Five Take Aways - Yoshimitsu Kimura vs Shuma Nakazato

11/25/2020

On we had a genuine treat as Yoshimitsu Kimura (12-2-1, 7) and Shuma Nakazato (10-1-3, 7) faced off in an excellent bout shown live on Boxing Raise. The bout had high expectations, with both 24 year old being highly regarded by those in Japan, and the delivered a compelling 8 round story, with momentum shifts both ways and really engaging action. We had pure boxing from both, we had both men dropped and hurt, and real determination, desire and hunger from both. The bout was a perfect example of what happens when you make 50-50 bouts, and unsurprisingly it was a close contest throughout and both men deserved to take something from it. In the end it was a draw that felt like a draw. This wasn't the judges getting it wrong, it was what the men deserved.

Having watched the bout live and then gone back and re-watched we've decided to share our take aways from the bout.

1-Nakazato seemed to be the better boxer
Although the bout was close there was very clear success for the two men in very different ways. When it came to pure boxing it seemed like Nakazato was the better man. His body shots, and composure seemed to be more notable than Kimura's and Kimura seemed to be afraid of what Nakazato has in his arsenal. This allowed Nakazato to ease himself into the bout more and he seemed to look more comfortable during the quieter moments. It wasn't a massive thing, but it was certainly something that made a difference early on, and saw him establish himself before Kimura.

2-Kimura seemed the better fighter
Whilst Nakazato was the better boxer, it seemed like Kimura was the better fighter, and this was particularly notable later in the bout, when he picked up the pace and began to grind Nakazato. It seemed by then he had to put his foot on the gas, big time, and try to change the momentum of the fight. This shouldn't have been a big surprise, given he had so much success against Hironori Mishiro when he turned that into a war, but it makes you think that maybe he left it too late. Admittedly after being dropped, hard, in the first half of the bout we can understand him being apprehensive of being caught again, but in a rematch we do wonder if we see him step it up earlier on.

3-This was high level entertainment
Although the bout was only over 8 rounders, and was between men who had never won titles, this was still really high level stuff, from both men. The boxing early on with cerebral from both, both men looking to draw mistakes, counter, and fight behind their jabs. They weren't negative, and they were rarely stood far apart, but it was still super high level boxing. As the bout went on the shackles came off and we then went into a fight, but again this was high level and smart stuff, with intelligent pressure, good shot selection and good countering from both men. When you add in the two knockdowns and the competitive nature of the bout we really did have a bit of everything and we couldn't have asked for much more entertainment than we got here. If fans haven't seen it yet we really do recommend a month of Boxing Raise to enjoy this one.

4-Both men have bright futures
Neither man is unbeaten, in fact both men have multiple set backs on their records, be it losses or draws, but don't let that paint the picture that these are talented fighters. Both men are just 24 years old and both men have shown what they can do, not just in this bout but in other bouts for both men as well. Both have very bright futures ahead of them and we wouldn't be surprised to see both men picking up titles in the next couple of years. Both will be looking for a rematch with Hironori Mishiro, the current OPBF champion, and both would likely fancy their chances with Kosuke Saka, the Japanese champion, and Joe Noynay, the WBO Asia Pacific champion. Don't look at their records and write these two off, they are genuinely talented fighters, with the ability to go a long way. Neither are likely to win world titles, but both will manage to have very solid careers and are young enough to take this draw and learn from it.

5-The officials all got it right!
It's rare for us to legitimately feel all the officials got it right but here they did. That included Michiaki Someya, who didn't wave the bout off when Kimura went down hard at the end of round 4, he didn't interject himself very often, and instead he allowed the bout to breath. He gave the men their space and they went to work. The three judges also got it right. All three had the score 75-75 and it's hard to argue with that. It's rare that we get to say all the officials got it right but they did. Fingers crossed this begins to happen more often .

Bonus Take Away - 50/50 match ups are needed more
We don't get many true 50/50 bouts in boxing this was as close to 50/50 as we can get. The records match up really well, the styles, experience and ages all matched up really well. The mentality of the two men matched up and amazingly the bout was seen as almost a perfect 50/50 on boxmob. The Japanese site had 52 people predict the result and 26 picked a Kimura win, 25 picked a Nakazato win and 1 person picked a draw. We could have expected those results. The promoter gave us a 50/50 match up and it proved utterly compelling. More of this please boxing, more this! Also we suspect if they fought again, the poll would similarly even. A fantastic match up and one that delivered.

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Current Rankings - The top 10 Asian Super Featherweight

5/13/2020

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After doing a few really interesting divisions in this series we then come to a jumbled mess at Super Featherweight. The division is almost entirely dominated by the mess of Japanese fighters, who have sort of proven themselves capable, and probably would make for a brilliant round robin. The top few guys stand out, but the rest sort of match each other out, a bit too well

1-Masayuki Ito (26-2-1, 14)
Former WBO Super Featherweight world champion Masayuki Ito had a 2019 to forget, losing the WBO title in May, to Jamel Herring, and then taking a TKO over Ruben Manakane but suffering a nasty looking injury in the bout. His lack of fortune seemed o continue this year, when he had to pull out of a bout in China, before other issues saw the card he was supposed to be on being cancelled all together. Ito is a talented boxer who proved his ability in 2018, with wins over Christopher Diaz and Evgeny Chuprakov, but did look very limited against Herring. It's going to be interesting to see how he bounces back, and we suspect he'll be looking to face some southpaws in the near future, as he didn't appear to ever understand Herring's stance and movement when they fought.

2-Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov (15-0, 12)
Russian based Tajik Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov is currently in the running for an IBF title fight, after beating Azinga Fuzile back in September 2019. That win was marred with some controversy, in regards to some drug issues, but stands. Although it'd be hard to see him beating Jo Jo Diaz that bout is an interesting one and would be a very, very exciting one if it took place. Aggressive, heavy handed, tough and with an impressive will to win Rakhimov is a nightmare to fight, despite some technical flaws. He's not the quickest or the smoothest, but he's probably the deadliest in this top 10, as wins over Fuzile, Robinson Castellanos and Malcolm Klassen have shown. Very much the under-rated dangerman of the division.

3-Kenichi Ogawa (24-1-1-1, 18)
Former Japanese national champion Kenichi Ogawa is best known his controversial bout against Tevin Farmer in 2017. That bout ended with Ogawa being crowned the IBF Super Featherweight champion then being stripped for a failed drug test. Whilst there are still unanswered question about the test he served a year ban and was actually out of the ring for almost 14 months before finally returning last year. After two low key wins he had a technical draw with Joe Noynay, in a messy bout for the WBO Asia Pacific title. We expect to see Ogawa back in big bouts in the near future and the 32 year old from the Teiken gym certainly still has time left in his career, but will need to move fast when boxing returns later in the year.

4-Joe Noynay (18-2-2, 7)
Filipino fighter Joe Noynay Had a fantastic few months in 2019, stopping both Kosuke Saka and Satoshi Shimizu, before ending the year with the aforementioned technical draw against Kenichi Ogawa, in what really was a messy, dirty accidental foul filled war. Although not a puncher, as such, he looked really destructive against Saka and Shimizu and has been impressive since losing to Reiya Abe more than 3 years ago. At 24 years old the talented southpaw is one to keep an eye on, and is only behind Ogawa on the basis the depth of the two men's records. We would favour Ogawa, marginally, in a rematch but given the mess of their first bout we're not in a rush to see them face off again.

5-Hironori Mishiro (9-0-1, 3)
Rushing through the rankings has been 25 year old boxer Hiironori Mishiro, who has proven he can box and brawl, when he needs to. Mishiro won the OPBF title in his 6th professional bout and has since made 4 defenses of the title, including a draw against Masaru Sueyoshi and victories over Takuya Watanabe and Yoshimitsu Kimura. Although not the most powerful Mishiro is well schooled, a very smooth boxer with excellent movement and skills. He's proven he can turn things around and brawl, as he did against Sueyoshi. Sadly Mishiro does look like he lacks some real killer instinct, and that could be a major problem when he moves from regional level to world class. As well as his lack of killer instincts there is also question marks about his punching power, but so far his achievements have been impressive.

6-Kosuke Saka (20-5, 17)
Few fighters had the rollercoaster year that Kosuke Saka had in 2019. He was stopped in 2 rounds in April, by Joe Noynay, in what was considered a real set back, scored a low key nothing win against Indonesian journeyman Isack Junior in September and then ended the year by smashing Masaru Sueyoshi to claim the Japanese Super Featherweight title with his best win to date. Saka, at his best, is a nightmare to face and he looked at his absolute best when he beat Sueyoshi. That was the sort of performance that put the division on notice and was his most impressive win since he stopped Shota Hayashi, back in April 2017. Saka is dangerous, but a flawed glass cannon. He'll be in some great fights, win or lose.

7-Takuya Watanabe (37-9-1, 21)
With 9 losses in 47 bouts Takuya Watanabe doesn't look like a fantastic fighter, but boy is his record misleading. He's certainly not a world beater, but on the regional scene not many fighters will beat him without needing to answer serious questions. He's technically a very solid fighter, despite not being the quickest, most powerful or sharpest punching. What he is, is very physically strong and powerful, incredibly tough and has a solid gas tank. Despite his 9 losses he has never been stopped, and that was despite his blood bath in South Korea with Jaesung Lee which saw Watanabe give the Gwanakgu Hall in Seoul a serious donation of claret. Watanabe has lost to some men on this list, notably Masayuki Ito and Hironori Mishiro, but he made both men work for their wins. Most recently he was seen beating Taiki Minamoto to set up a mouth watering showdown with Kosuke Saka, though we may need to wait until 2021 for that bout given the current climate.

8-Yoshimitsu Kimura (12-2, 7)
Having previously lost to Hironori Mishiro and Richard Pumicpic, who is in our Featherweight rankings, the case may be that Yoshimitsu Kimura is too highly ranked here, but in reality he pushed Mishiro all the way in December and is very much a fighter developing rapidly. Aged just 23 he had matured fantastically into a Super Featherweight, after winning the 2016 All Japan Rookie of the Year at Featherweight. In the coming year we expect to see Kimura really climb up these rankings, and he may well be among the best kept secrets in the division. Don't be fooled by his two losses, they were very competitive, and great learning experiences for the youngster who is going to be a key player in the next few years.

9-Masaru Sueyoshi (19-2-1, 11)
Former Japanese national champion Maasaru Sueyoshi rounds out the Japanese fighters in these rankings, though the reality is that he could probably beat some of the ones above him, and did draw with Mishiro. Despite being, head to head, better than some of the guys above we really can't put him higher than Saka, due to Saka's victory over him, and Watanabe and Kimura both looked better than he did last time out. Sueyoshi is a very good technical fighter, he controls distance, tempo and timing well, but lacks real power and struggles with the physical side of the sport. Saka really bullied him, showing no respect to Sueyoshi's power, and we suspect many of those ranked higher up this list would now do the same with that tactic being shown to work against the 29 year old Teiken fighter.

10-Stanislav Kalitskiy (10-0, 3)
As well as all the Japanese talent "clogging" up the division there are some interesting fighters emerging from Central Europe. Among those is the unbeaten 22 year old Stanislav Kalitskiy, who is based in Russia. The talented Kalitskiy lacks power, with only 3 stoppages in his 10 bouts, but has stepped up his competition well and a January win over Alan Isaias Luques Castillo is worthy of note. It'll be interesting to see what RCC have planned for him, but we suspect it's going to be a long, hard slog for him going forward. He is simply too early in his career, and lacks the power, to let him off the leash any time soon.

On the bubble:
Taiki Minamoto, Akzhol Sulaimanbek Uulu, Sultan Zaurbek, Nurtas Azhbenov and Xiang Li

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Five Take Aways - Yoshimitsu Kimura vs Shuma Nakazato

Current Rankings - The top 10 Asian Super Featherweight

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