Recently we saw Tom Loeffler announce a September 9th card dubbed “Superfly”, a number of the top Super Flyweights, such as Naoya Inoue, Roman Gonalez, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, Carlos Cuadras and Juan Francisco Estrada. The card is being sold as featuring 5 of the top Super Flyweights but several other top fighters in the division are missing out on that show, such as IBF champion Jerwin Ancajas (26-1-1, 17). Although Ancajas isn't on the September card he is going to be in action this coming weekend defending his title in a mandatory defense against Japanese challenger Teiru Kinoshita (25-1-1, 8) [位帝里 木下]. For Ancajas the bout will be his second defense, following his upset title win last year against a very lack lustre McJoe Arroyo Kinoshita will be getting his second shot a world title, after having come up short against Zolani Tete around 3 years ago. For both fighters it will be a huge chance to show case themselves on a massive stage, where they will act as the supporting bout for Manny Pacquiao Vs Jeff Horn. Of the two men the more proven is Ancajas, a talented Filipino dubbed the “Pretty boy”. Aged 25 he's another of the youngsters really making his name at 115lbs, and although a lot less well known than the fighters on “Superfly” he certainly has the skills to make a real mark in the division. He's a razor sharp southpaw who has gorgeous boxing skills, nasty stinging punches and lovely speed in both his feet and hands. He's not as destructive as Inoue, Gonzalez or Srisaket but he has impressively stopped 12 of his last 13 including Inthanon Sithchamuang and Jose Alfredo Rodriguez, and has shown his skills in Macao as well as the Philippines. The one loss on Ancajas' record came way back in 2012 when he lost a razor thin decision to fellow Filipino Mark Anthony Geraldo. At the time he was just 20 years old and has clearly developed since then, showing real improvement in every part of his game and looking like a genuine natural in the ring. He stepped up against Arroyo and although he didn't dominate from start to finish he was the clear winner, and dropped the Puerto Rican, since then he has been waiting for a chance to really prove himself, and he'll know that this bout is a huge chance to do that. Aged 31 Kinoshita is one of the more obscure title challengers, and one of the lesser well known Japanese fighters of note at Super Flyweight. The Southpaw is a former Japanese national champion, who held that title from 2012 when he beat Go Onaga to 2014 when he vacated to battle Tete for the then vacant IBF crown. Against Tete we saw a very poor Kinoshita look clueless, he was out boxed and out jabbed by the South African and struggled to claim even 2 rounds against Tete, though did manage to go the distance with him. Since that loss he has gone 6-0 (5) though hasn't really done anywhere near enough to deserve a second title fight, getting this by default as Arroyo failed to fight him in an eliminator. It's worth noting that the one recent decision that Kinoshita won was a very controversial one against countryman Cyborg Nawatedani, in a bout that seemed like a clear win for Nawatedani who out worked and out landed Kinoshita through out. That result was so bad that the Japanese press criticised it, and we've actually not see Nawatedani fight since. In the ring Kinoshita is a decent boxer, but nothing really stands out about him being anything special. He has a good engine, but not a spectacular one, he's shown his toughness with his guts being tested by Nawatedani, but really it was his skills and speed that helped him have success at domestic level. His recent stoppages have boosted his KO ratio significantly, from 3 KO's in his first 21 wins to 8 in 27 bouts, but they say more about his recent competition than anything else. Whilst the bout looks good on paper, and significantly more well matched than Pacquiao Vs Horn, it's hard to imagine this being anything more than a show case win for Ancajas, with the actual result being dependent on just how tough Kinoshita is, and how much of a statement the Filipino wants to make. It may be that Kinoshita sees out the distance but we suspect Ancajas will take him out, likely in the middle rounds.
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Last year we saw little known Filipino Jerwin Ancajas (25-1-1, 16) score one of the most under-rated wins of the year, as he upset McJoe Arroyo and claimed the IBF Super Flyweight title. The Filipino southpaw took a huge gamble going into the bout, and took one of the smallest pay days for a world title fight in recent memories, taking home a purse of less than $4,000 but now looks to capitalise on his title and will be making his first defense this coming Sunday in Macau. In the opposite corner will be former WBA “interim” Light Flyweight champion Jose Alfredo Rodriguez (32-4, 19). Going into his bout with Arroyo very few outside of Asian boxing circles knew who Ancajas was. As a result he was the under-dog against Arroyo, and crafty fans managed to get 2/1 on the Filipino. Against the Puerto Rican we saw Ancajas put on an excellent showing, starting slowly, figuring out Arroyo and then going on to dominate swathes of the bout whilst dropping Arroyo to claim the title, and make the then unbeaten Arroyo look incredibly poor. Whilst there was some question marks over Arroyo's hunger for the bout, with the fighter making it clear he didn't want to fight in the Phillipines, we can't fault Ancajas who did what he had to do to make an unbeaten champion look like a very poor contender. That win for Ancajas was his 12th in a row and although there wasn't many notable wins among that run he had scored a quick win over Inthanon Sithchamuang. In the ring Ancajas is a very exciting fighter. He's fast, heavy handed, explosive but also a capable boxer with under-rated skills and frighteningly good combinations. On paper he's the “low hanging fruit” in the packed Super Flyweight division but is a real nightmare given his southpaw stance and his explosive style, as well as the fact he's relatively tall for the weight at 5'6. He's not on the same level as Roman Gonzalez or Naoya Inoue, but he will be a very hard guy to beat. In Rodriguez we have a fighter who started his career with a great run before his career stumbled massively, and he's now looking to re-emerge as a world class fighter. He won his first 28 bouts by the age of 22, and scored wins against fighters like Sho Nakazawa and Nethra Sasiprapa, with the win over Nethra netting him the WBA interim title. Rodriguez would lose that title in his first defense, coming up short against Alberto Rossel, and the would lose 3 of his next 4 bouts, including losses to Kazuto Ioka and Milan Melindo. Having fallen from 28-0 (17) to 29-4 (18) Rodriguez took time away from the ring and ended up spending almost 2 years on the sidelines. Since then he has returned and scored a trio of low profile wins to get himself some career momentum. Those wins have helped the 26 year old Sinaloa based fighter a world ranking, and this coming world title fight. Through much of his career Rodriguez has looked like a fringe world class fighter. He's not exceptional fighter but he was certainly a very capable one a few years ago. He was tough and brave and and has respectable power. He was however flawed with defensive holes and a relatively basic style. In the bout with Ioka Rodriguez proved his toughness getting up from a knockdown in the opening round but was broken down from Ioka's consistent attack in round 6. That however is his sole stoppage defeat and he does appear to have a good chin. Despite being a decent fighter Rodriguez looks a bit “made to order” for Ancajas to look good against. The Mexican is tough enough to take a beating and basic enough for Ancajas to shine against in his first defense. Having seen how Ioka broke Rodriguez with straight shots we suspect Ancajas will do something very similar and stop the Mexican in the middle rounds, whilst looking brilliant through out the fight and opening up potential bouts with other notable names in the Super Flyweight division. Notably this will be Ancajas's third fight in Macao, and 5th in Chinese controlled land following two bouts on he Chinese mainland. This coming month is a really busy one with dozens of interesting bouts all around the globe on an almost daily basis. The first of those takes place on September 3rd and sees exciting Filipino Jerwin Ancajas (24-1-1, 16) getting his first world title fight, as he finally gets in the ring with IBF Super Flyweight champion McJoe Arroyo (17-0, 8). We say “finally” as this bout was first arranged much, much earlier this year, before Arroyo was forced out of the contest due to an injury, an injury that was only made public about a week before the bout. Despite the wait we're expecting to see both men showing serious hunger and the intent on proving their ability and opening the avenues for some big money title defenses in the near future. Of the two men the one better known internationally is 31 year old Arroyo, the twin brother of recent Roman Gonzalez opponent McWilliams Arroyo. The Puerto Rican champion was a former standout amateur who has slowly carved out a good career, but that feels relatively under-whelming given his amateur pedigree. Arroyo turned professional in 2010 and after running up 10 straight wins over limited opponents he stepped and stopped veteran Jose Lopez. Since that win he has gone 6-0 (2) securing solid wins over Hernan Marquez, Mark Anthony Geraldo and, most recently, Arthur Vilanueva. The win over Villanueva saw Arroyo claim the IBF title, but impress nobody winning a pretty poor decision in a fight that was marred bar head clashes and styles that simply didn't gel. Despite that bout failing to set the world alight Arroyo is a talent and his dominant win over Marquez showed that. In the ring Arroyo, at his best, is a very accurate, well schooled, all-rounder. He doesn't have lights out power or lightening speed but he is a very smart boxer with respectable power, solid speed and excellent timing. He's a thinking boxer and a good one at that. Notably however he hasn't fought in over a year, since the win over Villanueva, and that may hurt his timing coming in to this bout. If his timing is off it will take time for him get up to speed hare against a fast and explosive opponent. If there is a word that fits Ancajas, to a T, is explosive. He's fast, he's accurate, exciting and hard hitting, as well as being a southpaw. There is however question marks regarding whether his power will hold up at world level and whether he'll be able to fight his usual style against a world class opponent, or whether he will have to tighten up and be less fan friendly. Aged 24 the Filipino “Pretty Boy” is currently riding an 11 fight stoppage run, following his only loss. That loss, to Mark Anthony Geraldo, was a razor close one and seems to have really helped Ancajas develop into a fighter with more killer instinct. Whilst Geraldo is the best opponent Ancajas has fought he has come a long way since that loss, that occurred more than 4 years ago when both fighters were just 20. Although he has come a long way he still lacks a genuine stand out win, but could change that here. With home advantage and a hunger to prove himself this is a huge opportunity for Ancajas to add his name to the mix at 115lbs. He's the under-dog but a live one and one who knows he's got everything to gain, including revenge for Arroyo's wins over Villanueva and Geraldo. Given recent performances by Filipino fighters like, like Marlon Tapales in Thailand, Jonriel Casimero in China and Rene Dacquel in Japan there is some real momentum in the countries boxing scene, buoyed further by Manny Pacquiao's imminent ring return. Given that momentum we suspect Ancajas will over-come his more established foe here. Last weekend we saw the probable end in the historic career of Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao. The fighter-turned-politician has been the dominant force in Filipino boxing for more than a last decade, scoring wins over the likes of Chatchai Sasakul, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez, Erik Morales, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley and Timothy Bradley.
Pacquiao's retirement will leave a sizeable hole in Filipino boxing, however there are a lot of fighters coming through the ranks each looking to fill, at least a part of that hole. One of those is the really exciting Jerwin Ancajas (24-1-1, 16) who gets his biggest fight this coming weekend, as the “Pretty Boy” faces IBF Super Flyweight champion McJoe Arroyo (17-0, 8), an unbeaten Puerto Rican. Ancajas has been one of the many Filipino fighters who has generally been going under-the-radar in recent years. The talented Filipino isn't a name many international fans will recognise, and may never have seen, but he has been showcased on a few of Top Rank's cards in Macau where he has shown some very genuine ability to be a star. The youngster combines good looks with incredible speed, unerring accuracy, blistering combinations, spiteful power, a southpaw stance and at 24 years old he also has youthful energy the ring. Notably he is some 4 years removed from his sole loss, a close decision to Mark Anthony Geraldo, since then he has improved drastically and run up a perfect 11-0 (11) record. For Arroyo the fight will be his first defence of the title he won last Summer, when he took a very controversial technical decision over Arthur Villanueva. That bout saw Arroyo show glimpses of real ability early in the contest, before becoming tired or lazy and doing very little after round 5. That laziness was surprising given that Arroyo had shown good ability to fight through the later rounds in wins over Mark Anthony Geraldo, a 12 round decision win, and Hernan Marquez, an 11th round TKO win. At his best Arroyo is a very talented boxer, with under-rated power, a tricky southpaw stance with very good patience, a great understanding of distance and timing and an impressive boxing mind. The laziness however is an issue, there question marks, now at least, about his stamina and mental capacity for the sport and he has been dropped in the past, by Jairo Hernandez. In fact some ringside observers suggested that Hernandez did enough to at least deserve a draw. On paper it's easy to favour the unbeaten champion. He has the most notable wins, he's unbeaten, he's the champion and he's the man with the outstanding amateur pedigree. He did however look very flawed in his title win, despite the official scores, and he will be going away from home for this bout, fighting in Asia for the first time. For Ancajas the opportunity of shocking the world and becoming one of the new faces of the Filipino boxing scene will be a huge incentive to put on the performance of a life time. We know he's the under-dog, but we can't help but think Ancajas's speed, energy and combinations, as well as home advantage, will see him through to a win here against a talented but flawed champion One of the best title fights for us this month comes from the US as we get a really mouth watering IBF Super Flyweight title bout between two unbeaten men looking to claim their first world title and pick up the belt recently vacated by the talented but enigmatic Zolani Tete. For those unaware, Tete vacated the title due to a dispute over money for a scheduled with one of the two men now trying to claim his former belt.
Originally Tete was supposed to fight Puerto Rican fighter McJoe Arroyo (16-0, 8). Arroyo isn't just unbeaten but is in sensational form recently, scoring dominant wins over Hernan Marquez and Mark Anthony Geraldo. Whilst a bout between Arroyo and Tete looked brilliant Tete's refusal to take part in the bout has left an equally good looking bout with Arroyo now facing unbeaten Filipino Arthur Villanueva (27-0, 14). Whilst both men would likely have liked to have beaten a “recognised” champion to claim a title it's fair to say that neither will complain about being matched with another unbeaten and highly regarded top contender. Of the two men the one that we're most concerned with is the Filipino fighter, who has been in and around the rankings for several years whilst awaiting an eventual world title bout. That opportunity has seen Villanueva wait, though he has been able to pick up some invaluable experience and ring time against a variety of foes. Villanueva first came to the attention of many Filipino fans back in 2010 when he claimed the GAB Flyweight title with a stoppage of Brix Ray. The following year Villanueva recorded his first defense of the title and also scored a notable win over the the then rising Mark Anthony Geraldo. Things went from strength to strength and by the end of 2012 Villanueva had claimed the OPBF Super Flyweight title with a win over Taiki Eto, whilst also scoring notable wins over Rey Megrino and Pramuansak Posuwan. Despite having a break out run between 2010 and 2013 Villanueva failed to capitalise, despite scoring another excellent win in early 2013 over the then unbeaten Marco Demecillo. Sadly the failure to make good on his success saw 2014 become a very frustrating year with incredibly close wins over Fernando Aguilar and Henry Maldonado, though he did end the year with an excellent win over former world champion Julio Cesar Miranda. As a boxer Villanueva can be very patient and smart. He can play the matador role really well. Unfortunately however he can also over-look his opponents, as he did with Aguilar and Maldonado. When he does that it really does leave us wondering just how credible he can be as a genuine title contender. If on form and up for the bout Villanueva is a handful for almost anyone else in the division, if he's over-looked an opponent however he's an accident waiting to happen. Whilst the 26 year old Villanueva has taken his time since turning professional back in 2008 he has developed a lot with his 27 fights, and 178 rounds. As for Arroyo the 29 year old Puerto Rican was tipped for success ever since his days as an amateur. It was in the unpaid ranks that Arroyo competed at the top level and even claimed the bronze medal, at the 2007 World Amateur Championships. In 2010 the Puerto Rican turned to the professional ranks to little fan fare. After 10 bouts he had really failed to even register on the scene with no wins of note. In the last 3 years however he has really began to impress, with several wins of note. The first of those came in September 2012 when he stopped former world champion Jose Lopez in 4 rounds. More recently he's scored an excellent 11th round TKO victory against Hernan Marquez and a very wide decision win over Mark Anthony Geraldo. At his best Arroyo is a very good boxer-puncher who fights from the southpaw stance. He's perhaps not the biggest hitter and fastest fighter in the division but he is very capable and knows when to be patient and when to force the issue. Among his best tools is his jab, which is sharp and heavy, and his his boxing brain which is very on point as he sees openings very quickly. Although talented Arroyo has been dropped, and run very close, by Jairo Hernandez. That is the sole black mark against him so far, though he did gut it out and win the bout. It's also notable however that his face did appear to swell slightly against Marquez, despite Marquez really struggling to get any notable success, this may be more of an issue against an opponent who can tag him. On paper this promises to be an intriguing contest between two talented and hungry fighters. Sadly for Villanueva he appears to have more faults that Arroyo. It's fair to say that at their best both look like future champions however, from what we've seen, Arroyo is the more complete fighter that the moment and he's less likely to fall to sleep, unlike the Filipino. With that said we don't imagine either fighter has the power to stop the other but we're expecting to see a clear win for Arroyo. Through out history boxing has taken place in a variety of venues. They have ranged from local gyms to casinos, from parking lots to prisons and even the occasional restaurant. We've never before heard of a fight taking place a hotel where one of the fighters actually works a day job but on July 18th that's exactly what will be happening as the unbeaten Teiru Kinoshita (19-0-1, 3) steps up to face hard hitting South African Zolani Tete (18-3, 16) in a bout for the vacant IBF Super Flyweight title at the Portopia Hotel. Whilst we doubt it's the first time a staff member has fought at work, we don't think it's ever been for a world title. For Kinoshita this really is a huge step up. Up to now his biggest fights have been on the Japanese domestic scene where he has claimed the Japanese title and made numerous defences, including victories over former world title challengers Atsushi Kakutani and Junichi Ebisuoka. Unfortunately for Kinoshita those bouts are at a very, very different level to this one and to compare Kakutani and Ebisuoka to Tete would be a major mistake. One problem with trying to see what Kinoshita is all about is a lack of footage. From what we could find only one bout, his 6th against Thailand's Petchklongphai Sor Thantip, was actually out there for us to watch without too many problems. What that bout suggested was that Kinoshita was a tricky fighter to go up against with a south paw stance, a tall and rangy body and very nice speed. Unfortunately we also saw a fighter with very little power and who was unable to really hurt the Thai, other than a head clash that effectively saw Petchklongphai mentally quitting. We're not going to say the Kinoshita of today is the same fighter as the one who beat Petchklongphai but with little to go on we do imagine that he's still a tricky fighter with speed and little power. He's a fighter who will likely have developed technically and seems to have good stamina but he did struggle past Kenji Oba, Atsushi Kakutani and Go Onaga and has never been in a 12 round contest before suggesting that this a step up not just in terms of opponent but also length of fight. In Tete we have a real world level fighter with experience in an around the world level. This has been shown in his bouts with Moruti Mthalane, Juan Alberto Rosas, Roberto Domingo Sosa and most recently Juan Carlos Sanchez Jr. Although Tete came up clearly short against Mthalane, losing by 5th round TKO, he was very unlucky to lose to both Rosas and Sosa in bouts that could very easily have gone his way had he not been the away fighter. Thankfully for Tete he didn't let the bout with Sanchez go the distance and instead he finished off the Mexican in the 10th round to secure himself an IBF world title bout. Whilst Tete has the obvious edge in "quality of experience" he also has the edge in power, clearly, and although he's fighting away from home he is experienced with fights outside of South Africa with 3 previous fights in South America, all of which have seen him perform very well despite only winning one of them. He also, notably, has experience with southpaws and is one himself. His experience against Sanchez is likely to be invaluable here, especially when you consider that Kinoshita's best southpaw opponent so far has been Go Onaga who isn't at world level despite a top 10 IBF ranking. From what we've seen of the two men Kinoshita is the faster and busier of the two fighters, though of course we've not managed to see a lot of him. Tete is the puncher, he's not likely throw a lot but what he connects with tends to hurt. The big question going in to the fight is "can Kinoshita take the power of Tete?" If he can then we have to favour Kinoshita to out work Tete, especially with his co-workers all cheering him on. If Kinoshita can't handle the power of Tete then this is likely to be a painful experience for Kinoshita who would almost certainly end up being the 17th stoppage victim in 20 fights for Tete. We'd love to see Kinoshita win, it would be a great way to announce himself on the world stage. Sadly we think Tete's high level experience and power will be the difference between the two men. Fingers crossed for Kinoshita but he's in the toughest test of his career, by far, and will have give a career defining performance to come out on top. (Image courtesy of http://www.dio-s.com/senrima) At the start of this year Japan had only ever had one IBF champion, Satoshi Shingaki. This year that number climbed to threee as Katsunari Takayama finally won the IBF Minimumweight title and Daiki Kameda (29-3, 18) claimed the Super Flyweight title. On December 3rd both Takayama, who defends against Vergilio Silvano, and Daiki will put their titles on the line as Japanese boxing tries to prove that allowing IBF champions isn't a bad thing for the sport. As mentioned Takayama will be fighting Silvano in the first defense of his title. For Daiki however things are much rickier as he attempts to unify his belt with the WBA title currently held by Venezuelan Liborio Solis (15-3-1, 7). For Solis this will be his second trip to Japan this year following his victory over Kohei Kono to unify the WBA interim and WBA regular titles. For those of you who remember Solis's fight with Kono it was a really fun fight. Both men had their moments in a give and take contest that saw Solis dropped early on before dropping Kono in the eighth and eeking out the decision late. For many that bout was so good and so close that they were calling for a rematch between the two men, instead however Solis has been inactive for 7 months. Against Kono we saw a bit of everything from Solis. We saw him boxing and moving, we saw him going to war and brawling and we saw him showing his toughness. It was genuinely great. Several months after Solis' victory against Kono, Daiki won the IBF title as he out pointed Mexican Rodrigo Guerrero in a contest that was fought in a much different manner. Against Guerrero we saw Daiki sticking, for the most part, to boxing and moving, being negative and trying to avoid too many moments of back and forth action. It was a forgettable contest for the most part, though there was a highlight reel tenth round as both men unloaded. From having seen both of those fights again recently we are really hoping that this won't fall into a clash of styles. If both men attempt to box for 12 rounds then Daiki's speed could well be the difference in what could potentially be one of the worst fights of the year. What is, thankfully, more likely is that the bout will have moments of ups and downs. Solis, despite being the shorter man, is expected to have a notable reach advantage and if he can use that to his effect he could prevent Daiki from being overly negative. If he can use that and force Daiki the bring some action to him we could have a number of rounds like the tenth of the Daiki/Guerrero bout. We'll admit we're hoping that Solis has the ability to bring the best from Daiki. If he can then we may, again, see Solis involved in a great contest in Japan and a contest that is fitting the "unification" tag that this bout has. If we end up with a forgetable one however then we expect the Japanese will further slate the way the Japanese Boxing Commission has accepted the IBF. It'd be a shame for the fans to refuse the IBF as organisation opens up new doors to major fighters. For example a possible Light Flyweight clash involving Johnriel Casimero and Kazuto Ioka, Ryo Miyazaki or Naoya Inoue, or a fight involving a Hisashi Amagasa and Evgeny Gradovich at Featherweight. Oddly the winner here, despite being a unified champion, would likely only be viewed as the third best fighter at 115lbs behind both Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Omar Andres Narvaez, the WBC and WBO champions respectively. Interestingly both Narvaez and Srisaket have beaten Japanese fighters in recent bouts with Narvaez stopping Hiroyuki Hisataka and Srisaket stopping Hirofumi Mukai. Early this year the Kameda family scored a boxing first as Tomoki joined brothers Daiki and Koki in having held a world title. This saw the Kameda brother's become the first trio to have held world titles. Unfortunately whilst Koki and Tomoki both currently hold world titles poor Diaki (28-3, 18) is title-less despite having previously held the WBA Flyweight. On September 3rd however Daiki gets to join his brother and create history again as the first trio to hold titles simultaneously. In fact not only that but he also gets a chance to be Japan's third IBF champion, following Satoshi Shingaki and Katsunari Takayama. To achieve both of those feats however the 24 year old "middle child" of the family will need to over-come the talented Mexican Rodrigo Guerrero (19-4-1, 12) in a battle for the vacant IBF Super Flyweight title, a title Guerrero has previously held. Daiki is a controversial figure in Japanese boxing, arguably more so than older brother Koki. Although Koki has had several favourable decisions go his way Daiki's arguably more infamous due to his foul filled loss to Daisuke Naito, a bout in which Daiki was deducted 3 points and given a 12 months suspension. Although the tag of "dirty fighter" has stuck with Daiki since the loss to Naito he has done a fair bit to change his image and has grown up from an 18 year old immature young man into a skilled and decent fighter. He's certainly not a special talent though he is very good and has scored notable victories over Denkaosan Kaovichit, Takefumi Sakata and Silvio Olteanu. Evidence of how good Daiki is can be seen in his losses as much as his wins. All 3 losses have been in world title fights with the first coming to Naito, the second to Denkaosan Kaovichit and the third to Tepparith Kokietgym. These loss have seen Daiki recording a 3-3 record in world title bouts. Unfortunately one of Daiki's biggest problems, like older brother Koki, is that he's not a big puncher and many of his fights, especially at world level, have gone to decision with an awful lot of them being close. He tends to get the win in the close ones but certainly doesn't do a lot of favours to win over the international fan base. Domestically however he has endeared himself to fans with post fight singing which has helped him gain a cult following despite his controversial status in the sport. Guerrero, himself just 25, is a well regarded fighter who has impressed in a number of fights, even ones where he has been the loser. He first burst on to the consciousness of the hardcore fans in 2008 when he defeated the experienced Juan Alberto Rosas, the following year he would add a victory over Luis Maldonado before losing in his first world title bout against Vic Darchinyan. Although Guerrero, then aged 22, was widely out pointed by Darchinyan he had put up a brave effort en route to the loss. He was unfortunate in his next loss suffering a split decision defeat at the hands of the very good Raul Martinez. A rematch with Martinez however saw Guerrero claiming the IBF Super Featherweight title thanks to 6th round technical decision. Surprisingly having world so hard to win his world title Guerrero oddly let it slip from his grasp in his first defense losing to Juan Carlos Sanchez Jr just months after having claimed the title. Since losing the title to Sanchez, Guerrero has scored 3 victories including a very impressive victory in Canada stopping Sebastien Gauthier. Interestingly however Sanchez's inability to make the 115lb weight has seen him stripped and the title made vacant, hence this bout being arranged. Of the two men Guerrero has been the most impressive in his career. He's shown an ability to travel and still be dangerous, he's shown no fear against naturally bigger opponents and he's also demonstrated and ability to really hurt fighters with his power, tenacity and work rate. Sure he's had off nights such as his narrow victory over Federico Catubay but at his best he's an excellent fighter. Unfortunately for Guerrero however there is a vast world of difference between fighting in Canada and the US to fighting in Japan. Although both Canada and the US away "away" venues for Guerrero they pale in "awayness" to Japan which could well play on Guerrero. If both men turn up at the top of their game we expect this could be very special with Guerrero just doing enough to take a decision in Japan, if he's less than 100% then Daiki could well do enough to take the decision and his place in history, though it certainly will not be easy for the "Karaoke Kameda". |
World Title Previews
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