is beginning to find his man strength. Sadly though his best win is still a 2013 victory over compatriot Kanat Kartenbayev and since then he has gone backwards in terms of competition. Dmitry Bivol (4-0, 4) The rising Russian boxing scene is really exciting though of course not all the “Russian” fighters are actually Russian fighters. One such case is the sensationally talented Light Heavyweight prospect Dmitry Bivol, who is originally from Tokmak in Kyrgyzstan.
feature on the world stage we'd certainly advise keeping an eye on him. He may fall short, but we're excited about a new Indonesian star and really hope that it will be Zoda who has the style to excite fans in a major way.
he may well be the next bust but we really hpe his handlers and team can keep him on the straight and narrow and help him work his way through the ranks and help put Korea back on the boxing map. The jury is out on what he'll do, but there is certainly real potential there. Others that we would like to make a note of-
Muhammad Waseem (0-0) Boxing has a number of untapped markets, one of those is Pakistan which really only has British-Pakistani fighter Amir Khan to look up to. That's despite the fact the country has a population of around 192,000,000. With so many people there it seems clear that there will be boxing talent, it just needs to be given a chance. The first Pakistani born fighter who really seems to have some potential is Muhammad Waseem. Waseem is a little older than some of the others on this list, at 27/28, but his potential to open up a new market is incredibly exciting. That of course isn't the only reason to be excited about him, another reason is his amateur pedigree which includes medals at the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games, the World Combat Games and the South Asian Games. The talented and speedy Pakistani fighter isn't going to begin professional life in his native country but instead in South Korea where he will develop under the guidance of AK Promotions, who have lined him up for a South Korean title fight on his debut. A win there will likely lead to bigger fights down the line, so our fingers are crossed for that. Having not yet made his debut however the jury is, rightfully, out on the Pakistan speedster. Uktamjon Rahmonov (4-0, 1) Uzbekistan are missing a boxing star. They have WBA Heavyweight “regular” champion Ruslan Chagaev but they don't have an actual “star” as of yet. One man hoping to change that is 23 year old Uktamjon Rahmonov, a former Olympian who is slowly making strides in Russia and his homeland. It's fair to say that he's not yet broken through as a star but he is starting to make a name for himself and he has already competed in 23 rounds since turning professional in November 2013. At the 2012 Olympics Rahmonov reached the quarter final before coming up short against eventual Gold medal winner Roniel Iglesias, one of the real stars of the games. Whilst he did fail to medal he did show some real ability. That ability has taken him to 4 straight wins in the professional ranks, including a genuinely solid 8 round decision win against Ukrainian Oleg Korobko. So far it's hard to get a real understanding of his ability. He's looked like a man with a lot of skill in footage, but also some really irritating flaws including a willingness to run, a jokers attitude in the ring and a frustrating laziness. At times however he looks magical with a wonderful variety of shots, a natural calmness and good movement. Vijender Singh (0-0) Above we mentioned Waseem Muhammad, the man tasked with developing Pakistani boxing. It's also fair to say that Vijender Singh could be described as the man with an even bigger task, kick starting Indian boxing. Unfortunately he's not regarded as one of our “ones to watch” as he's now closing in on his 30th birthday and has various issues ahead of his professional debut. The talented Indian recently signed professional papers with British promoter Frank Warren and is likely to make his debut later this year. Sadly though given his age it's unlikely he'll become the star that many hope. That's not to say that he's not going to have success in the professional ranks but it's unlikely to be enough to kick start an Indian boxing revolution. Whilst we're not hugely excited by Singh's debut his amateur background is brilliant and he has claimed a trio of medal at the Commonwealth games, an Olympic games medal, a World amateur Champion medal and a couple of Asian games medals. It's a real shame however that he didn't turn professional after the 2008 Olympics. |
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