We talk about the commentators curse, or the commentator giving a fighter the proverbial "kiss of death" and today we have a great example of that from 1983. In fact for today's "What a Shock" we have a great example of a huge upset, and for another week we have that upset coming via the hands of an unfancied Filipino in what likely goes down as one of the biggest upsets by a Filipino in Europe. Ever. Date September 27th 1983 Venue Wembley Arena, Wembley, London, United Kingdom Frank Cedeno (30-6-3, 13) vs Charlie Magri (28-2, 21) We mentioned the commentators curse and that's because of how the commentator began for the bout here. Working for British TB the commentator, explained that last time out "when Magri won the title in March he was the underdog, but he's not the under-dog tonight against Cedeno." In March 1983 Charlie Magri won the WBC Flyweight title by stopping defending champion Eleoncio Mercedes, on cuts. The win had been a huge one for the popular Englishman who had been stopped in 2 of his 6 previous bouts, and had allowed him to call himself a world champion. Prior to winning the world title "Champagne Charlie" had held the EBU title and proven himself as an exciting, power punching Flyweight who came to fight and fight hard. Defensively he was very flawed, but his offense was his best form of defense. He was now making his first defense around 6 months after winning the title. He was, as the commentator suggested, the clear favourite. This was expected to be an easy first defense against a challenger who seemed to pose little threat to the Englishman. In Frank Cedeno we had a Filipino challenger who had scored just 13 stoppages in 39 bouts. Coming in to the bout he had won 4 in a row, but had gone 1-2-1 in the 4 fights prior to that run, and his best wins were all at domestic level. There was no hidden gem win on his record with the biggest name on his record being the then on the slide Montsayarm Haw Mahachai, who his 3 subsequent bouts before retiring. Not only was Cedeno a light punching challenger, but he was also fighting outside Asia for the first time in his career. There was literally nothing for Magri and his team to fear....right? Well that's what we all assumed. From the off Magri pressed forward and had the crowd roaring their support early in the opening round. Magri, the aggressor, seemed to take the opening round and landed some heavy leather on the Filipino who looked in trouble part way through the opening round. Cedeno seemed to be forced to fight fire with fire in an effort to just get Magri to give him some respect. Despite being backed up and hammered through much of the opening Cedeno did land some good shots when he fired back. He did the same early in round 2 but as the round went on Cedeno's work rate dropped off and he took to the ropes, trying to soak up the pressure of the Englishman. It was a risky tactic but one which was done with the intention of taking the steam out of Magri. In round 3 we began to see Cedeno come alive again, and Magri responded, in what was a fantastic round of back and forth action. The power and aggression of Magri up against the skills and toughness of Cedeno, with the challenger building in confidence. Magri tried to take the confidence away from the Filipino with some huge body shots, but Cedeno weathered the storm whilst firing back. In round 4 the pace dropped off, which was understandable given the insane tempo of the opening round. The slower pace suited Cedeno who began to create space and land some huge shots at range. Magri, although still unloading with huge shots, was beginning to look a lot less active than he had earlier and he was beginning to feel the shots from Cedeno a lot more than he had in the first 3. In the fifth we saw Magri slowing more. His lack of defense was now becoming a major issue, as his offense had began to slow as well. He wasn't able to sustain anything for more than a few seconds whilst Cedeno picked some great shots, with both hands. By now it was starting to look like Magri was doubting himself as both men were digging deep. The action wasn't none stop, but it was back and forth, and momentum swung one way then the other, with both looking spent and in trouble. Heading into round 6 it was clear both men had taken a lot out of each other, and themselves. The crowd were getting behind their man with a huge "Charlie" chant, but it wasn't enough to stir their man into a second wind. He looked spent and mid way through the round he was rocked. A follow up dropped the champion, who managed to recover to his feet, before going down again. Once more Magri's heart got him up but he was done and soon afterwards he was down again, with the referee finally waving off the bout. The upset was huge, with Cedeno dethroning the highly fancied British champion. Sadly for Cedeno his reign was a short one, and he was stopped in 2 rounds by Koji Kobayashi in his first defense. Cedeno would bounce back from the loss to Kobayashi, but lose in 1987 to Gilberto Roman, before going 2-2 in his last 4 and retiring in the late in 1980's. In 1985 Magri would get a chance to recapture the title, but was stopped in 4 rounds by Sot Chitalada and ended his career in 1986, with a loss to Duke McKenzie. Although not too well remembered now a days, this bout was a genuine thriller and it may well have ruined both men. Thankfully for Cedeno he took the win, scored a huge upset, and had a career defining victory that saw him become one of the very few Filipino's to be crowned a world champion on UK soil.
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Today we continue with a run of upsets by Filipino fighters, though we leave Manny Pacquiao alone and look at another Filipino in an upset. This win was less high profile than some of the others we'll feature here, but did come in a world title eliminator and is a relatively recent one, coming back in 2014. It also came on a US TV broadcast with the opinion leading into the bout being that the previously unbeaten prospect was heading towards a world title fight. Date July 2nd 2014 Venue Foxwoods Resort, Mashantucket, Connecticut, USA Michael Farenas (38-4-4-1, 30) Vs Mark Davis (18-0, 5) When we look back over some upsets we can be a little surprised to even find out they were upsets, but in the summer of 2014 that's exactly what we saw when experienced Filipino Michael Farenas took on unbeaten American Mark Davis. Heading into the bout the 30 year old Filipino, known as "Hammer Fist", had been seen as old, shot and beyond his best. He was well respected by those who knew the sport and had fought all over the place, though had done so with mixed success. During his first 47 bouts the most notable results on his record was a technical draw in a world title bout against Takashi Uchiyama and a loss to Yuriorkis Gamboa. In terms of his biggest wins they had Farenas had beaten veteran Hector Velazquez and taken a split decision over Fernando Beltran. He was however viewed as just a tough, slow, clumsy fighter who could be out boxed and out sped. The then 27 year old Mark "Too Sharp" Davis was being eyed up as a future star. He had had over 200 amateur bouts and was a genuinely celebrated US amateur. It was assumed his amateur skills would take him to the top of the sport. He had the athletic ability, the boxing brain and the skills to do great things in the ring, and if matched well he was going to be a major player at 130 for the coming years. Coming in to the bout Davis was ranked higher than Farenas with the IBF. It was unclear what Davis had done to earn such a high ranking but it was clear that someone saw something big in him and he was now stepping up big time thanks to promoted 50 Cent. Although he was stepping up Davis was the betting favourite, priced at around 1/2 to win, and this was supposed to be his break out win. Despite being the favourite Davis was under pressure from the off with Farenas pressing the action from the very start. After about a minute Davis was cut around the eye, from a punch, and from there on Farenas had a target for his southpaw left hands. Davis, knowing he had to turn things around quickly, tried to use his speed and skills, using the ring to create distance. Sadly for Davis however he had nothing to get Farenas's respect. Instead the unfancied Filipino just kept the pressure coming, pressing forward round after round and landing numerous huge left hands. By round 5 Davis' speed was going, his confidence was crumbling, his skills weren't enough and he simply couldn't do anything to stop Farenas, wh dominated the round. In fact if anything what Davis was doing was making it easy for Farenas, standing in front of the stronger Filipino, who made the most of Davis's poor tactical decisions. Davis not only tried to fight with Farenas, but also stood still too much and was being broken and battered. Farenas, although never a good technical fighter, was simply too strong, too big, too experienced, too heavy handed and ferocious for Davis, who was spoken to by the doctor after round 6. The bout probably could have been stopped there and then but Davis was allowed to come out for round 7, being given the opportunity to have one more round. Impressive from Davis he actually had a very decent 7th round. It wasn't a round that saw him shake Farenas or anything, but was a round that saw him doing better than he had in the previous few. He did enough to be allowed out for round 8. Despite making his way through round 7 with no major issues that luck and fortune ran out in round 8, when Farenas rocked him to his core with about 50 seconds of the round gone. A follow sent Davis stumbling and Steve Smoger finally came in and stopped Davis. Sadly for Davis his career never recovered and this was the end for him. His once promising career was over. For Farenas there wasn't a world title fight fight to follow this. Instead he was put in another eliminator which he lost against Jose Pedraza. That set back didn't end Farenas' career but did end his hopes of competing at the top of the sport again, and he would only fight 3 more times afterwards, picking up 3 low key wins. On reflection this wasn't a huge upset, but certainly was an upset in regards to the pre-fight odds. Farenas was seen as a live under-dog, but exceeded tat expectation and ended up pummelling the pre-fight favourite in what would be his final notable win. Recently in this series we looked at Manny Pacquiao winning his first world title, with his shock win, at the age of 19, against Chatchai Sasakul. That win is one that often goes over-looked when people look over his career despite it being a massive upset against the WBC and Linear Flyweight champion. That however wasn't the only upset scored by "Pacman" and today we look at another upset win by the Filipino icon. Date June 23rd 2001 Venue MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA Manny Pacquiao (32-2, 23) vs Lehlo Ledwaba (33-1-1, 22) At the time Pacquiao was 22 years old, he boasted an impressive looking 32-2 (23) record but he had mostly fought at Flyweight, where he had claimed the OPBF and WBC titles. He had moved up to Super Bantamweight after struggles to fight at 112lbs got too much, and lead to him being stripped of the WBC Flyweight title in 1999 and he had failed to secure another world title bout after that. Although well regarded in Asia Pacquiao wasn't known at all outside of Asia and his title reign at Flyweight had been a short one, consisting of just a single defense. Outside of his short world title reign, several weight classes below, there was little to suggest he was a world class fighter, or would become one. What many don't realise is that Pacquiao wasn't the original opponent for the bout. That was supposed to be Enrique Sanchez, a Mexican who had been injured in training and Pacquiao took the bout on 2 weeks notice. This had given him almost no time to prepare for the bout, tough he had fought just 2 months earlier against Wethya Sakmuangklang, aka Foijan Prawet. In fact this bout, with Ledwaba, was Pacquiao's third fight in 4 months, his first outside of Asia and, as mentioned, a bout he took on 2 weeks notice. Whilst Pacquiao was an unknown outside of Asia Lehlo Ledwaba was the IBF Super Bantamweight champion. He was from South Africa and had began to get the attention of HBO, who were very impressed by him. He had won the title with a win at home against John Michael Johnson before going on the road to defend it in the US and the UK. By the time he was facing Pacquiao he had defended the belt 5 times and shown himself to be a very talented fighter, who had stopped 4 of his 5 challengers. He had looked like a brilliant boxer, with an excellent jab, some really sharp movements and a good boxing brain. He knew how to control the ring, and how to box smartly, something that was expected to help him get a read on his unknown challenger. We mentioned that Enrique Sanchez was originally lined up as the opponent for Ledwaba. Whilst Pacquiao hadn't been training Ledwaba was training to face a southpaw, like Pacquiao. Notably however Sanchez and Pacquiao were very different types of southpaws, and in fact Pacquiao wasn't like the footage that was available on him, of which there wasn't a lot like their is now. One thing we often forget is that youtube has made access to footage a lot easier, but that wasn't around in 2001. Interestingly this was also Ledwaba's third fight 2001, he had also fought 2 months earlier, beating Carlos Contreras, and had also fought in February, stopping Arnel Barotillo. Before the opening bell Ledwaba had been priced as a clear favourite. He was a known quantity, a talented fighter and some bookies actually refused to take bets on the bout, seeing it as a foregone conclusion for the South African, who seemed to be heading towards greatness. From the off the two men both looked to quickly feel out what the other man had in their locker. After only a few seconds however Pacquiao found his groove and he looked crisper, sharper and faster than the champion. To his credit Ledwaba looked relaxed and tried to keep control of the center of the ring, landing some solid straight shots. Despite Ledwaba having some nice moments he was being tagged frequently by the Filipino, who had bloodied the champion's nose and looked dominant as we went to the bell. After winning the first round Pacquiao managed to dominate the second round, dropping the South African champion. Ledwaba, despite being the champion, was put into survival mode about a minute into the round. The champion tried to do what he could to get Pacquiao's respect, landing a good body shot, but couldn't slow the Filipino for long and Pacquiao would regain control before the round was over. Mentally and physically Ledwaba was being beaten up. His best shots were only having a momentary effect, and he was being punished soon afterwards. By round 3 Ledwaba was in a hole and he knew it. He did well early in the round, creating space and keeping Pacquiao away early on. Pacquiao however turned it on midway through the round and quickly took the play away from the champion with heavy hurtful blows that again saw him take the round. By the end of the round Ledwaba was a bloodied mess. Round by round Ledwaba was getting beaten up. He looked a done fighter at the end of round 5 and as we went into round 6 the champion was looking like he needed something big to happen to keep his reign alive. Sadly for him something big did happen though not in the way he would have wanted. Around 30 seconds into the round Ledwaba was dropped from a left hand by the Filipino. On the restart he was still hurt and another left dropped him. The referee didn't even think about letting Ledwaba got to his feet, instead halting the bout. Pacquiao had been given a chance to shine and had taken it, beating up the champion to announce himself as a heavy handed, fan friendly fighter. From this win Pacquiao built and built, and became the global boxing star that fans know and love. He would use this to launch his career in the US and quickly became one of the faces of boxing, scoring big wins over the likes of Juan Manuel Marquez, Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barerra, OScar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto among others. Sadly for Ledwaba he never really recovered from this loss, fighting on until 2006 but going 3-4 before retiring following a stoppage loss to Maxwell Awuku. When we look over the history of a fighter it can be hard to imagine them being an under-dog in some fights. Today we however we look at the first in a number of big upsets scored by one of Asia's greatest ever fighters. It was a win that sent ripples through the lower weights, and the Asian scene, and began the ascent of a true being star. Date December 4th 1998 Venue Tonsuk College Ground, Phuttamonthon, Thailand Manny Pacquiao (23-1, 14) Vs Chatchai Sasakul (32-1-1, 23) In December 1998 Manny Pacquiao was a relative unknown in the boxing world outside of Asia. Even there he was only really known as an Oriental level fighter who had won the OPBF Flyweight title in 1997 and defended it once. Whilst his OPBF title win had been a good one, stopping long term champion Chokchai Chockvivat, he was still only a teenager and had done little other than stop Chokchai. The man Pacquiao was up against was 28 year old Thai Chatchai Sasakul. The once beaten Sasakul had avenged his sole loss, he was in prime, at home in Thailand and the WBC and Linear Flyweight champion. The Thai had beaten the man who had beaten the man who had beaten the man. The line to Sasakul had dated back more than 20 years, from the brilliant Miguel Canto. The sole loss on Sasakul's 34 fight record had been a close decision loss to Arbachakov in 1995. Just over 2 years later Sasakul avenged that loss, in Japan, by beating Arbachakov and sending the Russian great into retirement. The only other mark on his record was a technical draw in 1996. Since winning the title Sasakul had defended the belt twice, against Korean challengers, and was expected to be too good for the 19 year old Pacquiao, who was fighting away from the Philippines for just the second time in his career. Early on Sasakul did indeed look too good for the Filipino teenager. The skills, footwork and movement of Sasakul was too much for the crude, straight line offense of Pacquiao. The Filipino was all too happy to trudge forward, following Sasakul around the round, whilst the Thai moved smartly, landed single shots and retreated. Round after round the Thai just looked so much smart against the aggressive, but technically flawed, Filipino. Pacquiao had energy, and no one could fault his will and desire, but he didn't seem to have the skills to cut the ring off, or the boxing IQ to land his left hand. His lead hand essentially looked useless, jabbing at the air with no real conviction. Even when Pacquiao did have success, something he had a little bit of in round 4, he couldn't close the distance quick enough to follow up before Sasakul was out of range. Through 7 rounds it seemed like the champion was on route to a clear decision against the hungry and powerful teenager. There was plenty to like about Pacquiao's effort, but it seemed like he was simply too raw, too crude, too young, at this point to claim a world title. He looked like he was showing enough raw ability to become a champion, down the line, but like this wasn't going to be that night for him. He was proving to be tough and a real trier but a technically limited trier. Then we got into round 8 and Sasakul's good work early on, establishing a lead was all deleted in an instant. Early in round 8 Pacquiao began to find the target and Sasakul began to hold his feet just a touch more. The pressure from Pacquiao was likely to blame, but the movement of the Thai was slowing, it stopped him from escaping at will, and made him fight back more. This was giving the taller, longer Pacquiao more chances to land. With just over 30 seconds of the round left Pacquiao landed a left that seemed to hurt Sasakul, who stumbled. This time the Thai wasn't able to get away, backing on to the ropes as Pacquiao pressed forward. Only seconds later Pacquiao landed a dynamite left hand that dropped Sasakul face first. The champion tried to beat the count but struggled, falling again as he ended up being counted out. The win netted Pacquiao the first of his many world titles and at the age of 19 he had ripped up the pre-fight forecasts. Of course during his career Pacquiao would make a career out of scoring upsets, recording notable future upsets over Lehlo Ledwaba, Marco Antonio Barrera and Oscar De La Hoyam but they are all for another day. As for Sasakul he was never really the same after this loss. He would go 31-2 after the bout, but had to wait almost a decade for another world title fight, losing that to Cristian Mijares. By that point he was well past his best. It's fair to say that female boxing has gained a lot of traction in the last few years thanks to the likes of Katie Taylor, Claressa Shields, Mikaela mayer, Nicola Adams, Delfine Persoon and one or two other ladies who have managed to land big fights on British and US TV. Previously the big female boxing hotspots were Asia, with Japan and South Korea, and Latin America, with Mexico and Argentina leading the way. The main European interest was Germany, which has sadly faded away drastically as female boxing has began to rise. In 2013 female boxing got one of it's biggest upsets ever, as one of the sports biggest names was taken out. Inside a round! Date April 27th 2013 Venue Arena Mexico, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico Riyo Togo (9-4-1, 8) Vs Mariana Juarez (36-6-3, 16) I We suspect most with a passing interest in female boxing have heard of Mariana Juarez. She is a star in Mexico, a massive boxing name in the country and one of the few true female boxing stars from before the current rise of the sport. Back in 2013 she was working her way towards a WBC Super Flyweight world title bout. Although not the best fighter out there she was a very good fighter, with superstar looks, incredible natural charisma and a body that could turn heads. Had she chose to model Juarez could likely have made it pretty far, just off her looks. She however chose to box and following some early struggles, losing 2 of her first 3 bouts, had proved to be very successful in the sport. She had real success at Flyweight, winning the WBC Female Flyweight title before moving up in weight with the aim being to add the WVC Super Flyweight title to her collection. Togo on the other hand was a part time fight who was also reportedly a truck driver. She had done little in the sport other than lose in a Bantamweight world title bout to Yaneth Perez and win the OPBF female Bantamweight title, which at the time had next to no real standing in the sport. Like Juarez she had struggled early on, going 4-2-1 in her first 7 bouts. Despite the set backs she had proven to be a puncher, and was regarded as a very dangerous fighter early on, with 6 wins in the first 3 rounds. On paper this was supposed to be little more than a stepping stone for Juarez. She was meant to take the next step towards another world title. She was supposed to be the Mexican face of the sport. Sadly for her no one told Togo. The bout started with the two women boxing, but within seconds the bout had quickly become a brawl with both women letting shots go. Less than a minute into round Juarez seemed to be hurt, but instead of holding and clearing her head she swung and tried to force Togo to back off. From there on we ended up seeing some small breaks, as Juarez found some space to work, but she couldn't get Togo's respect. Instead Togo was trying to walk through Juarez's shots. With 15 seconds of the round left the two began to trade again and a quick right-left, both on the chin, dropped Juarez. To her credit she got to her feet, but she wasn't looking the most stable. With just seconds left the referee waved off the bout, giving us one of the biggest upsets ever seen in female boxing. Sadly for Togo a rematch a few months later saw Juarez take a decision, and this win was later clouded over by a glove tampering incident before their rematch, leading some to suggest that Togo had used tampered gloves here. Strangely, given the tempering of the gloves ahead of the rematch, there was seemingly no punishment give to Togo or her team. When we typically do these "What a Shock" articles we look at upsets scored by Asian fighters. Today we flip that on it's head and look at a big betting upset in 2018 against an Asian fighter. On paper the bout is perhaps not remembered as much of an upset but in regards to the betting this was a genuine surprise and one that sent the loser in to retirement. Date August 17th 2018 Venue Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, California, USA Yoshihiro Kamegai (27-4-2, 24) Vs Greg Vendetti (19-2-1, 12) We're going to begin this by saying that the bookies can get it wrong, really wrong. That appears to have been the case in August 2018 when Japanese veteran Yoshihiro Kamegai was priced as 2/9 favourite with the UK bookies to beat American Greg "The Villain" Vendetti, who was a 3/1 under-dog. Of course of the two fighters Kamegai is the more well known, even in the US. He is well known as a fan favourite due to his thrilling action bouts and his wars. His fights against the likes of Robert Guerrero, Jesus Soto Karass and Miguel Cotto were were all enjoyable fights that saw Kamegai take significant punishment but never stop coming forward and never stop trying to fight. His limitations were always clear, and he had slow clumsy footwork, awkward technique, open defense, but he more than made up for that with his incredible chin, work rate and will to win. By August 2018 Kamegai had been out of the ring for a year, following injuries, but was still expected to have too much in the tank for the somewhat unknown Greg Vendetti. Whilst Kamegai had been mixing in and around world level for a while Vendetti was mostly beating fighters with losing records. His most notable wins were against Ayi Bruce and a razor thin win over Khiary Gray, both in 2017. He had done nothing of note, and looked like a fighter who would look nice on Kamegai's record, with there being much substance behind it. Sadly for Kamegai no one told him that Vendetti didn't want to play the part of the easy comeback opponent. Instead Vendetti wanted saw Kamegai as a chance to build his own name. This was a huge step up for Vendetti, his first bout on TV, and his first bout in front of a major market. From the opening round both men looked hungry but it didn't take long for the extra speed and youth of Vendetti to shine through. He seemed much quicker than the 3 year old Kamegai, who marched forward but struggled to land much of value. Up close Vendetti wasn't just landing good shots, but also also tying up Kamegai, smothering the Japanese veteran and preventing Kamegai from letting his hands fly with much consistency. Round by round Vendetti would out work Kamegai in the pocket, landing not just a significantly higher number than the Japanese fighter, but also landing the shots cleaner in what was a brilliant little inside war. It seemed like Kamegai was the heavier hitter, but struggled to get his shots go at the same volume as Vendetti. Sadly for Kamegai as the rounds went on he began to look his age. The energy we had seen him show against the likes of Jesus Soto Karass just wasn't there. A hard career, injuries and being 35 years old had began to catch up with him. He was never looking hurt, it would likely have taken Vendetti a baseball bat to have hurt Kamegai, but he was looking like a man on the slide, despite a solid round 4. It was a case that he simply couldn't keep it up as he had earlier in his career. The phone booth action was great for fans of hard hitting wars, but by the end of the 10th round there was only one winner. Kamegai had had moments, he had had some good rounds, but they were only short lived success, and there really was no way the judges could give the bout to the pre-fight favourite. Instead the judges got it right, scoring the bout 97-93 and 98-92, twice, to Vendetti, who made the most of his big opportunity. Kamegai wouldn't fight after this, retiring in November 2018 and explaining that he wasn't the fighter he had once been. As for Vendetti he would lose to Michel Soro less than 4 months after this win, but did rediscover his form after that and, at the time of writing, he is still an active fighter. Sadly though the win over Kamegai is his biggest win, by some distance. The last couple of "What a Shock" articles both focused on Japanese fighters travelling to pick up the upsets, ripping up the scripts and shocking the local fans. This time around we get the chance to focus on a fighter from the Philippines, the country that we suspect gets more upsets by their fighters than any other country. For this fight we roll the clock back just a few years and relive one of the most surprising upsets of 2015. Date May 16th 2015 Venue Auditorio Miguel Barragan, San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosí, Mexico Eden Sonsona (33-6-2, 11) Vs Adrian Estrella (22-0, 20) Filipino Southpaw Eden Sonsona is not someone we suspect many will be too familiar with, unless a Filipino reading this. The surname might be familiar, with Eden being the cousin of the enigmatic Marvin Sonsona, but Eden probably not so familiar, despite being a professional for well over a decade. Sonsona turned professional in 2004 and had success on the domestic stage, winning the GAB Super Flyweight and Bantamweight titles. Outside of the Philippines however he struggled to make an impact, losing to the likes of Kohei Kono, Silence Mabuza, Pungluang Sor Singyu and Jonathan Oquendo. His form outside of the Philippines was poor, despite a couple of wins in the US. He wasn't a bad fighter, but he was also not a particularly good one either, and by 2015 he had moved from Flyweight up to Super Featherweight, a weight that didn't seem likely to be a good one for him. In May 2015 Estrella travelled to San Luis Potosi to take on unbeaten Mexican Adrian "Diamante" Estrella. At this point Estrella was 22-0 (20), he was being matched towards a title fight and had beaten the likes of Dante Jardon and Celestino Caballero. He was holding a number of WBC regional titles and was expected to continue his charge towards a world title by winning the WBC International Silver title here against Sonsona. Estrella was a good boxer puncher, a strong fighter who was creating buzz. He was unbeaten, at home, 24 years old and the natural Super Featherweight. At the time he was likely being viewed as another potential Mexican to take on the then WBC world champion Takashi Miura, who was getting a reputation as a Mexi-killer. Given how stacked things were in favour of the naturally bigger, stronger, more powerful, younger, unbeaten local it seemed like this was going to be a foregone conclusion. Estrella was going to win. He was going to win early, make a statement, and move to within touching distance of a world title fight. Well that was what we all thought. Just seconds into the bout Estrella touched down, it was ruled a push, rightfully, but it was clear that Sonsona was feeling something and he through the first round throwing hayemakers. He caught Estrella once or twice with wild left hands but Estrella stood up to them. It was clear that Sonsona had come into the bout with the mindset "to win, I need to stop him". Despite landing some huge single shots Sonsona was out worked and Estrella had more than enough good moments himself to secure the round, even wobbling Sonsona at one point. This was a surprisingly great opening round, despite the somewhat wild offensive work of Sonsona. Roudn 2 started much like round 1 had been, with both men looking to land something big. Sadly for Estrella he was caught, big time, by a counter right hook up top from Sonsona. Estrella tried to beat the count, and got to his feet before stumbling to the corner and forcing the referee to stop the bout. He was up but out of it was he sat in his corner. With Sonsona celebrating the Mexican TV cameras kept zooming in on Jhonny Gonzalez, sat ringside, who looked in pure shock at the way his countryman had just been stopped. The victory for Sonsona should have put him in line for a big fight. He had just beaten one of the rising Super Featherweight stars of Mexico. Instead he spent more than 18 months out of the ring and picked up just 2 wins before his career began to capitulate and he went on a losing run which included two decision losses to veteran Jamie Barcelona. Whilst Sonsona failed to build on this Estrella never rebuilt his career. He scored 6 wins, the most notable of which was a close decision over a then 41 year old DeMarcus Corley before losing 4 of 5 bouts and essentially seeing his career fall apart. As we write this he is still an active fighter, but his career is certainly falling a long way short the expectations he had on his shoulders coming into this bout. A couple of weeks ago in this series we looked at a blow out win scored by a Japanese fighter on the road. This week we actually follow up with another upset by the same fighter who again went on the road, and again picked up a big stoppage win. Unlike the last "What a Shock" however this wasn't a blow out but was an even more brutal finish. Date February 3rd 2018 Venue Bolshoy Ice Dome, Adler, Russia Hurricane Futa (23-7-1, 14) Vs Vage Sarukhanyan (17-1-1-1, 4) Of course two weeks ago we looked at Hurricane Futa's win over Will Tomlinson. That was a massive upset of a fringe world level contender, and came in a "blink and you miss it" fight. The entire bout lasted just 40 seconds, and essentially ended when Futa landed the first shot of any value, sending Tomlinson down for the count. Sadly for Futa he was unable to build on that win originally, losing to Ernie Sanchez in 2017, with Futa on the wrong end of an upset there. Following his loss to Sanchez we saw Futa pick up an easy win before travelling off to Russia to face the then rising Vage Sarukhanyan. Aged 30 at this point Futa had little on his record other than the win over Tomlinson. He had been stopped by Sanchez and was 5-4 in his last 9 and 6-5 in his previous 11. He was expected to just lose against the once beaten Sarukhanyan. Whilst Sarukhanyan wasn't too well known he was a rising hopeful in Russia. He was a skilled fighter who's only set backs, a draw and a loss, had come against Igor Ivanov, with the draw being a technical draw on the basis of rainfall. Following those setbacks Sarukhanyan had reeled off 9 straight wins, including victories over Rey Laspinas, Jhertiz Chavez and Gamaliel Diaz. He seemed to be on his way to some bigger and better things and had already claimed a WBC regional title. Although not a puncher Sarukhanyan was looking like a very talented boxer, with a lot of skill and promise. At this point he was 27 and coming into his prime. He had confidence, youth, good form and home advantage. He was expected to continue his form here. From the opening round Futa seemed happy to come out swinging but was made to look crude by the light feet of Sarukhanyan who got on his toes and looked to create distance and try to neutralise Futa. To his credit however Futa was keeping the pressure on, chasing the local fighter around the ring and making Sarukhanyan work for every inch of space he could get. It was a clear sign that Futa wasn't there to be a willing loser, but was their to advance his own career, and that he was hungry to win. He did take some solid shots, eating several very good right hands from Sarukhanyan, but he never seemed to be too buzzed by them. Round 2 Futa's pressure seemed less intense, with Sarukhanyan managing to create space more often get off his work with fewer issues. It seemed like the intensity of the opening round took more from Futa than it did from Sarukhanyan but in round 3 Futa managed to show his power as he dropped Sarukhanyan for the bouts first knockdown. The knockdown came from what originally looked like a solid left hook, but on replay seemed to come from a solid headclash. Sarukhanyan got to his feet, and didn't look badly shaken, but was under intense pressure for the remainder of the round. Futa continued to take the fight to Sarukhanyan in round 4, but it was the Russian who seemed to be finding his range and landing the better shots and countering the pressure of Futa. Despite the success of Sarukhanyan he wasn't able to slow the pressure of Futa, even when he pushed him over later in the round. It seemed the plan for the Russian was to counter, move, and hope Futa would tire himself out with his own pressure. Sadly for the local fans Futa's energy reserves weren't wearing thin and he kept the pressure up, forcing Sarukhanyan to remain on the backfoot. The work wasn't always pretty from Futa but he was always pressing and always forcing the Russian fighter to work harder than he would have wanted. That began to show big time in round 6, as Sarukhanyan threw little and began to get bullied around, with Futa showing no respect at all to the Russian fighter. The lack of respect continued in round 7 as Futa began to lower his hands, trying to get Sarukhanyan to fight with fire. The tactic worked and he drew more aggression from the Russian. It was the type of fight Futa wanted and Sarukhanyan began to fight the wrong fight. That aggression saw Sarukhanyan trying to unload when Futa ended up on the ropes, at which point Futa landed a dynamite left hook, dropping Sarukhanyan, and forcing the referee to wave off the bout. The shot to end this was every bit as good as Futa's shot to stop Tomlinson, and helped secure him a minor WBC title. It was a brilliant shot and gave Futa his second big win on international soil. Since this bout Sarukhanyan has bounced back well, going 3-0-1. Sadly Futa fought only twice, beating Roy Tua Manihuruk before losing to Masayoshi Nakatani in December 2018, in an OPBF title fight. That loss to Nakatani appears to be the end for Futa who is now 33. Note - The video for this wasn't the smoothest and it does, sadly, have some pauses of several seconds. In the last few "What a Shock" articles we've looked at bouts that have gone the distance and seen the under-dog take a decision despite the odds being against them. Today we look at one of the other type of upsets, the blow outs. Whilst some blow outs are put down to fluke, or lucky punch, the reality is that a KO1 win is, in some ways, a lot more of a shock than a fighter winning a close decision against the odds. It's even more notable when the man scoring the win didn't really have a puncher's reputation, and the loser wasn't regarded as chinny. What we have today is a quick blow out that came as a genuine surprise. Date August 13th 2016 Venue Function Centre, Melbourne Park, Victoria, Australia Hurricane Futa (20-6-1, 11) Vs Will Tomlinson (25-2-1, 13) For this fight we go back to 2016 for what was described as an "enormous" upset on Australian soil between a fringe world level contender and someone who was building a reputation as a gutsy loser. What ended up happening was a huge surprise, to say the least. Coming in to the bout Australian Super Featherweight Will Tomlinson was regarded as a fringe world level guy. He had notched decent wins against the likes of Rey Labao, Malcolm Klassen, Alan Herrera and was once seen as one of the bright hopes of Australian boxing. Through his first 28 fights his only losses had come to the under-rated Jerry Belmontes and the world class Francisco Vargas, with Vargas taking him out in 8 rounds. Sadly for him he had looked poor in his two bouts following the Vargas fight, but still seen as someone who was likely to work his way back up to contention and at 30 years old was certainly not "old". He was very much seen as an exciting warrior, willing to take punishment to put on a show, and still a man with life in his career. In the opposite corner toTomlinson was Japan's Hurricane Futa. Despite the brilliant name Futa wasn't regarded as a particularly dangerous fighter, scoring just 11 stoppages in 27 bouts but he was rugged and tough. Not only had he struggled to score stoppage wins but he had been in a real rough patch in his career as well. He had gone 2-3 in his previous 5, and 3-4 in his previous 7, including a loss to the then unknown Xu Can and a loss to domestic level Japanese fighter Ippo Nishiwaki. He was seen as tough, going 12 rounds with Jhonny Gonzalez, but that was about the only thing he had going for him coming in to the bout. He lacked form, he was the naturally smaller man, having fought much of his career at Super Bantamweight and he was on foreign soil. On paper this was nothing more than another win for Tomlinson as he began to get his career back on track. Sadly for him no one told Futa he was there to lose. The bout started quickly and within seconds the two men were letting shots go. After around 15 seconds the two men were wrestling, with Tomlinson finding himself on the canvas. Almost as soon as the bout restarted a left hook from Futa landed clean on the chin of Tomlinson, sending him down for the count. After just 40 seconds Futa has scored an "enormous" upset, as the commentator put it. The shot that put Tomlinson down was a beauty, it landed clean and was one of the best punches Futa ever landed. It was also a shot that scored him his biggest win and saw him completely destroy the script within a minute. Interestingly this would turn out to be Tomlinson's final bout. He never returned to the ring after this loss, despite only being 30 at the time. Futa on the other hand would fight on, scoring another big upset against Vage Sarukhanyan in 2018, and fight for the OPBF Lightweight title later that year, losing to Masayoshi Nakatani. It seems likely that loss will be his final bout. One of the often spoke about things when it comes to predicting fights are results against shared opponents. That often forgets that styles make fights and that boxing isn't as simple as A beats B, and B beats C so A beats C. There are, through history, hundreds examples of this in play, sometimes in huge fights, sometimes in less fights and sometimes in the fights that fall somewhere between the two. Today we get to look at an example of that in what was one of the biggest upsets of 2016, and sadly one of the most forgotten upsets from the year. Date December 31st 2016 Venue Shimazu Arena Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan Yukinori Oguni (18-1-1, 7) vs Jonathan Guzman (22-0-0-1, 22) IBF Super Bantamweight champion Jonathan "Salomon King" Guzman had won the previously vacant title in July 2016, when he battered Shingo Wake into an 11th round TKO loss. The victory, in Osaka, was a massive win and a huge statement for Guzman, who proved he could travel to Japan and beat arguably their number #1 fight at 122lbs. He hadn't just beaten Wake but had legitimately smashed his face in, leaving Wake needing surgery and being a bloodied, messy pulp at the end of the bout. He returned to Japan in December to take part in one of the now hugely significant end of year shows, where he was going up against the once beaten Yukinori Oguni. Oguni was coming into his first world title bout. Prior to this he had held both the OPBF title and the Japanese title, both at Super Bantamweight. Although a skilled boxer, he lacked power, with just 7 stoppages in 20 bouts, and had suffered a notable stoppage himself to Shingo Wake. Yes, the same Shingo Wake that Guzman had battered for the IBF title just months earlier. It was assumed, doe to Oguni's lack of power, that Guzman would do the same to him as he had to Wake. Not only had Guzman stopped Wake but all 22 of his wins had come by stoppage. The Dominican was a feared fighter, and the only blotch on his record was an early career No Contest against Luis Hinojosa in 2013. Since then he had racked up 10 wins, including the one over Wake and one over the very decent Daniel Rosas. Those wins massively over shadowed Oguni's best wins, over Yasutaka Ishimoto, Taiki Minamoto and Roli Gasca. Going into the bout Oguni was priced as high as 10/1 with the UK bookmakers, whilst Guzman was 1/9 to win. This was seen as little more than a chance for Guzman to build his rpeutation and, on paper, score his 23rd stoppage win. This was supposed to be easy for the champion. Of course Oguni didn't read the script. He wasn't there to lose, he was there to become a world champion and quickly established his jab, used his reach and speed and tried to keep Guzman at range. Despite Guzman pressing, and certainly having power, he struggled to have any success in the opening round. He simply couldn't get close to Oguni for any prolonged success due to the challengers very crisp jab, the occasional follow up right hand. It wasn't until the bell to end the round that Guzman appeared to even have something to get excited about. Of course great fighters can often take the first round as a chance to scout their opponent, starting slowly, figuring their man out, and then put their foot on the gas. To his credit Guzman did step on the gas in round 2, but that didn't really help too much as once again Oguni, boxing and moving, continued to land the eye catching and consistent shots. He was tagging Guzman with consistent jabs, coming over the top with solid right hands and landing some very nice body shots. Defensively he was blocking a lot, but moving and making Guzman miss. The champion was trying to up the ante, but struggling to have success, and despite only being in round 2 looked like he was becoming a little bit desperate, but was having more success. Oguni stuck to his jab in round 3, though was starting to take more and more time in the middle of the ring. It was a change he was punished for, with Guzman going to work on him, though one that strangely worked in the end. As Guzman started to press and let his shots go, likely seeing an opportunity, Oguni landed a fantastic left to the body, and repeated it moments later, sending Guzman down. In an instant Guzman's momentum was stopped, and he spent much of the round trying to recover whilst Oguni looked land another to the midsection of the champion. What had been a good 90 seconds for Guzman, was turned on it's head by the knockdown, despite him easily beating the count. After just 3 rounds Oguni looked in control. He had, maybe, lost the second round, but with the good opening round and the knockdown in round 3, he had some breathing space. Guzman however wasn't there to lose and he came back well in round 4, to stop any possible momentum from Oguni. Despite that Oguni did land some solid body shots, trying to replicate the shot that had sent Guzman down the previous round, and landed a fantastic counter uppercut. Guzman took the shots in his stride however and tried to turn the bout into a fire fight. Oguni managed to re-establish some control in rounds 5 and 6 as he backed up Guzman, who again struggled to lane much clean. Guzman kept trying, but was falling show, whiffing at the air, and being pushed back by the clean accurate jabs of Oguni. That was until the end of round 6, when Guzman came close to stealing the round as picked up the pace on the bell and sent Oguni stumbling into the ropes. That momentum from Guzman carried over into a very good opening 2 minutes of round 7 for the champion who managed to have Oguni in trouble at one point. It seemed, for a moment, like the wheels were coming off Oguni until he landed another great body shot and had Guzman on his toes, scootching away and recovering. It was a genuinely great round, one of the best of the fight, and showed that Oguni, despite not being a puncher, could get Guzman's respect with a single well placed shot. In round 8 Oguni again went to the body of Guzman, and the champion didn't like it, backing up, going to the ropes, and looking for safety. Some how Oguni had gone from boxer using his jab, to a pressure fighter of sorts, imposing his will on a supposedly dangerous puncher. On the back foot Guzman looked really poor, and Oguni was starting to show just how Guzman hated to be bullied. Guzman, who was cut, was then inspected at the start of round 9. That was another round where Oguni's body shots really bothered Guzman, with one about a minute in landing in a way that would have dropped lesser men. Guzman has flashes in the round, but they were few and far between with Oguni taking the play away every time Guzman had some success. With his title slipping away Guzman likely went into round 10 knowing he needed to turn it around. Sadly for him he was on the wrong end of more Oguni body shots, almost doubling over at one point from them. He battled through though and ended up having a very good bounce back round, despite the poor start to it. By now however it was clear that Guzman's power simply wasn't effective Oguni as it had with Wake, and he was seemingly too tired, too broken down from the body shots, to keep up any intensity. In round 11 we again saw Guzman going to the canvas from body shots. The shot was ruled low by the referee, Eddie Claudio, though it was very clear on replay that the show was a clean one. Even disregarding what should have been a legitimate knockdown, Guzman looked a beaten man and was on the receiving end of one of the worst rounds of the fight. With the botched call from the referee Guzman was given recovery time, and he milked it, needing it. When the bout did continue Guzman was again on the back foot. Between rounds 11 and 12 a replay of the "low blow" was shown in the venue, and it made very clear the referee had made the wrong call. Regardless Oguni wasn't letting his chance slip and once again he backed up Guzman, made the champion miss, made his fight the wrong fight, and made the supposedly dangerous Dominican look scared and worried of the , supposedly, light punching Japanese challenger. After 12 rounds we went to the scorecards, and those backers of Oguni at 10/1 would have been delighted. He had put on a very surprisingly performance, out boxing, out punching, hurting and dropping the champion. Guzman wasn't embarrassed, but was clearly second best overall. That was shown on the cards which were 115-112 to Oguni from all 3 judges . Sadly for Oguni his reign was an under-whelming one. He had put in the performance of a life time here, ripped up the script, shattered the odds, but lost the belt just 9 months later to Ryosuke Iwasa. As for Guzman he would vanish for almost 2 years following this loss before returning with a decision win over journeyman Roberto Castaneda. |
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