When researching for these articles we can quite often forget just how many upsets take place. Whilst some are huge shocks, that we talk about years later, others are more reminders of the unpredictable nature of professional boxing. Today we look at one of those notable, but often forgotten, upsets. This one is from 2012 and took place in Japan between a reigning champion, who looked like he was finding his groove in the sport, and a 31 year old who had suffered 9 losses, with 5 of those coming by stoppage. Date October 27th 2012 Venue Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo, Japan Takahiro Ao (23-2-1, 10) Vs Gamaliel Diaz (37-9-2, 17) Highly regarded when he turned professional Takahiro Ao was one of the big hopes for the Teiken Gym in the 00's and early 10's. He had been moved relatively well and in 2009 he had claimed the WBC Featherweight title, before losing in his first defense against Elio Rojas. He then moved up in weight and in 2010 he had taken the WBC Super Featherweight title, dethroning Vitali Tajbert. As a champion Ao had defended the belt 3 times, over-coming some good fighters, like Devis Boschiero and Terdsak Kokietgym. He looked like he was finally living up to the early promise that had excited Japanese fans and he looked like he was going to be one of the major players in the division. In his 4th defense Ao was up against Mexican veteran Gamaliel Diaz. Diaz had suffered 9 losses, he was 31, he had been stopped 5 times, including losses to Ao's friend and Teiken stablemate Jorge Linares as well as Humberto Soto, who had dominated Diaz in an interim title fight. Although a number of Diaz's losses had come early in his career, and he had scored 13 wins in a row, he had never notched a win of real note and relevance. In fact his run of 13 straight wins included 4 over fighters with double digit losses. On paper this was supposed to be an easy defense for Ao against a voluntary who was fairly limited but highly ranked by the WBC. It was supposed to be another defense for the Japanese fighter who was supposedly in his prime at 28 and was looking for bigger fights down the line. From the first round the cagey challenger was using his jab well, setting an odd rhythm and making Ao follow him around the ring. Diaz was using his vast experience smartly, making Ao work to close the distance and repeatedly forcing he champion to rest. Ao really had no success in the opening round until there was about 45 seconds left, and even that was minimal at best. Ao was missing, chasing, and working hard for no real success, whilst Diaz was picking his spots, landing clean and solid shots, something he continued to do in round 2. In round 3 Ao actually got something of a break as referee Ian John Lewis got involved for the first time, and punished Diaz for an accidental headclash, taking a point from the challenger. Despite Diaz losing a point he still won the round, causing a 9-9 round, and left Ao with some swelling around one of his eyes. With a good start behind him Diaz wasn't in a rush to let Ao back into the fight and rocked him with a straight right hand in round 4. It was a round that showed Diaz's confidence was building, it was as if it dawned on him that Ao had no answer for his skills, shots and movement. In round 5 Diaz was again deducted a point, this time for low blows, as Ian John Lewis tried to do what he could to help out the local champion. It seemed that if Diaz was going to win, he had to be cleaner than clean for the rest of the fight. He had had 2 point deducted in 5 rounds and it was clear the referee wasn't there to do him any favours at all. The fifth round also saw the open scoring being put into effect, with Diaz leading on two of the cards, 38-37 and 39-36, with the third card some how having Ao up 38-37. Despite being down Ao actually had a solid round 6, putting his foot on the gas more and although he didn't amaze anyone, he did stem the tide that had been going against him. He seemed to find a new gear, connect more and straighten up his shots. It was a much improved round from the champion, who did need it after his rather poor start. The good round 6 from the champion saw him trying to keep it up in round 7, which caused a response from Diaz, who tried to match him. During the round Ao was left with blood trickling from his left eye, which was starting to close. It seem just as Diaz was starting to get some momentum, he had had it stopped. Diaz also managed to show his ability to bully the champion dumping him on the seat of his pants with a push right at the end of the round. In round 8 Ao's started well again, before his facial damage saw him being taken over to the doctor. The bout was allowed to continue, but it was clear that he had once again had some momentum stopped. He was also now fighting with a severe damage around the left side of his face. Notably this was, at least partly, due to a nasty clash of heads. A worse clash than the one Diaz had been deducted for in round 3, with Ian John Lewis showing pretty clear inconsistencies. Another head clash early in round 9 further worsened the damage on Ao's face. By the end of the round Diaz was himself cut, from what appeared to be a straight left hand as Ao finally managed to damage the veteran. Once again we saw the open scoring in effect in round 9, with scored of 76-74 across the board, two of those cards favouring Diaz and one, some how, going with Ao. It was now all to play for, with 4 rounds left, and just 2 points separating the two men. Those cards, even with the deductions, seemed closer than the reality of the fight, and the card in favour of Ao seemed awful. It was hard to make a case for Ao having 2 rounds, never mind half of the completed 8. Ao seemed to feel like his title was slipping away, something his team would have relayed after the 9th round, and he began to press more in round 10. He was however continually struggling with the jab of Diaz, who used it to set up his straight right hand, and Diaz also smothered up close. It wasn't pretty from the Mexican, but was a smart tactic from a veteran who was landing shots and neutralising the champion. Ao's already swollen and bloodied face became an even bigger mess in round 11, as he looked to put his foot on the gas and the two men often came too close. Not only did the men clash up close, but Diaz also made Ao pay when they were getting close and when he was getting out. By now the bout was a mess and the coming together Ao's face was becoming more and more of a mess, requiring a second doctor inspection late in the round. Now he was forced to fight desperate, and fight through immense pain. Diaz seemingly feeling confident he had the rounds in the bag, made the final round an absolute mess, hitting and holding, wrestling, spoiling, leaning on, smothering and generally stopping Ao from having any success. Although the final few rounds were a mess, they were rounds the judges seem to feel Diaz deserved. His tactics were certainly not fan friendly, but they were effective, and after 12 rounds the judges all agreed that he deserved the win, scoring the bout 114-112, twice, and 115-111. In fairness, despite the deductions, they were probably as close scores as we could have had. Sadly for Diaz a return to Japan saw him being battered by Takashi Miura, who reclaimed the title for Japan, and began a downfall for the Mexican, who went 2-11-1 after this win. That included a loss in a rematch to Ao in 2018. Ao on the other hand went 5-0-0-1, including not only the rematch with Diaz but also a win over Juan Carlos Salgado. For those interested in their rematch, we would advise avoiding it. By then both men were shot to pieces and it showed.
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When we talk about the Heavyweight division we really do talk about one of the strangest divisions. The size disparity in some of the fights in the division is frankly ridiculously and the term "David Vs Goliath" can be used in the division in a way it can't be used in any other. It's pretty much the only division in the sport where we can see the height difference between two fighters being a foot, if not more. Sure some divisions have freaks, we're looking at you Sebastian Fundora, but they are one of off's, whilst the Heavyweight division has a lot of variation in size and shape. Today we are looking are looking at one of the notable David Vs Goliath bouts. The fight may not have been the most exciting, but it sure was a notable event, and an upset. Date April 14th 2007 Venue Porsche-Arena, Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Ruslan Chagaev (22-0-1, 17) vs Nikolay Valuev (46-0, 34) We don't tend to think of Asian fighters making a mark at Heavyweight but that's exactly what Ruslan Chagaev did, both in the professional ranks and the amateurs. Following a successful amateur career he committed to professional boxing, albeit not until he had gone back and forth between the two codes. By spring 2007 he was a rising contender in the professional ranks and had earned a place as the WBA's #1 ranked contender. At that point he was 28 years old and although a very talented southpaw, and an unbeaten one at that, he had struggled against Volodymyr Vyrchys and John Ruiz. Stood at just 6'1" and with a 74" wingspan Chagaev was seen as being on the smaller side for a Heavyweight, but was still well regarded. Despite being small few, if any, fighters dwarfed him quite like 7'0" behemoth Nikolay Valuev, the then WBA champion and the man that Chagaev was needing to face. At this point the 33 year old Valuev was looking like man that the money men were angling to break the 49-0 record of Rocky Marciano. He was 46-0 and had defended the belt 3 times, all by stoppage. Not only was Valuev a giant unbeaten man, but he also seemed to have key players behind him, that seemed like they were pulling strings to keep his unbeaten record intact. That had seen him take close wins over Larry Donald and John Ruiz, and it was assumed that if he was still standing he would get the decision against anyone. In terms of his boxing skills he was limited, slow, and fought at a low pace, but he was also a genuine behemoth in the land giants. He was over 300lbs, an awkward guy to get close to, with huge arms and when up close he could exhausted fighters by clinching them and leaning on them. Although very limited, he was so awkward that he managed to be a very, very hard man to beat. Heading into the bout Valuev was the betting favourite. It was assumed that even if he "lost" he would get the decision. All he had to do was make it close enough to give the judges a nudge. Given his size advantages, and with the bout taking place in Germany that wasn't expected to be too much of an issue. From very, very early on we knew this wasn't going to be very exciting. From the off Chagaev, who looked like a child in comparison to Valuev, was trying to stay away, use his speed, and not allow Valuev to hold him. Valuev, who took the center of the ring, followed Chagaev, but lacked the mobility to really close the distance, and instead applied rather slow by deliberate pressure. Although not exciting it was an interesting first round that saw Chagaev trying to figure out the giant, and have some success late in the opening round. It was a close round but one where Chagaev's class in the final 45 seconds or so proved to be the difference. The pattern of the first round set the style for a number of rounds. What Chagaev was doing, to neutralise, the giant was smart, toying with his lead hand, countering, drawing mistakes and relying on his amateur background. Despite that though Chagaev wasn't exactly wowing audience, instead he was taking a cautious approach to the action, creating additional space and making Valuev follow him and making Valuev miss, a lot. To his credit the big man kept plodding forward, pressing and showed surprising energy for someone so big. He kept throwing out the jab, and kept the pressure on. Sadly for himself the jab, against a southpaw, wasn't an effective weapon, despite his reach. After 4 rounds he seemed to bow his head and looked a little dejected at the way the fight was going. Despite his effort he was having very limited success and eating some solid left hands from the challenger. By the the end of round 6 it was clear that Chagaev wasn't going to hurt Valuev, who he had caught clean with some really solid left hands, but that he had also piled up the points with some very effective, if unexciting, boxing. He was fighting to a tailor made game plan and it was working marvellously against the clumsy but game Russian champion. It was however a game plan that was always going to be a tough one to keep to mentally, especially given the success he was having and the sheer amount of movement he had to do to control the bout on the back foot. In round 7, for the first time, we began to see cracks in Chagaev's game plan, as he got too close, letting Valuev clinch him a couple of times. Chagaev also ended up trapped in the corner once or twice as Valuev managed to have some genuine success. The success of Valuev in round 7 may not have been quite enough to take him the round but he built on it and had a very good round 8, snapping Chagaev's head back with a jab early in the round and having success through out. It seemed like the giant champion was finally turning the tide and that maybe, just maybe, Chagaev was starting to feel the effects of Valuev's constant pressure. Despite seemingly building some momentum Valuev's success was thwarted in round 9, with Valuev looking slower and less energetic than he had in the previous two rounds. The pressure was still there but there wasn't as effective, and instead it was Chagaev's clean left hands catching the eye. As we went into the final 3 rounds it seemed clear that Valuev was going to have to step on it. At worst it seemed like Chagaev needed just 1 rounds to secure a decision, though from the first 9 it was quite possible to have already given him 7. Things then got worse for Valuev as Chagaev put on one of his tidiest rounds for a while and forced Valuev to back off at one point, essentially securing the round and the bout on the scorecards. With more than enough rounds in the bank Chagaev then got super negative in round 11, making the action messy, spitting out his gum shield, and being as risk averse as possible. Although he was negative through out he was more so in round 11, trying to counter less. It was clear that was feeling the bout, his legs not as quick as they were earlier. He wasn't being dominated, not by any stretch, but he was certainly throwing fewer full blooded left hands than earlier in the bout and looking to "old man" Valuev, who finished the round very nicely. Despite some nice flashes in the final round, Chagaev again seemed happy to keep the tempo slower and tie up when he needed to, smartly doing it so late in the bout that there was no real chance for Valuev's bulk to tire him. It was a really messy round to finish the fight but it was the sort of round that worked fine for Chagaev and his early lead. After 12 rounds Chagaev celebrated, knowing he was deserving of the win. Valuev on the other hand went back to his corner looking dejected and exhausted. Despite Chagaev having done some great work, there was always the risk of him being robbed on the cards, especially given the relatively strong finish for Valuev. It was something that Chagaev and his corner didn't seem to consider. They seemed to have felt he dominated the bout and did so in a way that he couldn't be robbed. Despite Chagaev seemingly winning the bout with ease the first card was read out as 114-114, drawing huge boos, the second score was 115-113, a card that felt all too close, then the third card came in 117-111. The bout was a majority decision...with Chagaev being announced as the new champion. The win wasn't just a solid upset, without being a massive one, but was also a massive moment for Asian boxing, with Chagaev, from Uzbekistan, becoming the first Asian to win a Heavyweight title. Sadly Chagaev's reign was a terrible one with two defenses in 2 years before a rematch with Valuev was cancelled and Chagaev would then lose to Wladimir Klitschko. Despite how poor his reign was this win, this fight, this moment was huge for Chagaev and for Uzbek boxing. It would take until 2019 for another Uzbek fighter to win a world title, when Murodjon Akhmadaliev took the WBA and IBF Super Bantamweight titles with a huge win over Daniel Roman. One of the great things we've been able to do since we began this site was get an insight on a number of Asian fighters before they manage to have a chance to fight on a global scene. Whilst a good number of fighters we talk about won't fight in the US or the UK, a handful will, and have. That insight can lead us to getting excited about contests that others perhaps aren't as excited about as others. We covered one of those previously in a "What a Shock", when we looked at Rey Loreto's win over Nkosinathi Joyi, but that isn't a one off and today we get to cover another such upset. Date March 18th 2017 Venue Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, USA Fight Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (42-4-1, 39) Vs Roman Gonzalez (46-0, 38) I In March 2017 little known Thai Srisaket Sor Rungvisai made his US debut taking on pound-for-pound king, and defending WBC Super Flyweight champion, Roman Gonzalez. Going into the bout few thought this was anything more than a mismatch. The unbeaten Gonzalez was the face of the little men at the time, the Nicaraguan had become only the second fighter in history to win world titles at Minimumweight, Light Flyweight, Flyweight and Super Flyweight. He had not just accomplished that feat but had done so whilst compiling a 46-0 (38) record and beating a real who's who of modern day little men. These included Yutaka Niida, Katsunari Takayama, Juan Francisco Estrada, Francisco Rodriguez Jr, Akira Yaegashi, Edgar Sosa, Brian Viloria and Carlos Cuadras. A resume worthy of a Hall of Fame position. Not only was Gonzalez beating top fighters but, for the most part, he was destroying fighters. He was an offensive machine, with sharp combinations, heavy shots, smart offensive movement, an ability to close distance at will and he was just fantastic. He was really highly skilled offensively minded fighter with power taking on the best. Everything a fight fan should appreciate. Srisaket on the other hand was an unknown outside of the most hardcore of hardcore fans. Despite being a relative unknown we were lucky enough to have seen a number of his bouts prior to this and knew what to expect. He had proven to be an offensive tank. He had faced some very limited competition, and made light work of them whilst staying busy, but he had also showed what he could do against world class talent. In 2013 he had battered defending WBC world champion Yota Sato into submission, in a hugely impressive performance, he had been in the ascendancy when Jay Nady stopped his bout with Carlos Cuadras in 2014, giving Cuadras the technical decision, and had earned a second shot in 2015 when he had smashed Jose Salgado. Despite earning a shot following the win over Salgado the WBC weren't quick to enforce his mandatory fight, and Carlos Cuadras was in no rush to face him. As a result it took almost 2 years for Srisaket to get a shot at reclaiming the title. In the ring Srisaket isn't, and wasn't at the time, the quickest, the smartest, or the smoothest, with some very questionable balance issues. That however ignores what he is, which is incredibly strong, huge at the weight, a powerful tough, heavy handed southpaw with impressive stamina. He's the sort of fighter that you look at and think he should be easy to beat, until you see him pressing and pressuring and landing his thudding, brutal heavy shots. For most this was a formality for Gonzalez. Another win for Gonzalez, and one against a Thai with a padded record and no name value. For others, those who had followed Srisaket, this was a potential banana skin for the "Chocolatito". Gonzalez was the smaller man, by far, his style looked suited to Srisaket and this would be his first bout in years without Arnulfo Obando in his corner, following Obando's death in 2016. The ingredients were in play for a shock and that's what we got. The opening stages of the fight saw Srisaket show some respect to Gonzalez and see what the Nicaraguan legend had. As the round grew however Srisaket's confidence began to grow as well and he began to land some solid left hands whilst barely flinching at what he was being hit with. Within just 2 minutes was obvious that the natural size difference was going to be issue and soon afterwards Gonzalez was dropped, securing the Thai a huge 10-8 round to begin the bout. Those over-looking the Thai were suddenly sitting up and taking note. Srisket's good start continued to grow in round 2, as he began to force his will on Gonzalez. We were seeing a man doe to Gonzalez what we had seen Gonzalez do to so many others, and push him back, bully him, and win the inside war. We had saw Gonzalez show flashes of his genius but the round was another for the Thai. Srisaket then came out firing left hands to begin round 3 as Gonzalez struggled with the unorthodox approach, size, freakish physicality and southpaw left of Srisaket. A headbutt, leaving Gonzalez cut over the right eye, didn't help things either. It was an accidental clash, from the southpaw-righty dynamic, but did seem to break Gonzalez's momentumn just was he was starting to build it. To his credit Gonzalez did managed to find his groove again before the round was over. In round 4, for the first time, we seemed to see Gonzalez rock Srisaket, but the Thai refound his balance before the two men began to go to war on the inside. The skills of Gonzalez, as always, were a joy, landing the cleaner, more effective punches, but they were taken easily by Srisaket who's own shots seemed to much more powerful, and he would manage to get Gonzalez onto the ropes and cover up. It wasn't silky skills controlling from Srisaket but was his sheer presence giving Gonzalez problems, despite Gonzalez landing some huge bombs through the round. From here on we got something special from both men. Gonzalez was fighting like a man on fast forward, easily out speeding, out punching and out moving the slower clumsier Thai. For Srisaket however when he was landing Gonzalez was feeling it, every shot landed by Srisaket seemed to lift Gonzalez or force him backwards. It made for an amazing action fight with awesome 2-way action. In round 6 the headclashes, which were accidental and came due to both men wanting to be on the front foot and exacerbated by the stances, saw Srisaket being given a warning. That seemed to inspire a new gear from Gonzalez, who really picked up his pace. That was until late in the round when Srisaket was actually deducted a point for the headclashes, with the headclash leaving Gonzalez a bloodied mess. That, along with a strong round 5, helped Gonzalez battle his way back into the contest after his worrying start, and it seemed like Srisaket was maybe starting to fade just as Gonzalez was moving into top gear. Despite seeming to lose the play Srisaket then began to find his second wind in round 7, backing up Gonzalez and putting his foot on the gas once again. He began to let his shots got when Gonzalez was up close, and managed to land his solid left hooks. The pressure from Gonzalez was being used against him as Srisaket picked his moments and fought more intelligently than we expected. Gonzalez still showed touches of brilliance but Srisaket could see blood and seemed to hurt Gonzalez late in the round. That lead to a string of strong rounds from Srisaket who seemed to realise that his very early success had been erased from round 3 to round 6 by the brilliance of Gonzalez. Before we started round 9 both men were looked at in the corner by medical staff, before the bout resumed and we got more of these tiny titans unloading huge shots on each other. Once again we saw a smarter gameplan from Srisaket than we expected, with the Thai backing off at times and made Gonzalez come to get him, picking his spots, and then rocking Gonzalez on to his heels. For a man who had impressed us with his pressure against Sato this was footwork we weren't expecting from Srisaket, who choose when the men stood and traded and when there was going to be separation. With blood pouring out of Gonzalez face, from the cut right eye, the Nicaraguan showed amateur heart to continue marching forward, taking the fight to Srisaket in an exciting round 10 and then again in round 11. Whilst each round was hard fought and competitive these two seemed like they were among the most competitive and may well have been the two rounds that, essentially, decided the fight. All 3 judges gave them to the Thai. With the bout being ultra close we went into the final round and surprisingly it was the champion who got into top gear. The round started in fantastic fashion with toe-to-toe action, with big shots being thrown once again. The great start didn't last and when Gonzalez seemed to build some momentum we saw Srisaket get on the retreat. With around 90 seconds of the round remaining the Thai seemed confident that he had done enough, electing to spoil, hold and move before trying to steal the round late on. What maybe wasn't clear at the time, though was after the bell, was that Srisaket had also been busted open in the round, with blood dripping from his right eye, likely from other minor but regular headclashes. After 12 rounds of incredibe Super Flyweight super action we went to the scorecards. Scores of 114-112, twice were read out along with a score of 113-113. Thankfully for the Thai, and for the sake of this article, the two 114-112 scores favoured Srisaket, who scored one of the most significant upsets in recent years. The call of "New" sent Thai commentators into fits of joy, and the fans of the lower weights into shock. Following the bout there was much discussion over the scoring, the headclashes, and the WBC's own accidental foul rule, which if applied properly would likely have resulted in Srisaket having an extra point deducted. The controversy was, to some extent, put to bed when the two men rematched, with Srisaket stopping Gonzalez in 4 rounds to retain his title. He then added a major win over Juan Francisco Estrada, though lost a rematch to the Mexican. Amazingly Gonzalez bounced back from the two losses to the Thai to claim the WBA title with a stoppage win over Kal Yafai, to claim yet another world title and further enhance his legendary status as one of the finest smaller weight fighters of all time. Sadly this bout did kill a mooted dream fight between Gonzalez and Naoya Inoue, with any hope of seeing Inoue against Srisaket dashed by the WBC playing mandatory catch up, due to the long wait Srisaket had had. Instead of seeing that bout we ended up with Srisaket being mandated to face Gonzalez, then Estrada, with Inoue announcing himself on the Bantamweight scene rather than sticking around at Super Flyweight. For those interested we found some odds available for this bout: Gonzalez 1/11 to win Srisaket 13/1 to win Draw 35/1 One of the things about upsets is that they can sometimes upset the commentary teams, and studio scores, who seem confounded at the way they have scored the bout. Today we look at one such bout, which saw the TV judges score the bout very much one way, whilst the judges themselves failed to agree with the commentators. In fact the judges had it shut out the other way! Date August 11th 2007 Venue Arco Arena, Sacramento, California, USA Fight Michael Domingo (30-16-3, 14) Vs Miguel Roman (22-0, 16) Filipino fighter Michael Domingo had fought 39 times before making his US debut in 2007, at the age of 27. By this point Domingo was a tried and tested regional level journeyman who was known to be able to pick up wins, but had lost 16 of his previous 39 bouts and had been beaten in 2 of his previous 3 bouts. Outside of his native Philippines he had only ever picked up wins in South Korea and Indonesia, failing to win a single bout in Japan and Thailand, where he had frequently visited. In the opposite corner to the Filipino veteran was unbeaten Mexican fighter Miguel Roman, a 21 year old prospect who was looking to score his 4th win of 2007 and his 23rd successive win. Although he was a talented Mexican he had started to make a name for himself in the US, where he had already picked up 4 wins. In the eyes of many he looked like he was going to be a future world champion and that Domingo, who had already been stopped 7 times, was just going to be the next speed bump on Roman's road to the top. What was supposed to be another quick win for Roman ended up not going the way he had expected. From the opening round Roman came forward whilst Domingo used his experience to block much of Roman's shots whilst looking to box behind his jab. The aggression was from Roman, but it was, for the most part, ineffective with Domingo regularly returning fire when Roman did have success. Despite the nature of the round the commentators we have here gave the round to Roman, favouring his aggression. Round 2 saw the tempo of the bout pick up, with both men going to war more frequently. Roman was again the more aggressive man in their but was often countered, forced to chase, and had to cope with the smart work of Domingo, who create space, caught Roman coming in and then repeated things. Roman certainly seemed to be landing the harder single shots, but seemed to be struggling to land with consistency. It was a lot of effort with little success for the talented Mexican. Roman began to change things in round 3, using his jab more early on and tried to box more. It was a bad idea and became an easier round for Domingo, who was the much more talented boxer. Although Roman boxed more he did, still, come forward at times, though he was looking frustrated and like he was getting annoyed by the Filipino who kept fighting back, unlike many of Roman's opponents. Although Roman had boxed early in the round both men went to the bell unloading in a great back and forth sequence to close out the round. The TV analyst scoring the bout for Mexican TV had Roman leading 29-28 at the end of round 3, giving Domingo round 3 alone. The seemed to be scoring to the more aggressive man, despite the lack of substance at times. Roman certainly wasn't getting battered, but he was being made to look clumsy at times, and was struggling to land clean with consistency. That proved to be the case again in round 4, with Roman coming forward, and eating shots on the way in, regularly hitting air, and really struggling to make his pressure count. He landed some great shots, but they were few and far between with the youngster again struggling to make an impact on a man he was expected to stream roll. In round 5 Roman's footwork was slowing, he was essentially walking forward. Although he was active up close he was still struggling to land clean and effective shots. What he landed looked powerful, but there was no consistency and his combinations were rarely landing with success, often only a single punch or two from any string of shots. Domingo was also starting to falter at times, but was much more consistent, making Roman miss and letting his own shots go, knocking out Roman's gumshield late on. Going into the final round the commentators had Roman in a clear lead, as we ended up getting the round of the fight. The pace picked up again as both men let their hands go. It seemed a better round, at least at times, for Roman who managed to get Domingo to fight his fight, but Domingo still managed to create space, essentially old man Roman, and kill the momentum that Roman was building before the Mexican could come close to hurting him. Of all the rounds this seemed to be the one that Roman put his foot on the gas for, as if he realised he was in need of a big push to get over the line. With commentary for Mexican TV scoring the bout clearly in favour scoring the bout 59-55 for Roman one would assume it was an easy win for Roman but the judges went the opposite way, scoring it a shut out for Domingo. A decision that drew a "WOW" from the Mexican commentary team. Interestingly the entire show, despite being in the US, was a Philippines Vs Mexico card, with this bout having 3 American judges. The only Filipino on the show to lose was Rey Bautista, who was blown out in a round by Daniel Ponce De Leon. Sadly for Domingo this win wasn't turned into a world title fight, and instead he went 11-2 before retiring after a 2012 win over Mudde Robinson Ntambi. As for Roman he's still active and became one of the sports must watch fighters, despite losing a dozen subsequent bouts after this one. Roman has gone on to face a genuine who's who with bouts against Jorge Solis, Miguel Beltran Jr, Jonathan Victor Barros, Javier Fortuna, Antonio DeMarco, Juan Carlos Salgado, Daniel Ponce De Leon, Takashi Miura, Orlando Salido, Miguel Berchelt and Tomas Rojas. For hardcore fans of the sport Roman has become a must watch fighter, with his toughness and will to win. Sadly despite a huge win here Domingo is a bit of a forgotten name, but this is, without a doubt, his career defining result. One of the many things we're guilty of here is focusing on professional boxing so much and ignoring amateur boxing. That's something we're going to try and change in the future and feature more amateur bouts in our various series. Today we're going to do that by bringing a major upset from the 2011 World Amateur Championships in Baku. Date October 4th 2011 Venue Baku, Azerbiajan Fighters Laishram Devendro vs Carlos Quipo Coming in to the tournament Ecuadorian fighter Carlos Quipo was regarded as one of the competition's favourites at Light Flyweight. He was one of the 8 seeds, who got a bye into the second round, and was regarded as being one of the fighters with real medal potential. He was 21 years old but had been competing at a high level in the amateur ranks for years. His amateur achievements coming into this competition included a Gold medal at the 2010 Pan Am Games, a Silver medal at the 2010 South American Games and in 2009 he had reached the last 16 at the World Amateur Championships, losing to eventual silver medal winner David Ayrapetyan. Quipo's second opponent at the Championships was little known Indian Laishram Devendro. Singh was a relative unknown with his biggest achievement up to this point being a Silver medal at the Asian Youth Championships. He had done very, very little else on the international stage, often being beaten in his first or second bout. Whilst he had fought on the international stage a few times he had struggled badly, and was eliminated from the 2010 AIBA Youth World Championships by Naoya Inoue. Looking at the draw this bout was supposed to be the logical step forward to a bout between Quipo and talented Korean Shin Jong Hun, who had taken a bronze medal at the 2009 World Amateur Championships. No one told Laishram he wasn't supposed to take this opportunity to shine. From the off Laishram came forward, pressing and pressuring the more experienced, and technically more skilled man from Ecuador. Despite the skills of the Ecuadorian he was often on the back foot, throwing little and fighting a negative fight. It wasn't like either was letting their hands go a lot in the first round but the eye catching work was coming from the Indian fighter who had the lead at the end of the round. Quipo responded well to being behind, picking up the pace early in round 2 but he failed to keep the pace up as Laishram's heavy hooks got him back into the into the bout. Laishram seemed to drop Quipo mid way through the round, though it was ruled as a slip. Despite that call from the referee the confidence of the Indian was growing and by the end of the round he was in a clear lead, leaving Quipo with a lot to do. With the scores against him heading into round 3 Quipo knew he was in a hole. He knew he had to take it to Laishram and to his credit Quipo did do better in round 3 than he had in the first 2 rounds, taking advantage of a tiring Laishram. Although he did better it was no where near good enough from Quipo to over-come the clear deficit he was in going into the round. Sadly for Laishram he was unable to build on this big win, losing in the following round to Shin Jong Hun. Thankfully however this wasn't the last we heard of him, and Laishram did go on to compete at the 2012 Olympics and went on to win a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth games. One of the problems we have with this site is being so focused on what happens with traditional boxing countries, such as Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines, and often missing what goes involving fighters from Central and Western Asia. The reality is that until recently Central Asia was very much a region that dominated amateur boxing, something we don't really focus much on, and that Western Asia has really lacked notable boxers in number. Despite that there are some fighters from both that have stood out, and Central Asia is certainly set to become a massive player in the professional ranks. Today we get the chance to look an upset caused by an Iranian fighter in the UK, in what is a bit of a rarity, but something that is worthy of attention. Date July 7th 2001 Venue Velodrome, Manchester, Lancashire, England Fighters Mehrdud Takaloo (16-2, 12) vs Anthony Farnell (26-0, 17) British born Iranian Mehrdud Takaloo is one of the very, very few Iranian fighters who has left a mark on the sport of professional boxing. Saying that however he did that by essentially becoming a force on the British scene from 1997 to 2011, becoming a major player on the British Light Middleweight scene. Early on however that never seemed likely and he lost 2 of his first 7 bouts. By 1999 he was 5-2 (3) but rebuilt well with 11 wins, albeit mostly against limited opponents, before taking on the hugely popular Anthony Farnell. In the summer of 2001 Anthony Farnell, known as the "Warrior", was one of a number of fighters from the North West of England creating a lot of buzz. There was Farnell, and there was also Jamie Moore, Michael Gomez, Michael Jennings and a little ginger haired fellow called Ricky Hatton. It was expected that British boxing in, and around, Manchester was set to be huge over the following decade and that it would become one of the hubs of the British boxing scene thanks to all the talent that was coming through at the same time. Although not all that talented managed to reach the top they generated a lot of buzz and huge fans in the Manchester Velodrome. With a 26-0 record Anthony Farnell was seen as being on the verge of a big fight. First however he was going up against Takaloo for the lightly regarded, and vacant, WBU Light Middleweight title. Coming into the fight Farnell, fighting at home in Manchester, was the betting favourite, priced at 2/5 to win. Takaloo was a live under-dog at 7/4 as they entered the bout, but still a clear under-dog. From the off Takaloo came out firing to the body, Farnell tried to cover up but the first 30 seconds or so saw Takaloo really ripping to the mid-section and landing them clean. Farnell managed to have some success with his jab but every time he had a moment Takaloo seemed to take the play away from him in a good opening 90 seconds. The good start got even better for Takaloo when he managed to land a gorgeous right uppercut on Farnell's chin, dropping the previously unbeaten man. To his credit Farnell got to his feet, but Takaloo had no intention of letting his opening go, and unloaded on Farnell with huge head shots. At the bout's end the fans booed. whilst Ian Darke, doing commentary for Sky Sports stated "Nobody thought that could happen" and "The Kent based Iranian has scored the most astonishing victory." Whilst not the biggest upset ever the result, and the nature of the win, was a genuine shock. One of the great things about boxing is the fighters who can consistently surprise us, despite being regularly written off. It's strange how many of these fighters come from the Philippines, where many fighters seem to pick a lot of losses, but also pick up more than their share of upsets. Numerous Filipino fighters pick up losses early in their career, whilst developing their skills, and suffering other losses by taking fights on short notices and in weight classes that they aren't best suited for. When they are up for fights, well trained and fighting at their best weight they can be genuine banana skins and we see this regular, both in Asia and when they travel further afield. Today we look at one such upset. Date May 18th 2018 Venue Bangkok University, Thonburi Campus, Bangkok, Thailand Fighters Stamp Kiatniwat (19-1, 7) Vs Jaysever Abcede (15-8, 10) In one corner was Thai youngster Stamp Kiatniwat, a talented young fighter who many in Thailand had tipped as a future world champion. He had made his debut at the age of 15 and had won the WBA "interim" Flyweight title in 2015, when he took a decision win over Gregorio Lebron at the age of 17. He had defended that title once, in a rematch against Lebron, before losing in a bout for the full WBA title against Kazuto Ioka, in what was a surprisingly tough bout for the Japanese star. Although Stamp lost to Ioka he was expected to bounce back and remain a good world level contender and go on to become a world champion some where down the line. After 4 wins, following his loss to Ioka, Stamp took on Filipino southpaw Jaysever Abcede. Coming in to the bout it was known that Abcede could upset fighters, as he did against Pigmy Kokietgym in 2015, but was also not the best out there. In fact in his previous 7 bouts before facing Stamp he had gone 3-4 with stoppage losses to Lito Dante and Tsubasa Koura, and decision losses against Wanheng Menayothin and Ivan Soriano. He was, essentially, seen a game but smaller fighter, who was getting beaten up by Minimumweights and should have been no real threat to a big, strong, young Flyweight like Stamp Kiatniwat. What few considered coming into the bout was that Abcede was suffering losses against Minimumweights because he was a natural Flyweight boiling down in weight. Although some fans want to suggest that there's nothing between those lower weights the difference can be huge on a fighter. A fighter who is a natural Flyweight boiling down to 105lbs, or even 108lbs, can lose a lot. It appears that has long been part of issue with Abcede. No one knew that at the time. The bout started slowly, with both men getting a feel of the other. Within a minute of the fight starting Abcede began to look more confident, coming forward, throwing straight shots and applying simple but effective pressure. There was nothing too amazing about his work, but he was out landing and out working the younger man. Stamp looked the quicker fighter, but also the much smaller man, and he was forced to take some solid straight left hands from Abcede. The success from the Filipino saw him look to make the round clear as he put on the jets late on and made it almost impossible for anyone to score it to Stamp. In round 2 we saw Abcede build on his success, quickly taking what was left of Stamp's confidence as the local began to find himself being backed on to the ropes. Stamp then began to fight like a desperate fighter. The tactic from Stamp failed to get respect from Abcede, who pressed more, backing him on to the ropes again and let his shots go. The Filipino then dropped Stamp with a sneaky left hand to the body as the two squared up, and the Thai failed to beat the count as Abcede scored a career best win. Since this bout Stamp has seen his career fade away and he is no longer regarded as a prospect. As for Abcede he is very much an upset minded fighter looking for scales. Just 5 months after this win he upset Seigo Yuri Akui in Japan and later went on to give Kento Hatanaka a close bout in 2019. In a space of just 16 months he had gone from very limited journeyman at Minimumweight to a sort of gate keeper at Flyweight. This put him on the map, helped him find his weight and establish him as a very dangerous man capable of testing those groomed for greatness. One thing we often think about when we do these articles is whether or not fans will realise just how big some of the shocks were. Sometimes we know they will, the records and reputations of the fighters involved make it impossible not to see an upset as an upset. Sometimes however the upset is less obvious when we look back over something from the past. That usually happens when the fighter who scores the upset goes on to be better known than the fighter they beat. Today we look at one such example, and in fact this is an example where the supposed favourite was deemed the very clear favourite. They had a world title, they had the momentum, they seemingly had everything going in to the bout. That was except for the fact the under-dog knew their career was over if they lost again here. Date December 31st 2012 Venue Ota-City General Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan Fighters Tepparith Kokietgym (21-2, 13) Vs Kohei Kono (27-7, 10) In May 2011 Thailand's Tepparith Kokietgym began to make a name for himself, beating Drian Francisco for the WBA "interim" Super Flyweight title. In the months that followed he was promoted to "Regular" champion and in December 2011 he beat Daiki Kameda to make his first defense of that title. That was a solid win for the Thai who then return to Japan 4 months later and stopped "Champion in Recess" Tomonobu Shimizu, to unify the WBA title. That was again a really good win for Tepparith who was starting to build a reputation as an under-rated fighter who was enjoying Japanese rings. That reputation grew further still when he beat 2-time WBA champion Nobuo Nashiro. That was a third straight win against a Japanese fighter in Japan, and saw him being dubbed a Japan Killer. Not only was Tepparith riding a real hot streak in Japan, and the WBA champion but he had won 18 in a row, having last lost in more than 4 years earlier, in a bout against Suriyan Sor Rungvisai. The 24 year old appeared to be a man with a seriously bright future. In the opposite corner was Japan's Kohei Kono, who was barely in the WBA's top 10. He was a 32 year old, who had lost in two previous world title fights, including one to Nashiro. He was seen as being beyond his best years, and even at his best he was nothing special, despite being regarded as incredibly durable which lead him to being dubbed the "Tough Boy". With 7 losses form his 34 bouts it seemed like this would be a final shot at the top before retirement, something that seemed almost certain if he lost...again. It wasn't like he was even losing to the best in the world, or that all of his losses had come early in his career either. Whilst he had lost on debut he had also lost 3 of his previous 5 bouts coming into this one, including a loss to the then 2-0 Yohei Tobe. Of the Japanese fighters involved in world title fights on December 31st 2012, he was the one given the least chance. He was seen as the one true under-dog for the day, with the fantastic Boxmob holding a poll that saw 77% of people favoured Tepparith, 1%going with the draw. The least likely outcome was an early win for Kono, with only 9% of those polled going with that outcome, not a suprise with Kono having just 10 stoppages in 34 bouts. The first round saw the champion looking to get behind his jab, though to his credit Kono did start fairly fast, and was busy from the off. After a very good opening minute for the Japanese challenger the champion began to settle, landing some solid shots of his own, and took the center of the ring. It was a close and competitive round, but one where the extra class of the champion seemed to do just enough to nick it. In round 2 we again saw some nice back and forth, but the crisp boxing of the champion, and more consistent approach to his work seemed to again be the difference. Kono wasn't there to lose, but just seemed to be getting caught by the better shots as the skills from the Thai caught the eye. Both offensive and defensively Tepparith just seemed that bit better better than the hungry, and tough, Kono. Kono continued trying in round 3 and landed some good shots, as he had in every round, but was being out landed and had his head snapped back mid way through the round. He seemed to be working much harder for every moment of success, whilst Tepparith looked calm, relaxed, and almost like he was doing things effortlessly. The last shots in the exchanges seemed to come from the Thai who looked in control, for the most part. Then we get to round 4. As if out of no where Kono managed to find some really clean and effective shots. Just seconds into the round he landed a jab and forced Tepparith back, a left hook on the jaw landed not long afterwards then a right hand. The a body shot. He was putting his foot on the gas and landing solid shots, and soon afterwards came a beauty of a left hook sending Tepparith down. The Thai got up but looked wobbly as Kono went for the kill, sending a still wobbly Tepparith down for the second time. Their was no doubting the fight in the champion, who got to his feet a second time. Kono knew this was his chance, and refused to let Tepparith off the hook pressing, pressuring, putting on the jets and dropping the Thai for the third time. That forced the referee to stop the bout, under the three knockdown rule. The emotion of the new champion was on show immediately as he celebrated with his team, in the corner, before going over to thank promoter Hitoshi Watanabe. He had managed to shock us all, and, at the age of 32, scored a career defining win, taking a world title against all the odds. Ending not only the reign of Tepparith but also Tepparith's streak as a Japan killer. For Tepparith this was the end of him as a top tier fighter. Strangely he sort of just drifted in the sport, winning 14 more bouts before leaving the sport with a 35-3 (22) record, this being his only stoppage loss. As for Kono his reign was a short one,losing the title in his first defense, before recapturing it in 2014 and making 3 defenses, including one against fellow Japanese fighter Koki Kameda in Chicago. He would continue on until 2018, facing the likes of Naoya Inoue and Rex Tso, before hanging them as a 2-time world champion with a 33-12-1 (14) record. Although never the best in his weight Kono would become a fan favourite, and one of the most exciting fighters in the sport. One funny thing about upsets is that we can, genuinely, forget they were even upsets when we look back on them years later. They were shocking at the time, but due to what happened afterwards their shock factor subsides as we realise what was supposed to be a mismatch for one fighter turned into a coming out party for another. Today we look at one such bout, as a former world title challenger took on a novice, in what was supposed to be a tune up bout, but instead opened the door and moved the novice instantly into a contender. Date August 7th 2004 Venue Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, Osaka, Japan Fighters Nobuo Nashiro (4-0, 3) vs Hidenobu Honda (26-3, 14) History books will show Nobuo Nashiro as a 2-time WBA Super Flyweight champion, having won the title in for the first time in just his 8th professional bout. What most don't realise is that he wasn't all that highly touted as a prospect when he started his career. As an amateur he had gone 38-19 (20) and despite being talented wasn't expected to be moved in the way he was. His big break out win actually came in a big Japanese upset when he was supposed to be the opponent for former 2-time world title challenger Hidenobu Honda. Although Nashiro was fairly talented, and had been matched harder than most novices, he was raw and didn't look like a special fighter in his first 4 bouts and was tested by Takashi Taketazu, who had lost his previous 2 bouts. Honda on the other hand was dubbed a "defensive master" having his 30th professional bout. Up to this point his only losses were a very early career set back against Keisuke Ono, in 1996, and losses to Pongsaklek Wonjongkam and Alexander Munoz, both of whom hard to work for their victories. What we've of course seen in Japan in recent years are a lot of prospects being moved super fast, like Naoya Inoue and Kosei Tanaka. Nashiro wasn't on their level of trajectory, but was regarded as a decent prospect all the same. Not an elite level prospect, but a solid hopeful. The type of fighter that Honda, who was still world ranked, should beat to prepare for another world title fight. What we ended up seeing was very different to what was expected. Instead of being a "bite dog", as some suggested Nashiro would be, he ended up being a fighter who saw his opportunity and took the fight to Honda from the opening round. He pressured and pressed, out working Honda who's defensive skills were tested time and time again. Given Honda was supposed to be using the bout as a tune up, no one seemed to tell Nashiro that his role was to lose. Instead Nashiro fought every round as if it was a big chance for his career. He looked crude at times, awkward at other times, but was strong, powerful, energetic and hungry. He fought with energy, letting his shots go, and more than willing to take one if he needed to. After 10 rounds Nashiro managed to take home the decision, a close but clear unanimous decision. The bout took Nashiro from an "unknown boxer" to being one of the next big hopes of Japanese boxing, and less than 2 years later he won the WBA Super Flyweight title for the first time. Despite the big upset loss this wasn't the end for Honda. It did kill his third shot at a world title, though he would later go on to fight for, and lose in bouts for, the Japanese Super Flyweight and OPBF Bantamweight titles. Boxing can give us some weird shocks and surprises. Usually they came from the under-dog either stopping their man or out boxing them. Usually at least. Today we bring you the shock that saw the favourite injuring himself and being unable to continue, in what is a bit of a weird that is often nor forgotten, despite the fact it happened less than 20 years ago, and was for a major world title. Date December 18th 2004 Venue Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan Fighters Eagle Den Junlaphan (13-0, 5) Vs Isaac Bustos (23-6-3, 12) By December 2004 Japanese based Thai "Eagle" Den Junlaphan, who had gone through a few different names due to sponsors and was Eagle Kyowa at the time, had started to look like one of the best Minimumweights on the planet. Despite only having 13 fights to his name he had scored notable wins over the likes of Nico Thomas, Noel Tuancao and Jose Antonio Aguirre. The win over Aguirre, in January of 2004, had seen the Thai claim the WBC Minimumweight title, ending Aguirre's reign after 7 successful defenses. In his first defense of the title Junlaphan defeated Satoshi Kogumazaka with a clear decision win and he looked like a star in the making. He appeared to have all the tools for a long reign. In his second defense Junlaphan took on Mexican challenger Isaac Bustos, a decent fighter but not someone who screamed "future world champion". Bustos' record was misleading, as he had gone 7-6-1 (2) in his first 14 bouts before going 16-0-2 in his following 18, but there was little on it to suggest he'd be a real challenge for Junlaphan. The bout started as many would have expected. Junlaphan was using his speed, movement and ring craft well through the first round, landing pretty much all the clean shots on the tough and rugged Mexican challenger. Bustos wasn't there to fall over but he looked pretty much over-matched and out of his depth through the first round. Bustos was again caught regularly through round 2, with the crowd appreciating the local favourite and the skills he was showing as he was able to pretty much do what he wanted and when. It seemed the champion was going to score the win sooner or later. It seemed inevitable after just 2 rounds that Bustos had nothing to challenger Junlaphan with. Junlaphan came out firing again in round 3. It seemed like he was beginning to feel like he could beat up the Mexican challenger and was landing some gorgeous shots. Until 55 seconds into the round when it appeared that he badly injured his right shoulder. For the rest of the round he fought one handed whilst Bustos came after him. To his credit Junlaphan fought well with one arm, but it was a huge problem. He couldn't punch with it, he couldn't get his hand up to protect his chin and even stopping it from dangling seemed to leave him in agonising pain. To his credit he managed to survive round 3 but was in total agony. Junlaphan was sent out for round 4 but after just 35 seconds of the round enough was enough and he called a halt on the contest rather than letting the injury get worse. It was a horrible ending to his reign, especially given his brilliant he had looked in the first 2 rounds, and a genuinely big shock in the division, with many regarding Junlaphan as one of the very best in the division at the time. Bustos' reign was a short one. He lost the belt just 4 months later, to Katsunari Takayama, who himself lost, in his first defense against Junlaphan who recaptured the belt just 8 months after his bout with Bustos. |
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