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History is an interesting thing to study, and today we got the latest chapter in a 22 fight saga of Japanese fighters fighting in world title bouts in Europe. A saga that now sees the record standing at 1-21, with the latest loss coming just moments ago, when Joe Cordina (15-0, 9) dethroned Japan's Kenichi Ogawa (26-2-1-1, 18) [尾川 堅一] of the IBF Super Featherweight title, in just 2 rounds.
The bout started interestingly and evenly, with both men finding some success with their jabs, and Ogawa perhaps edging it with some good short right hands and the odd right hook. It was, however, a razor thin and close opening round. Sadly for Ogawa his success in the opening round wasn't to be replicated in round 2. Instead it was the speed of Cordina that showed as he landed a brutal right hand that sent Ogawa down for the second time in his career, with the first coming just 2 fights ago against Kazuhiro Nishitani. Unlike the Nishitani fight however, he wasn't getting up from this one. Instead he was staying down for the count, despite trying to battle to his feet. Aged 34 it's almost impossible to now imagine Ogawa getting back to this level, and instead we suspect he might return to Japan for a one off bout before hanging them up. As for Cordina, there appear to be a logical next bout for him against fellow British fighter Zelfa Barrett, who won on the under-card of this bout. Although Japanese fighters have been willing to travel more often in recent years, it seems hard to think who will give them their second win in Europe, with the only Japanese man so far to have success in Europe at the top level being Naoya Inoue.
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Just moments ago we saw Japan's Kenichi Ogawa (26-1-1-1, 18) [尾川 堅一] put in a career defining performance as he beat up slick South African fighter Azinga Fuzile (15-2, 9) to claim the IBF Super Featherweight title, and score the biggest win over his career. By far.
The match up was one that was slow to get going, with both men fighting very technically early on. Fuzile, fighting out of the southpaw stance, took to the ropes early on, fighting on the back foot and trying to lure Ogawa in. Ogawa came forward, but did so at a very controlled, intelligent tempo, as he looked to show that he two was a cerebral fighter. In the first round there wasn't much landed by either man and that was the same through the first 4 rounds if we're being honest. Despite there not being a lot of action, it was high level chess and it was Ogawa who was getting the better of it overall. After the some what slow start that saw both have moments, not many of them, we saw the action really change in round 5, when an Ogawa right hand dropped Fuzile, hard. To his credit Fuzile got to his feet following the shot, which would have finished off most fighters, but he wasn't all there and he knew it as he got on the back foot and did what he could to survive the round. The middle rounds were all Ogawa, as he pressured intelligently, backing up Fuzile and landing shots regularly, unlike the earlier rounds where his success was limited. The middle rounds really saw Fuzile struggle to get anything going and instead he ended up having his face bursted up around the right eye and his nose, which was bloodied in round 2, was leaking over the ring. Unfortunately for Fuzile his best shots never had much of an effect on Ogawa, whilst Ogawa's shots were having an effect on Fuzile, and Fuzile wasn't throwing enough whilst he was taking a lot. In round 9 Fuzile's face got worse after a clash of heads left Fuzile with a bad cut over his left eye, which Ogawa jabbed repeatedly in the final rounds. To his credit however Fuzile had a very strong response to that cut, putting in fantastic efforts in rounds 10 and 11, as he appeared to throw caution to the wind and became the aggressor for the first time in the fight. It was nice to see him try something new, but it seemed like too little too late. Thinking he was behind came out aggressively for round 12, but it appeared that Ogawa had lulled him in a little bit in the previous 2 rounds, and in round 12 the Japanese finished big, dropping Fuzile twice in the round to put any dounbt about the winner to bed. The first knockdown came with over a minute left and Fuzile got to his feet, but was down again in the final seconds of the bout, securing Ogawa a 10-7 final round. After 12 rounds it seemed like Ogawa had clearly taken the win, but the judges, being judges, had the bout much closer than expected, scoring it 115-110, twice, and 114-111, a score that suggested Ogawa needed the big final round to win. For Ogawa this win is, understandably, a hugely emotional one. He had fought in one previous world title bout, winning a decision against Tevin Farmer before being stripped due to a drug violation. This win will help but the ghost of that bout behind him. As for Fuzile, we wonder just what he will have left after this beating which was painful, tough, and punishing. On Friday night Joseph "Jojo" Diaz (31-1-1, 15) became the former IBF Super Featherweight champion , losing the title on the scales ahead of a mandatory defense against unbeaten Russian based Tajik fighterShavkatdzhon Rakhimov (15-0-1, 12). As well as losing the title Diaz lost 20% of his purse for missing, which he did by more than 3lbs.
Despite Diaz missing weight the bout went on, with Rakhimov able to win the IBF title if he won the bout and the bout remaining vacant with any other result. Regardless of the pre-fight hiccup on the scales, the bout looked like a fantastic one on paper, between two men liked to let their shots fly and had different styles, but busy styles. In the opening round it was Diaz who seemed to settle quickly, whilst Rakhimov looked really tense, and the tension of Rakhimov showed through the first 2 rounds before he began to relax. When that happened the Tajik began to really find his groove, and from round 3 his activity seemed to catch the eye time and time again. Prior to that happening however he was tagged by some left hands from Diaz who seemed to try and set a high pace and get his nose in front. What the Tajik was doing was letting 3 and 4 punch combinations go, then getting out of range, resetting, and doing the same. He was mixing up his hooks, uppercuts and straight shot, and although many shots were landing on the gloves of Diaz he was essentially handcuffing the former champion, out working him, and did enough to leave blood trickling from the former champion's nose. From rounds 3 to 9 it seemed like Rakhimov was racking up the rounds, and he even managed to shake Diaz twice, as his power showed. Sadly though Rakhimov was doing a lot, and not getting as much success as he'd wanted. He was landing to head, and body, but rarely having sustained success and was visibly slowing by round 9, though Diaz wasn't making him pay. Sadly for Rakhimov his high work rate in the middle portion of the bout did take a major toll as the went into the later stages, and from round 10 Diaz began to surge. He was forcing Rakhimov back and Rakhimov's own combinations were becoming less and less frequent. In fact if anything it was the clean punches of Diaz that were now catching the eye as the pace slowed. That allowed the American back in to the bout and really closed the gap on the scorecards. Despite both men being wobbled through the bout, and a solid number of shots being landed by both men, the bout went the 12 rounds, and we got the scores. The first was 115-113 to Diaz, a score that was within the realms of reasonability. That judge was however over-ruled by two scores of 114-114, resulting in a majority draw. As a result of the draw the title remains vacant, and we can't help but think that Rakhimov will be kicking himself. He seemed well on the way to winning, but his gas tank ran low and he couldn't keep up his success in the later stages. Regardless we expect to see Rakhimov get another world title shot sooner rather than later. As for Diaz, he'll be gutted he lost his title on the scales, and we do genuinely, wonder what division he'll be competing at going forward, whether he takes his career seriously and moved back to 130lbs or leaves the division to join the ranks at Lightweight. Lats year we saw a pleasant surprise as Japan's Masayuki Ito (25-2-1, 13) [伊藤 雅雪] travelled to the US and won the WBO Super Featherweight title, upsetting Christopher Diaz with a 2 round decision. That was an entertaining fight, a fun fan, fan friendly contest with Ito building a bit of a fan base in the US. Today he returned to the US and lost that title, losing a forgettable decision to Jamel Herring (20-2, 10) in a bout that rarely caught fire. Much to the credit of Herring.
Herring looked establish distance from the opening moments, using his southpaw jab and footwork to neutralise Ito and his aggression. It worked brilliantly to prevent Ito from landing his right hand during the opening round, though Ito did manage to have more than his share of success in round 2. The success of Ito in the second round seemed to make Herring aware of what he had to do and the American got back on his toes, used his jab and made Ito miss, a lot. It wasn't so much that Herring was lading significantly more, but he was controlling the range and tempo of the but, and making Ito look wilder and cruder than he usually is. Ito would occasionally have moments, such as in round 5, but that success was limited due to Herring's gameplan, a gameplan that was smart and that he stuck to incredibly well. Going into the second half of the bout it was clear that Herring was the much more skilled fighter, but he was starting to tire and in round 7 we did see Herring slow, resorting to clinching. That tiredness showed more in round 8, as Herring, for the first time, began to stand his ground, trading with Ito, fighting Ito's fight. That began a really solid fight back from Ito, who had success in rounds 9 and 10 as well, as he began to crawl his way back into the bout. It seemed that there was a glimmer of hope for the Japanese fighter, but then Herring seemed to get his second wind, he got back to moving, jabbing, and landing left hands before Ito could get his shots off. It was the movement that was key, forcing Ito to regularly reset and keeping him off balance. At the end of 12 rounds the bout seemed like a clear win for Herring, their was certainly rounds that Ito had won and several close rounds, but it seemed like Herring fights. That was agreed with by the judges who had it 116-112 and 118-110, twice. The 116-112 card seemed to be right, but the scores of 118-110 seemed to be off and not reflective of what was a somewhat competitive contest. For Ito this ends his reign, and probably forces him to really look at his style, which was made it look rudimentary here. The movement and jab of his earlier career had gone, and his looked to be forcing things, rather than relaxing and working on what he can do. Herring, of course, neutralised a lot of Ito's work, but Ito made it easier for him than he should have. For Herring this was a great win, a career defining victory that fell on a really important day for him and his family, the day his daughter would have turned 10 years old. The performance was solid, without being a spectacular one, though that will be forget, unlike the result and the fact he can now call himself a world champion. Whilst we were obviously cheering Ito on, we can't help but feel this is a great win for a very classy and affable champion. The bout was a contest between two of boxing's good guys, and it's hard to dislike Herring. The plan now, for the new champion, appears to be a show down with WBC champion Miguel Berchelt, and that is likely to take place later this year in what will be an interesting unification bout between a boxer and a brutal, aggressive puncher. Earlier this year we saw Masayuki Ito (25-1-1, 13) [伊藤 雅雪] travel to the US and defeat Christopher Diaz to become the new WBO Super Featherweight champion. That bout saw Ito impress the US and UK fans, who had never heard of him, as well as becoming the first Japanese fighter to be crowned a world champion on US soil in over 30 years. Today he made his first defense of that title as he took on unbeaten mandatory challenger Evgeny Chuprakov (20-1, 10), from Russia. Despite it being a mandatory defense the bout was a mismatch, and there was several levels between the two fighters, with Chuprakov providing little challenge.
The open round was a messy one, with a lot of holding, wrestling and ugly action. The only real shots of any value were from Ito, who actually tried to box, whilst Chuprakov tried his best judo impressions and impressions of an angry goat, leading his head into Ito at every opportunity. Sadly for the challenger he was tagged by some brutal looking body shots as Ito showed he wasn't there to mess about. Chuprakov wrestled through round 2, and took more clean shots from Ito, who was starting to free himself from the messy spoiling, and landing more and more shots. Those shots became cleaner and cleaner round after round, with round 3 being another one where Ito dominated through his boxing, despite being cut from a clash of heads. Ito managed to really begin dictating the range in round 4, as the wrestling seemed to tire out Chuprakov. That made life easy for Ito to land sharp jabs and open Chuprakov up for straight right hands. Up close Ito was having more success in the clinch, landing uppercuts and body shots on the inside. Those shots seemed to make Chuprakov think twice about trying to smother and left the Russian with out another gameplan. He was being out boxed on the outside and out fought on the inside. In round 5 Chuprakov was hurt as he began to eat more and more head shots. He got through a doctors inspection on a cut, but wasn't able to avoid the punishment that Ito was sending his way. That punishment began to intensify with Ito really punishing Chuprakov in round 6, as the challenger's cut worsened and the fight was starting to become farcically one-sided. It seemed like the perfect time for Chuprakov's team to pull their man, who had no real chance of winning, out of the bout. Instead they let him go out for round 7. By now Ito knew that Chuprakov wasn't much of a test and quickly hurt his man. Chuprakov held on, but Ito hit him with his free hand, and managed to totally break the clinch whilst backing Chuprakov into the corner and unloading. Chuprakov tried to respond, in an attempt to survive, and then spat his gumshield out. He managed to earn a short respite but was cornered again soon afterwards, with Ito again firing off with both hands. Chuprakov's corner had seen enough and climbed on the apron signalling that they wanted to save their man, who was just getting battered. It was smart decision from the corner, their man had nothing left to offer though leaves us wondering what the WBO had had such a terrible mandatory challenger for Ito. Really Chuprakov didn't belong in the ring with Ito, or any top 10 type fighter. He was terrible. For Ito the fight didn't start how he would have wanted, but by the end end he was able to leave the impact he would have wanted, and threw enough in round 7 to have footage for a highlight reel. It's now expected that Ito will be fighting in the US next time out, and he has spoke about unification bouts, specifically a bout with WBC champion Miguel Berchelt. Whether he gets a big stateside bout is yet to be seen, but we are expecting him to return to the US in the new year, for a much better test than the one he got today. Masayuki Ito puts in career defining performance, claims WBO title with victory over Diaz!7/29/2018 There's long been a reputation of Japanese fighters not being good travellers. The reality is often that they prepare badly for their bouts on the road. Instead of giving themselves time to acclimatise they often travel the week or so before the fight and never really give themselves time to get read to fight a world class opponent.
One man who seemed fully aware that he needed to give himself time to prepare Stateside was Masayuki Ito (24-1-1, 12) [伊藤 雅雪], who put on a career defining performance to take the unbeaten record of Puerto Rican Christopher Diaz (23-1, 15) and become the new WBO Super Featherweight world champion. The fight started at an amazing pace with both men looking to get their jabs going. It wasn't long until Ito found the range for his right hand and managed to work sharp uppercuts on the inside, proving he could get out on top on both the inside and outside. It was competitive but Ito did seem to be the man landing the cleaner, harder shots. Ito's confidence grew in the second round as he outlanded Diaz and landed the better more painful shots to both head and body. Diaz was becoming more and more wild looking to land something to establish himself but he was really struggling. The Puerto Rican managed to up the pace in round 3, the first round that could really have gone his way. He upped the tempo and managed to find the range and timing for his left hook. It was a close round but one that certainly went to Diaz. It was however just a short respite for the Puerto Rican fighter who was dropped from a big combination of headshots in round 4, and Ito's accuracy showed as he hammered the face of Diaz, swelling his eye noticable. Diaz, to his credit, fought back and even seemed to hurt Ito, but the Japanese fighter landed some big body shots late on to slow the Puerto Rican's fight back. Amazingly Diaz had a fantastic bounce back round in the fifth as he seemed to step his foot on the gas again and give Ito some problems. Ito was holding his own for the most part but it did seem like a round that Diaz won, though it was competitive and perhaps felt more like a Diaz round based on how much better he did in the round than he had in the previous one. Sadly though the fight back was a bit of a short lived one with Ito essentially sweeping the middle rounds by out working, out landing and out powering Diaz, who had his moments but always seemed to take shots back with interest. It wasn't until round 9 that someone could make a case for Diaz to take another round, but he did start a nice little surge and seemed to do enough in round 10 to deserve that too, with Ito starting to slow, and perhaps show signs of tiredness. Not only did Ito seemed slower and less active in round 10 but Diaz began to get his shots off and landed several notable shots, with a right hand looking like it had hurt Ito. Given the tempo of the fight it wouldn't have been a surprise to see Ito feeling the pace of the action but instead he he seemed to come out for round 11 with more energy, boxing on the move and using his jab early before sneaking inside and working up close. The shots from Ito were worsening the damage on Diaz's face with his left eye essentially swollen shut, and bleeding. Itos was unloading combinations and despite being tagged hard by a left hook it was the Japanese fighter who was controlling the round, one of the clearest of the fight. Diaz, several times, showed how much pain he was in, and was close to fighting with just one eye. Diaz needed to go for a KO in the final round but he seemed to be worn out, in pain and was on the receiving end of a beating through the round, with Ito looking to close the show. Diaz, to his credit, saw off the aggression of the Japanese fighter, but lost the round, and didn't really come close to scoring the knockout he needed. Having seen 12 rounds of action we went to the score-cards which were all in favour of Diaz, with scores of 116-111, 117-110 and 118-109. With the win Ito becomes the first Japanese fighter since 1981 to win a world title in the US, which was when Tadashi Mihara claimed the WBA Middleweight title in New York. Not only did he win the title but he also put himself on the international boxing map, with new fans fans now wanting to follow his fun and fan friendly style. For Diaz the loss will be a painful one, he gave his all but had all sorts of technical flaws that Ito took advantage of. He showed his heart, and his desire, but he was simply not good enough on the night to over-come Ito, who really did put in the performance of a life time. Whilst Ito was a clear winner the fight was so action packed, busy and exciting that it should make a shortlist for Fight of the Year. It was high tempo, both men were hurt a number of times, and action packed. Just like every great fight should be. The Super Featherweight division had a huge night this past Saturday, with a number of top fighters from the division in action across a host of bouts. One of those bouts was an IBF title fight, and surprisingly saw Japanese slugger Kenichi Ogawa (23-1, 17) [尾川 堅一] take a split decision win on US soil against American slickster Tevin Farmer (25-5-1, 5).
Ogawa looked aggressive in the opening round, and probably took it on the basis of his powerful right hand, which connected a few times against the intelligent Farmer. Farmer however responded be getting into his groove into round 2 and he seemed to clearly out box Ogawa from rounds 2 through to 6 in what was a real show case of Farmer's skills, movement, and counter punching ability. The skills of Farmer were really impressive during those rounds, and it looked like he could breeze through to the final bell with out needing to find any extra gears. He had made Ogawa miss, look silly and looked second rate at times. Knowing he was behind Ogawa knew he had to let his hands go more in the later rounds, and in round 7 he had a real through as he managed to really let his shots flow more naturally and landed enough right hands to catch the eye. A case for Farmer out landing Ogawa could be made, but the reality is that Farmer's shots were often pea shooter shots, with nothing on them, whilst Ogawa's shots had impact and did damage,it's true Ogawa was missing regularly, but he was also landing the better shots. From round 7 onwards it seemed like Ogawa was doing just enough to have a shout. He was landing right hands whilst Farmer posed, used his defense and went for walks around the ring. The offense from Farmer seemed to become very intermittent and rare and it was clear that he had switched off, become over confident and really failed to shine as he should have. In some ways Farmer was letting Ogawa back into the bout, despite the commentary on HBO and Sky Sports, and Ogawa was taking his chance to reel back the rounds he had lost early on. After 12 rounds it seemed like Farmer's charge in the middle first half had been reeled in somewhat by Ogawa, despite some good stuff by Farmer in the latter stages. It looked like Farmer did enough, but it was close, much closer than the commentary were suggesting, with some of the commentary suggesting the bout to be a near shut out for Farmer, who they seemed to fall in love with from the opening rounds. Listening to the commentary the decision was a formality, but it did seem much, much closer, and that was shown in the score cards which saw Ogawa claim the split decision, with scores of 115-113 and 116-112 in his favour, against a card of 116-112 for Farmer. The result saw the commentators incredulous, and their view certainly permeated on to fans, though the fight was much, much more competitive than they were suggesting. Interestingly all 3 judges, and the referee, were American. To end a great Saturday of boxing we saw Takashi Miura (31-4-2, 24) [三浦 隆司] face off with WBC Super Featherweight champion Miguel Berchelt (32-1, 28), in a mandatory title challenge. Sadly for Miura his age, and stylistic deficiencies, saw him come up short in a bout that promised a lot but fell way short of expectations.
From the opening moments it was clear that Berchelt respect Miura's much vaunted left hand, and instead of standing his ground and engaging he made the most of his natural advantages, notable his speed and movement, to control the range and land on Miura from range. Not only was Berchelt landing be he did so with eye catching shots, including a right-left combination which dropped Miura in the opening round. From round 1 to round 6 the bout had a very defined pattern, with Miura chasing shadows, hitting air and being tagged by Berchelts shots on a regular basis. Every so often Miura would connect, but his success rate was low, and came in the form of single shots, with no follow ups, allowing Berchelt to get away without any issues at all. In round 7 Miura began to have success, landing some solid straight lefts that left Berchelt bleeding from the mouth and begin to show signs of doubt. That doubt was slowly becoming clear, but he continued to fight to his game plan, moving and boxing, using his speed and movement to avoid a tear up. In round 8 Miura managed to really have success, with some big body shots, and despite his right eye swelling it seemed like he was starting to get to a tiring Berchelt. The Mexican was still landing the better combinations but the Japanese fighter seemed to be landing the heavier single blows, and the fight seemed to be turning in his favour, even if it was only slightly. As we moved in to the the final few rounds Miura seemed to get progressively more successful, though Berchelt was never looking second best. In fact whilst Berchelt looked the better fighter, it was clear the fight was much harder than he was expecting, and much more draining than he'd trained for. That showed again when he had to fight incredibly hard in the final round, with Miura clearly looking to land a home run shot, knowing he needed a KO. Miura could never find the shot, but that was only because Berchelt stayed alert, and did all he could to avoid having a final round fire fight. At the end of the bout it was clear Berchelt had won, though the score cards were rather spread, with one judge scoring it 120-109, another having it 119-108 and the the third having it a more competitive looking 116-111. We were close to the final card, though admit there may have been some bias. The fight was certainly no shut out, but the card of 120-109 suggests several even rounds, given the knockdown in round 1. The future for Berchelt will likely feature big international fights. From Miura however the future likely consists of retirement, as he's not the high intensity, combination punching warrior he once was. He's still got a warrior mindset, but not longer the energy or intensity to make the most of it, sadly The bad year for the Watanabe Gym, and on a personal level for Takashi Uchiyama (24-2-1, 20) [内山 高志], continued today with the veteran suffering a second successive loss to Panama's Jezreel Corrales (21-1-0-1, 8), though unlike the first bout this time things were very competitive and Uchiyama had more than a few moments of success.
Uchiyama tried to take control of the pace here by using his deliberate jab to slow the pace of the champion, who simply overwhelmed him with speed when the two fighters faced off back in April. Feeling more confident Uchiyama started to apply some pressure in round 2 but Corrales moved well to neutralise the pressure and landed a powerful left. Uchiyama withstood the blow, which made a surprisingly loud noise, and continued to try and apply pressure. By round 4 Corrales was switching up his stance and Uchiyama seemed to realise that Corrales' feet could prove problematic. A counter in round 5 gave Uchiyama some worries but the Japanese favourite withstood it before dropping Corrales later in the round, scoring the fights sole knock down. Despite the knockdown Corrales was back to showing his ability in round 6 and seemed to win the round. The action following was close but it seemed like Corrales flashier shots and movement impressed the judges more than Uchiyama's heavier and more controlled approach, despite the crowd clearly being behind the local veteran. Those close and competitive rounds were ones that the locals would have felt Uchiyama deserved but the judges, who were split on a number of them, seemed to favour the champion in, despite a very good round 10 from Uchiyama where he had real success to the body. Interestingly that was the only round, other than round 5, that one judge actually gave to Uchiyama Coming in to the final round it seemed the bout was up for grabs, and was going to be decided by what the judges preferred. Sadly though Uchiyama couldn't do enough to impress the judges enough, and came up on the wrong end of a split decision, a decision in which one judge, somehow, gave him only 2 rounds, including the 10-8 round. That lead to cards that read 117-110, a very questionable card, and 115-112 in favour of Guzman whilst the third judge had the bout 113-114 to Uchiyama. It's worth noting that the judge with the widest card was Belgian Philippe Verbeke, who has frequently judged bouts in Japan but may not be invited again given his scorecard here. Whether Uchiyama now retires, or looks to continue seems to be an interesting question, though the view from fans seems to be that retirement is looming for the popular puncher. For Corrales the reality is that the first bout flattered him, and he was run razor thin by a post-prime 37 year old Uchiyama here. He'll likely be able to keep the title for a while but would be well advised to avoid a fight with someone like Vasyl Lomachneko who would take care of him relatively easily on this performance. Yesterday night in Mexico fans had the chance to see experienced Thai Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo (61-3, 41) [ชลธาร อ.พิริยะภิญโญ] take part in his third "world" title bout, as he tool on big punching WBO "Interim" Super Featherweight champion Miguel Berchelt (30-1, 27). Sadly for the Thai it wasn't to be third time lucky as he suffered a painful loss to the talented and exciting Mexican.
Chonlatarn started well in fairness to him and he made it clear that he came to fight as he came forward and tried to put Berchelt under pressure from the opening seconds. That pressure had some success late in the round, as he seemed to tag Berchelt clean, but was caught as the men exchanged punches just before the bell and seemed to struggle with the speed and movement of Berchelt which was allowing Berchelt to tag the Thai as he came in. The following round again saw Chonlatarn applying the pressure and like in the first round he struggled to corner the fleet footed Mexican who ended the round with several solid shots on the Thai. The Thai tried to apply the pressure again in round 3 but by now the Mexican was totally at ease and and picked his spots to force Chonlatarn backwards with raids on the front foot as well as the smart boxing on the move. With about a minute of the round left Berchelt rocked Chonlatarn and a follow up saw the Thai being forced to take some incredibly hurtful shots as it looked like he as ready to go. To his credit Chonlatarn saw out the round but was left looking like a who was close to being finished. That finish ultimately came in round 4 with Berchelt biding his time early in the round before exploding with spiteful shots, backing up Chonlatarn and then breaking Chonlatarn with power shots to head and body before a sweeping left hook dropped the Thai hard. Chonlatarn beat the count but was dropped again seconds later from a flurry punctuated with a nasty body shot, this time he stayed down, with an official time of 2:59 seconds of the round gone, though it did seem like a long round. For the Thai the loss likely finishes his hopes of ever becoming a world champion whilst it sets up a potentially great fight between Berchelt and Vasyl Lomachenko, in what could potentially be a really good test for the highly skilled Ukrainian star. |
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