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September 16th 2015-Shimazu Arena, Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan Shohei Omori (14-0, 9) Vs Hirofumi Mukai (11-3-2, 1) Last year we saw Shohei Omori break out with a win over Christian Esquivel. This year he did more than that as he totally dismantled Kentaro Masuda to claim the Japanese Bantamweight title. In his first defense of the Japanese title the "Demon of Left" took on former world title challenger Hirofumi Mukai in what was regarded as a key bout for the Kyoto boxing scene. Note-This is from the TBS rebroadcast of the fight and doesn't feature the first couple of rounds unfortunately, unlike the GAORA and MBS broadcasts of the bout.
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April 13th 2015- Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan Kentaro Masuda (21-6, 11) Vs Shohei Omori (13-0, 8) When the 2015 Champion Carnival bouts were announced one stood out. That was the Bantamweight title bout between world ranked Kentaro Masuda title holder, who had impressed in 2014 with 3 good wins including a 3rd round blow out against Konosuke Tomiyama, and young prospect Shohei Omori, who was quickly rising through the ranks and had already been compared with fellow Japanese southpaws Shinsuke Yamanaka and Ryosuke Iwasa. When this one was announced we had expected something very special and very competitive and we'll be honest what we saw was special. If you ask us which Japanese fighter above 112lbs has the most upside we'd happily suggest that it's Bantamweight/Super Bantamweight hopeful Shohei Omori who really looks like a nailed on future world champion with his combination of speed, skills, patience and power. It's those traits that Omori showed when he scored his break out win over former world title contender Cristian Esquivel earlier this year and they were again on show when he defeated domestic rival Bunta Mitaka in a very confident and impressive result for the unbeaten and fast rising star. It's not often we can say this but straight from the opening jab he threw he looked a little bit special and almost as if he knew he was too good for Mitaka who attempted to out box the world ranked Omori but was eventually stopped when Omori decided to go through the gears. We'd suggest fans don't sleep on Omori who we really do see as a future world champion and, given the tools he has, he could well win titles in 2 or 3 divisions. (Video courtesy of nov K) Once every so often a fighter breaks out and emerges from the shadows in a big way. They go from a relative nobody to a contender, from a prospect that only his team and family know to being a world ranked looking ready to challenge for belts. Back in May that's exactly what happened to Shohei Omori a relative unknown outside of Japan who dominated Mexican veteran, and former world title challenger, Christian Esquivel, a man known to Japanese fans for his bout with Shinsuke Yamanaka back in 2011. Against Yamanaka it was shown that Esquivel was a flawed fighter but still a man with some skills that could give trouble to lesser men than Yamanaka, against Omori however things were almost all against the Mexican who was tagged at will and eventually stopped in round 4 after Omori came alive with several vicious assaults. The win for the Japanese fighter boosted him into WBC world rankings and appears to have moved him towards a title fight of some variety. For Esquivel it was his 3rd loss in Japan, surprisingly it was the quickest of those 3 losses by far, perhaps proving that Omori is a real world class talent in the making. |
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