We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect former Japanese world champion Koji Kobayashi to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.
Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-The talented Koji Kobayashi is best known for winning the WBC Flyweight title, when he beat Frank Cedeno in early 1984. His reign was however a short one losing in his first defense to Gabriel Bernal. With that loss he became the sixth successive champion to lose the belt without making a successful defense. Another man included in that unfortunate run was Mexican fighter Freddy Castillo. 2-Remarkably Freddy Castillo was only the second Mexican to win the WBC Flyweight title, which has since been won by Gabriel Bernal, Jorge Arce, Juan Hernandez and Julio Cesar Martinez. The first Mexican to win the title was a genuine legend however, and that was Miguel Canto, who ran up an amazing 14 defenses during his legendary 4 year reign between 1975 and 1979. 3-There is no denying the fact that Miguel Canto is one of the greatest Flyweights in the history of the sport. "El Maestro" was a boxing genius and a true world champion. He won the belt in Japan before defending it in Mexico, Venezuela, USA, Japan, Chile and eventually losing it in South Korea. One of the fighters he defended the belt against was Susumu Hanagata, who challenged Canto in May 1976. 4-Fight fans globally probably aren't too familiar with Susumu Hanagata, but in Japan he is a revered figure who was not just a fighter but also a gym owner and has been a major player with in the governance of the sport in Japan, working within the JBC. He is one of the most respect men in Japanese boxing and is someone who really did do it all in the sport, including winning the WBA Flyweight title. Notably he was also the last man to ever beat the legendary Masao Ohba, doing so in 1968 before losing in a rematch to Ohba in 1972. 5-Sadly Masao Ohba passed away when he was still a very young fighter, he was only 23 at the time and was the reigning WBA Flyweight champion. Now, almost 40 years after his death, he is still remembered as one of the best Japanese fighters of all time and someone who was taken far, far too early. As a result of his untimely death he is known as the "Eternal Champion". With 5 defenses of the WBA title he set a record for the title before his death that wasn't beaten until Santos Benigno Laciar's second reign in the 1980's, with Laciar later recording 9 defenses. 6-Argentina's brilliant Santos Benigno Laciar held the WBA Flyweight title twice in the 1980's, losing the belt in his first defense the first time around before recapturing the title and recording 9 defenses between 1982 and 1985. He then moved up in weight and won the WBC Super Flyweight, a title later held by Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.
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Between 1995 and 2004 Japanese puncher Junichi Watanabe (29-5, 20) was putting on some of the most exciting bouts in Japanese rings. Win or lose the man originally from Yamanashi was able to generate real excitement in the ring whilst making a name for himself at both Bantamweight and Super Bantamweight.
To international fans Watanabe might now be a well known fighter but in Japan he was certainly a popular fighter thanks to his unique look, his heavy hands and his rather questionable chin. In fact it was his durability that caused him to suffer 3 of his 5 defeats. Despite those losses he managed to score plenty of notable wins himself, claiming the Japanese Super Bantamweight title in 2001, with a win over Setsuo Segawa, which he subsequently defended 6 times before losing the in 2003 to Yoshikane Nakajima. This week we're going to share some facts on Watanabe as we bring you 5 Midweek facts about Junichi Watanabe 1-Watanabe's boxingnick name was the rather unique, and genuinely brilliant, "Golden Wolf". The nickname was due to how he looked, with his blonde hair and ponytail. 2-Although never an amazing boxer Watanabe had a much feared straight left hand, which was known for it's genuine potency. Whilst he never showed in any sort of major international bout, the power well known about in Japan and that was shown very clearly in September 1998 when he dropped future world champion Toshiaki Nishioka with a single left hand in the opening minute of their bout! Sadly for Watanabe he couldn't finish off Nishioka who recovered and stopped him in the very next round. 3-After winning bouts and doing an in ring interview Watanabe would often sign off by thanking fans and then telling them to drink a beer on their way home. Often adding that it's cold weather and that he thought the fight would have warmed them up. 4-After retiring from in ring activity, following his loss to former WBA Super Bantamweight champion Yober Ortega in 2004, Watanabe went on to become a cook 5-The fighter shares his name with a now deceadedJapanese author. The Junichi Watanabe who was a writer wrote most a lot about extra marital affairs, and his 1997 novel "A Lost Paradise became a best seller in 1997. He was also the winner of the prestigious Naoki Prize in 1970. Sadly the writer passed away in 2014, aged 80, after a battle with cancer. We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect legendary Filipino fighter Flash Elorde to former Japanese world champion Koji Kobayashi.
Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-Gabriel "Flash" Elorde is one of the most legendary Filipino fighters ever and his career, which span from 1951 to 1971, saw him win national, oriental and world titles and earn a place in both the World Boxing Hall of Fame and the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF). Interestingly he was part of the "Class of 1993" when it came to the IBHOF, alongside 4 other greats including "Marvellous" Marvin Hagler. 2-Whilst Marvin Hagler did sadly pass away earlier this year, aged 66, there is no denying that he will live in the minds of boxing fans and his amazing career will out last all of us. He is one of the all time greats and will always be regarded as one of the best ever at Middleweight. Hagler's incredible Middleweight title reign began on September 27th 1980 and ran until 1987, when he lost a split decision to Sugar Ray Leonard. During his reign he scored 2 wins against Venezuelan fighter Fulgencio Obelmejias. 3-Although not a legend, like Hagler and Elorde, Fulgencio Obelmejias is certainly a fighter worthy of attention, something that he rarely seems to get now a days. The hardhitting man from San Jose de Rio Chico, went to the 1976 Olympics and went on to win the WBA Super Middleweight title in 1988, dethroning Chong Pal Park before losing the belt to In Chul Baek. Rather notably he was actually forced to retire from the sport in 1993 due to Venezeulan law, with the law at the time requiring fighters to retire at the age of 40. This same law also forced Luis Estaba to retire in 1978. 4-Between 1967 and 1978 Luis Estaba really bucked a lot of trends that we expect from little men fighters. For example he turned professional aged 28, when most little men are starting to show cracks, he didn't fight for a world title until he was 37, beating debutant Rafael Lovera for the WBC Light Flyweight title in 1975, and he was still competing at the top aged 40. During his career he recorded 11 defenses of the WBC Light Flyweight title. Only one of Estaba's defenses took place away from Venezuela and that was his first defense, when he stopped Takenobu Shimabukuro in Japan. 5-It's fair to say that Takenobu Shimabukuro is among the most obscure Japanese fighters to ever challenge for a world title. He lacked wins of real note, had lost 4 of his previous 6 coming into this bout and had never even won a Japanese title before getting a world title shot at Estaba. Although he failed to win a Japanese title, he did fight for one, losing to Jiro Takada in 1974. 6-Japan's Jiro Takada was a much more recognisable name in the 1970's and 80's than Shimabukuro. He not only won the Japanese Flyweight title, which he did by beating Shimabukuro, but also won the OPBF Flyweight title and challenged for a world title twice himself, losing to Miguel Canto and Guty Espadas in bouts for the WBC and WBA Flyweight titles respectively. Yakada's final bout against a fellow Japanese fighter came against future world champion Koji Kobayashi, who won the WBC Flyweight title in 1984. In recent years we have seen Japanese fighters regularly move from being top domestic amateurs into top professionals, with the likes of Naoya Inoue and Kazuto Ioka being tow of the many examples. Sadly that's not always been the case and some of the best amateursJapan has had haven't made as big of a mark on the professional ranks as we, and many others, had anticipated. One such example is Akihiko Nago (31-8-2, 14), who was tipped for stardom when he turned professional but never managed to reach the heady heights expected of him. Fighting between 1995 and 2013 Nago was always a talented fighter, but an inconsistent one, lacking focus at times when he really needed it. In just his 11th bout Nago won the Japanese Super Flyweight title, and defended it twice including a notable win over Keiji Yamaguchi. Sadly however losses to Hideki Todaka and Masamori Tokuyama in world title fights ended his hopes of winning a world title. Subsequent losses to Amorn Longsiriphoom, in a massive upset, Yokthai Sithoar, Yasuo Kijima, Katsuyuki Takayoshi, Juan Jose Beltran and Takamomi Abe littered the latter part of his career. That was despite scoring decent wins over Setsuo Segawa, Hidenonbu Honda. Today we're going to shine a little bit of a light on Nago's time in the sport as we bring you 5 Midweek Facts about Akihiko Nago. 1-Nago graduated from the Konan High School, which was the same school as several other notable bothers, including Flipper Uehara, Yoko Gushiken and Puma Taguchi, as well as Shigeji Nakaima, who's better known for his work as a boxing promoter rather than an active fighter. Interestingly Nago would actually be promoted by Gushiken early in his career, only leaving the Shirai Gushiken gym after his loss in to Masamori Tokuyama in December 2000. 2-Prior to turning professional in 1995, as a teenager, Nago had gone 48-6 (27) in the amateurs and won the Interscholastic and the National Athletic meet. That amateur success saw him turning professional with a lot of expectation and hype, with many viewing him as a future star of Japanese boxing. 3-At the time of writing Boxrec is missing a bout that Nago had in July 1999. That bout, which took place as a tune of up for Nago ahead of his bout Hideki Todaka, saw Nago score a 3rd round win over Jun Magsipoc. Interestingly however Boxrec do have a bout for Magsipoc dated July 23rd 1999 against Jerry Pahayahay. 4-Nago's ring walk music was "Victory Song" by the Diamantes. The band are a Latin band from Okinawa and the song can be head below, with the video of the song being included at the end of this article.. 5-Nago had planned a return to the ring, to take on Masashi Noguchi at Korakeun Hall, on September 24th 2016. He would have been edging towards his 40th birthday had the bout gone ahead and had been out of the ring for close to 3 years. The fight ended up being called late on due to Nago suffering an injury and Noguchi instead took on late replacement Jitti Boonsamsan. Today we get to share a spectacular and exciting KO from a Japanese title eliminator in 2017. The bout isn't too well known internationally but the ending is truly spectacular and saw one man book himself a title fight, and crush the hopes of his opponents, as well as crumpling his body and sending him down in truly brutal fashion. Kazuto Takesako (6-0, 6) vs Shoma Fukumoto (11-1, 9) After turning professional in 2015, following a decent amateur career, hard hitting Japanese Middleweight Kazuto Takesako was moved aggressively. He began in his career in 6 rounders before fighting in an 8th rounder in just his 4th professional bout. His team's plans seemed obvious. Make a statement and make it quickly, and from his first 6 bouts he fought a combined 12 rounds, only going beyond round 2 twice. His competition wasn't great, but each bout moved him a step closer to bigger things, and he was doing what he was supposed to do, destroying lower level competition quickly. In the ring Takesako was an aggressive puncher-fighter. He was a bit crude, but so destructive. What he was hitting he was destroying, and he didn't seem to ever rely on the amateur skills or experience he had acquired over the years. Instead it was all about his power, his physical strength and his aggression. Just over 2 years after his debut Takesako was matched in a Japanese title eliminator with fellow puncher Shoma Fukumoto. On paper this was a big step up for Takesako and a bout that was expected to see the unbeaten man given his first chin check and provide a lot of fire works. Although less of a notable amateur Shoma Fukumoto had once been tipped as a hopeful on the Japanese domestic scene. He had made his debut in 2012 and was a long, tall, lean boxer-puncher with nasty power. Like Takesako he had turned professional in a 6 rounder, which was a blow out over the experienced Dondon Lapuz, but had been upset in his third professional bout, by the criminally under-rated Arnel Tinampay. After suffering the loss to Tinampay we had seen Fukumoto go on a roll, scoring 9 wins, 7 by stoppage. Those 9 wins included a notable win over Yasuyuki Akiyama, who later went on to claim the OPBF and WBO Asia Pacific Middleweight titles. Despite the good run he too hadn't really beaten anyone too impressive, and the bout with Takesako was his toughest on paper. With fireworks expected we got off to a war very quickly here, but when two men hold dynamite in their hands and they go to war you know it's not going to last long! After about 70 seconds into the bout the two men began to unload up close in an exciting little back and forth. Sadly for Fukumoto he was caught solidly by a right hand over the top and crashed to the canvas. Falling sideways almost on to his head in a rather unusual manner. As the referee began his count it was clear Fukumoto wasn't going to get up. He wasn't flat out, but he didn't know where he was as he tried to get to his feet. In real time the finish looks amazing, with Fukumoto crashing hard into the canvas. It looked even better on replay, with Fukumoto essentially breaking over at the hips. This isn't a well known KO, but it is a great one, and one that lead to Takesako later winning the Japanese Middleweight title, blasting out Hikaru Nishida with a brutal body shot just 4 months later for his first professional title.
We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect injury plagued Kazakh Kanat Islam to legendary Filipino fighter Flash Elorde.
Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-On September 28th 2012 we saw Kanat Islam make his debut, stopping Daniel Beato in 3 rounds in the Dominican Republic. On the very same day Thai legend Pongsaklek Wonjongkam scored an opening round TKO victory over Charlie Cabilla, scoring his 8th win in 93 professional bouts. 2-The fantastic Pongsaklek Wonjongkam dominated the WBC title picture at Flyweight for much of the 00's and early 2010's. Despite being best known for his world title reign, it's worth noting that it was a long journey to a title fight for the Thai who began his career on December 21st 1994 with a win over Filipino journeyman Bernardo Jun Dabalos. 3-Filipino fighter Bernardo Jun Dabalos had a 37 fight professional career between 1992 and 1998 and he fought several notable fighters. They included Wonjongkam, twice, as well as Hidenobu Honda and Rustico Torrecampo. 4-Whilst Rustico Torrecampo is not a huge name fighter, he is someone who's name is going to be familiar with fight fans around the globe, even if it is just a passing reference. That's because Torrecampo was the first man to beat Manny Pacquiao, who fell to 11-1 after losing to Torrecampo in early 1996. 5-We all that Manny Pacquiao is an era defining fighter, but what fewer people may realise is that he is also a promoter has been responsible for the promotion of numerous shows over the years. These included his own bout in 2006 against Oscar Larios on July 2006 at the Araneta Coliseum, in Quezon City, which saw Pacquiao defeat Larios to retain the WBC International Super Featherweight title. 6-In March 1960 the Araneta Coliseum played host a card that saw another former Filipino icon shining, as Flash Elorde claimed the World Super Featherweight title, dominating Harold Gomes to win the title in 7 rounds, after dropping Gomes numerous times during the bout. When looking back over the history of boxing there are so many forgotten names. They range from forgotten champions to fighters who were little more than a local note on the sport and from those who achieved lots, to those who merely dipped their toes into the sport before going on to do something else with their life. One such fighter who is now often forgotten is former OPBF Light Flyweight champion Takahisa Masuda (20-9-3, 5).
As a professional Masuda fought between 1996 and 2009 and whilst his career isn't too well remembered now, more than a decade on from his final bout, he is still a very significant figure in boxing in Ehime, where he was born and now has his own gym. His career saw plenty of ups and downs, including a world title fight in 2009, an OPBF title reign and a Japanese title fight. He was never a world beater, but he was a good, solid professional, who is sadly forgotten just over a decade since his last fight. Although Masuda is certainly not a major player in the grand scheme of Japanese boxing he is someone who deserves more attention than he gets, and with that in mind let us bring you 5 midweek facts about Takahisa Masuda! 1-Masuda was born on May 24th 1979, the same day as American sporting legends Tracy McGrady, the 7-time NBA all star, and former NFL player Kareem McKenzie, himself a 2-time Superbowl winner. 2-As an amateur Masuda went a rather unimpressive 3-2, though rather notably all 3 of his amateur wins were reportedly by stoppage, a rarity in amateur boxing where stoppages aren’t particularly common. 3-Masuda was supposed to get a world title fight in April 2009 against the then WBA Flyweight champion Denakaosan Kaovichit, but the bout fell through due to contractual issues, with reports being that Kaovichit's manager had signed a contract without having permission to do so. As a result Masuda had to wait a further 4 months for his one and only world title bout, which came against Pongsaklek Wonjongkam. 4-Following his retirement, after losing to Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, Masuda became a boxing trainer and then opened up his own gym in Ehime, the Masuda Boxing Gym, which became a professional boxing gym earlier this year. 5-Masuda shares his name with an entertainer, also called Takahisa Masuda, who is well known in Japan for his acting and musical work. He's active in the group NEWS and was also in Tegomass, who released a single called "Miso Soup". We've all heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and we've decided to put our spin on things with "Six degrees of separation" looking to connect Asian fighters you may never have assumed were connected! Today we connect former 2-weight world champion Lakva Sim to one time contender Kanat Islam.
Just as ground rules, we're not doing the more basic "A beat B who beat C who beat D" type of thing, but instead we want to link fighters in different ways. As a result we will limit A fought B connections, and try to get more varied connections together, as you'll see here! We also know there are often shorter routes to connect fighters, but that's not always the most interesting way to connect them. 1-In 1994 Lakva Sim was one of 7 Mongolian boxers at the Asian Games, which was held in Hiroshima between October 4th and 13th. Despite going on to become a 2-weight world champion Sim didn't fair well in at the 1994 Asian Games, where he lost in his first bout to Venkatesan Devarajan, who took a 20-11 decision over the future Mongolian great. 2-Although rarely spoken about in international boxing circles over the last 20 years or so Venkatesan Devarajan was a genuine legend of Indian boxing. In fact he was one of the first Indian boxers to really make a mark on the sport, winning a medal at the world boxing cup and competing at the 1992 Summer Olympics. With a little bit of luck he would have been the first major Indian professional fighter, but he lacked that luck, and failed to get the funding he needed to make a mark on the professional ranks. Despite failing to turn professional he did win the Arjuna award in 1995, an award that was also won 21 years later by Vijender Singh. 3-During a long amateur career Vijender Singh competed at 3 different Olympics. The 2004, 2008 and 2012 games. He also managed to win medals at 3 Commonwealth games, the 2006, 2010 and 2014 games. His first medal at a Commonwealth Games was a silver in 2006. Interestingly just a division higher Canadian fighter Adonis Stevenson also took home a silver medal. 4-As a professional fighter Adonis Stevenson made his name as one of the best Light Heavyweights of his era and held the WBC title from 2013 to 2018. He made his debut on September 30th 2006. That same day fans in Argentina had the chance to see Luis Alberto Lazarte fight in his 40th professional bout, beating Reginaldo Martins Carvalho in 3 rounds. 5-During his career Luis Alberto Lazarte was quite possibly the dirtiest player in the game, and he was disqualified a ridiculous 5 times, including a rare No Contest due to a double DQ. Another super rare double DQ bout was the professional debut of Yamaguchi Falcao, with Falcao and Martin Fidel Rios both being disqualified in their January 2014 bout. 6-In April 2006, whilst he was still an amateur, Yamaguchi Falcao was stopped by a then 21 year old Hanati Silamu, competing for China, at the Cuban Olympiad. Hanati Silamu would later become better known as Kanat Islam! Light Heavyweights in the Orient have always been few and far between. On the whole the region doesn't have the genetics or body type to make a mark at 175lbs on a regular basis. There are however a handful of exceptions with Korean fighter Lee Soo Hang (5-6-2, 4) being one of the very first exceptions to the rule.
Notably Hang's career only ran from 1979 to 1986, and consisted of just 14 fights with him winning less than half of those, but he is certainly a footnote in boxing history, and someone who deserves a lot more attention than he gets, and ever will get. Rather than having a long introduction here, lets just take a look at 5 Midweek Facts about Lee Soo Hang, and explain why his career is worthy of some series attention. 1-Lee Soo Hang began boxing under the guidance of Mong Hyun Lee at the Gwangdon High School in 1977. The following year he competed as an amateur, winning silver in a national tournament and then turned professional in late 1979. 2-At the time of writing (April 2020) Boxrec do not have a full record of Lee Soo Hang, despite having several profiles of Hang. We won't go through all the bouts of his that Boxrec are missing but they don't have his first two bouts, which took place on back to back days in November 1979 and saw him win Korean Rookie of the Year at Middleweight! Boxrec also list him as being a southpaw, with Korean sources insisting he was orthodox. 3- Whilst his professional record on Boxrec is incomplete, what is agreed on by Boxrec, and all other sources, is that Lee Soo Hang is that he was the first ever OPBF Light Heavyweight champion, making him a legitimate footnote in the history of the OPBF title. He claimed the belt in July 1982 when he stopped Toshiaki Suzuki in 4 rounds. Sadly he would become the first fighter to lose that title less than a year later. Incidentally Lee Soo Hang won the OPBF Light Heavyweight title after previously coming up short for the Korean Middleweight title. With his OPBF title win Korea then held 12 of the 13 OPBF titles, with the only exception being the Bantamweight title held by the brilliant Eijiro Murata 4-Sadly winning the OPBF title for Lee Soo Hang was the start of the end and the Korean failed to pick up another win before retiring. In fact he went 0-5-1 afterwards to retire 5-6-2 (4). 5-Unsurprisingly, given he won an OPBF Light Heavyweight title, Lee Soo Hang was a tall man for a Korean. In fact he was reportedly 184cm (just over 6'), which was huge for a Korean in the 1980's and saw him tower most of his fellow fighters from the time. In fact pictures of him that emerged on the internet a few years ago still show him towering over people. Whilst many fighters we feature in this fortnightly series will only be included once, as not many fighters score multiple great knockouts, a small handful will be featured mutliple times. For today's "Reliving the Finish" we think we'll probably be included the most obscure multi-time entrant, but to be fair this was even better than his previous entry, and was far more needed. Takenori Ohashi (16-5-2, 10) vs Shun Wakabayashi (9-3, 2) Regular readers of this series will likely remember us featuring Takenori Ohashi and his brutal win over Kosuke Saka for the Japanese Featherweight title. It was a finish that came when Saka mistook the 10 second clacker as the bell to end the round, turned his back and got laid out big time by Ohashi. The finish saw Ohashi claim his biggest win, by fair, as well as picking up the Japanese Featherweight title and ending an impressive run from Saka. In the eyes of some that knockout for Ohashi proved the old adage of "protect yourself at all times", and it was Saka's huge mistake that Ohashi jumped on. Sadly for Ohashi his title reign was a short one, and he lost the title just 4 months later, when he was battered and beaten up by Taiki Minamoto in his first defense. He had then bounced back with a win over Ruito Saeki before being matched with Shun Wakabayashi. Before we talk about Wakabayashi we just want to quickly explain who Ohashi was as a fighter. He was crude, slow, unpolished, defensively naive, but boy could he punch, and his record, showing just 10 stoppages in 23 bouts, is not indicative of his power. Instead it was a sign that he struggled to get to his opponents, who were often happy to pick him off and use their speed, or get away and survive. What he hit he hurt, and when he landed clean he tended to see off opponents. The then 28 year old Wakabayashi had once been 4-3 (1) as a professional before rebuilding with 5 straight wins, including minor upsets over Taichi Ueno and Chinlei Lin, as well as a more notable upset win over Xian Qian Wei. He wasn't much of a name but was in good form and had been impressive, winning not just as home but also picking up two wins on Chinese soil. Wakabayashi wasn't a puncher. Not by any stretch. He was however a very good boxer-mover, who was light on his feet, used the ring, and boxed well at range. He seemed to have the momentum behind him and the skills needed to take a win over the slower Ohashi. Technically he was likely seen as the under-dog, against a former Japanese champion no less, but plenty would have been picking him against the very slow Ohashi. Those who picked Wakabayashi would have been very pleased by what they saw in the first 6 rounds as he out sped, out boxed and out manoeuvred Ohashi. The smart movement and simple, but effective, boxing of Wakabayashi seemed to be taking him to a clear decision win. He was making it look easy. That was until round 7, when we got a sign of just how devastating Ohashi's power really is. Ohashi managed to land a big right hand over the top, a shot that may have shaken Wakabayashi, though he took it well and didn't show any signs of being hurt. Just moments later however a shorter, stiffer counter right stiffened Wakabayashi's legs. The short right was immediately followed by a brutal left uppercut which instantly turned out the lights on Wakabayashi, who crashed to the canvas. This was a brutal finish by Ohashi, who had to have been behind before pulling out one of the best KO's we saw in a Japanese ring in 2018. Whilst maybe not quite as good as Ohashi's brutal free shot finish on Saka this was still something to behold. A brilliant combination and a truly gorgeous finish by a true Japanese domestic level puncher. |
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With this site being pretty successful so far we've decided to open up about our own views and start what could be considered effectively an editorial style opinion column dubbed "Thinking Out East" (T.O.E). Archives
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