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December 8th 1990- Convention Center, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA Kyung Duk Ahn (29-1, 12) Vs Julio Cesar Chavez (72-0, 60) South Korean fighters have long been known for their heart, guts and spirit. Sometimes that heart can over-come a small difference in skills with the sheer will to win being enough to make a more talented fighter crumble mentally. Sometimes however a fighter comes across someone who is just too good, and for most fighters Julio Cesar Chavez was simply too good. In 1990 we saw Chavez battle against South Korea's Kyun Duk Ahn and the decks were certainly stacked against the South Korean, could his will over come the ability of Chavez?
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October 25th 1971- Aichi Prefectural Gym, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan Kazuyoshi Kanazawa (30-8-1, 17) Vs Ruben Olivares (67-1-1, 62) In January 1969 Japan's Kazuyoshi Kanazawa was stopped in just 2 rounds by the explosive Ruben Olivares. The fight was a short but destructive on from Olivares, one of the sports all time great punchers. More than 2 years after their first meeting the two men would fight in a rematch. This time around the WBA and WBC Bantamweight titles were on the line as the Japanese fighter tried to record a career defining victory against one of the sports greatest ever punchers. We often talk about how hard it is to win fights in Thailand and, in all honesty, we do believe that Thailand is in a league of it's own however the South American equivalent would be Argentina where we have seen various controversial decisions rendered including one of the worst in history. Having said that however it's not impossible to win in Argentina and we have seen a few Asian's travel there and spring a surprise against the home fighter. Recently we had John Riel Casimero defeat Alberto Luis Lazarte in a bout now infamous for the post-fight riot whilst a little further back in time we had Yong Soo Choi defeat Victor Hugo Paz in a bout that saw Choi claiming the WBA Super Featherweight title, a belt he would hold for almost 3 years. (Video courtesy of DoctorShawHi) In recent years Japanese fighters have struggled to have success on the world scene in weights above Super Featherweight. That however hasn't stopped them from giving it a go as Hitoshi Kamiyama did when traveled to Argentina to fight against Julio Cesar Vazquez for the vacant WBA Light Middleweight title. Kamiyama, who had dominated the domestic scene at the weight, unfortunately found out the difference in class between the Japanese domestic scene and the world level and was stopped inside a round. Although the fight didn't last long it was a painful one for the Japanese fighter who took a pounding in the final minute. When we talk about recent Flyweight greats we cannot possibly ignore Pongsaklek Wonjongkam who dominated the division for years with numerous notable wins over men who would later win world titles themselves. One of those future champions was Luis Alberto Lazarte of Argentina. Wonjongkam, the then WBC champion, made light work of the Argentinian fighter who would later win the IBF Light Flyweight title. Whilst Wonjongkam was a modern Thai legend it's fair to say that Lazarte was more infamous than famous and is sadly best remembered for the riot that followed his loss to Johnriel Casimero. Sadly that riot was just one of the many controversies in Lazarte's career that saw him suffering numerous DQ losses and various controversial wins with some of the worse judging we have ever seen. (We apologise massively for the quality of the footage including the double sound and the poor image) In recent years Thai fighters have gotten a reputation for themselves as being stay at home fighters who often lose when they have to travel. That however wasn't the case for Yodsanan Sor Nanthachai who defended the WBA Featherweight title 3 times with each defense coming in a different country. The only one of those defenses that came at home was against American challenger Lamont Pearson on December 5th 2002. The bout, fought in front of a huge audience, coincided with the Thai King's birthday and was seen as a major sporting event. The bout wasn't an easy one, especially not considering the all the pressure of performing in front of so many fans, but the aggressive and fun to watch Thai really showed his power, strength and ability at times before eventually taking out his American foe with a vicious body shot. Following this win Yodsanan would defend his belt in Japan and the US before coming up short against Vicente Mosquera in a war in New York that saw numerous knockdowns and insane amounts of action. For much of the 1980 Chong Pal Park had been dominating the OPBF title scene at Middleweight before stepping up to Super Middleweight division and winning both the IBF and WBA world titles. Park's compatriot, In Chul Baek, had been doing something similar on the OPBF scene, albeit at Light Middleweight, before he too moved up to challenge the world at a higher weight. In 1988 the two men collided in an enthralling non-title bout that may not have been all action but saw heavy leather landed by both men before one, eventually, stopped the other in what ended up being a real "hard man" fight. When we talk about all time greats it's hard to avoid a conversation mentioning Mexican legend Ricardo Lopez. Sadly for Asian fighters Lopez seemed to make a habit out of beating them, and making it look easy. One of those he dominated was Thailand's Ratanpol Sor Vorapin, who never came close to even testing the Mexican sensation before being stopped in just 3 rounds. This was Lopez's first defense of the IBF Light Flyweight title and his penultimate bout and even though his career was coming to an end he still looked like a phenomenal fighter with perfect timing, control of distance, sensational punch selection, and all the tools that any fighter wishes they could have. In some ways you have to feel sorry for the opposition that Lopez faced whilst in another way you have to just appreciate one of the sports greatest fighters. When we talk about great Light Welterweights we also have to include Kostya Tszyu, the Australian based Russian puncher who had the division on alert for much of the 1990's and early 00's. One of the most interesting of Tsyzu's bouts was his contest with Diosbelys Hurtado, a bout that featured one of the greatest opening rounds in recent memory. Inside a minute of the bout Hurtado was down, hard, it looked, for a moment like Hurtado was done. As Tszyu went in for the kill he was dropped himself and, before the round was over Tszyu was down for a second time. It was a brilliant round. Although the fight started at a hectic pace it some how managed to go to round 5 with Tszyu fighting much of it with a badly swollen right eye. The eye didn't prevent Tsyzu from hitting the talented Cuban who took some major body shots before eventually being stopped in a genuinely great fight. If you've not seen this one before you've really gotta give it a go now. Thailand's Chana Porpaoin will never be confused for a puncher. The talented Thai was one of the top Minimumweights of the 1990's, albeit one who was lucky to never fight the great Ricardo Lopez. His reign as the WBA champion lasted almost 3 years and saw him defending the belt 8 times with one of those defenses being a genuinely fun to watch victory over Rafael Torres in a bout that actually saw the Thai being dropped in the opening round and looking in some trouble before eventually settling into the bout and scoring a KO of his own after some crazy trading of blows. If you've not seen this one before it really is a very fun to watch contest with round 4 in particular standing out as one of the most exciting rounds of Chana's career. |
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