We have often applauded fighters for chasing history, it's why we have been to vocal in our support of fighters like Naoya Inoue and Kosei Tanaka. Of course historical achievements can questioned, such as a fighter who wins a serious of vacant titles or a fighter who pads their record, but it's nice to see fighters do historical things. We mention that as today WBC Minimumweight champion Wanheng Menayothin (51-0, 18) [วันเฮง ไก่ย่างห้าดาวยิม] notched his 10th defense and over-came gallant Filipino Pedro Taduran (12-2, 9) to move to 51-0.
Now whilst Wanheng's achievement isn't actually a record, a number of fighters have had better starts to their career, it is potentially setting the stage for history as he has now surpassed the 50-0 record of Floyd Mayweather Jr, who holds the most statistically impressive unbeaten record of any retired world champion. A record that would end tomorrow if Wanheng decided to retire following today's win. The fight saw Taduran getting into Wanheng's face from the off, with his pressure being impressive straight away. Sadly for the challenger Wanheng's defense and counter punching was equal to the aggression and pressure of the challenger with the champion often landing clean crisp counter shots that caught the eye in the opening round. In the second round both men increased their output, giving us a thrilling round of none stop action, and it seemed like they had both agreed that they would go for a stoppage win with one of the rounds of the year. The round however took a toll on both men and both seemed to slow down in the rounds that followed. Despite the slow down the pattern of the bout during the other early rounds continued, with Taduran pressing and Wanheng countering, with some eye catching and solid shots. It was a case of accuracy over work rate, and the judges seemed to take Wanheng's side after 4 rounds, scoring the contest 40-36, twice, and 39-37 in favour of the Thai. The bout continued to slow in the middle rounds, which appeared to suit the more technically solid Wanheng. Taduran still had some solid moments, particularly in round 6 when he managed to get off some solid body shots on the inside and backed Wanheng on to the ropes, but took some heavy punishment of his own. The challenger was also beginning to battle the referee who, very harshly, took a point from the Filipino for a low blow that really really didn't deserve a punishment of any kind. It was harsh certainly didn't help the challenger, but the judges did seem more impressed by him in the middle rounds, with the open scoring showing the scores of 78-74, twice, and 79-74. He was still well behind, but the judges were starting to give him more credit. The 9th round was one of the most compelling. Wanheng seemed to win the first half of it, he landed some really nasty shots but part way through the round the referee adjusted the champions trunks. Following that Taduran seemed to sense something and let his shots go in a way we hadn't seen since round 2, it forced a response from Wanehng as the two began to trade. The intensity from Taduran continued in the early part of round 10, before Wanheng began to re-establish his control with his defense and clean counter shots. The result was made a total formality in round 11 when the referee again got involved to the detriment of Taduran, deducting a point from the Filipino for leading with the head. He had been warned about it a number of times, but the deduction seemed harsh, especially given the previous deduction for low blows. It essentially put the bout to bed, despite being a good round for the challenger who showed his desire. Sadly his technical faults showed up and he still took some solid counters. With the decision essentially in the bag Wanheng seemed happy to spoil and stall through the final round. Taduran, still wanting to win, fought hard but never looked like downing the champion, who held and complained and danced through much of the round. The win for Wanheng seems him retain the gold and Petchyindee promotions will be happy that their man is still the champion, and has reached the marvellous mark of 51-0. They however will know their man will need to perform better if he intends to win a planned bout in Japan in December. Away from home he may not get the breaks given to him here. He would have still won with out the deductions, given the scores were 118-108, 115-111 and 117-110, but they would certainly have made things a lot more interesting going into the final few rounds. For Taduran the shot did seem to come a little too early. Given another year or two of seasoning, some technical work on his offensive and balance, he could have potentially over-come Wanheng. Instead he'll have learned a lot in defeat, and will likely improve as a result. He will be wondering why there was a referee with next to know world title experience in the middle of the ring with him but the tough conditions in Thailand have given him a huge platform to build from. And he really did impress here, especially in the rounds when he upped the pace and really let his hands go.
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Last year we saw Japan's Ken Shiro (13-0, 7) [拳 四朗] claim the WBC Light Flyweight title with a majority decision win over Mexican veteran Ganigan Lopez (34-8, 19). It was a hotly contested contest with Lopez having a fantastically strong final round and putting the Japanese fighter on to the retreat to hold on for the win.
Today the two men met in a rematch and the outcome couldn't have been much different. The first round was a technical round, with both men looking to establish their jabs. There wasn't connecting from either man, with the only shots of note being a body shot by Lopez and a right hand from Ken Shiro. Neither man seemed to have any real luck with their jabs and the southpaw/orthodox stance of the two men seemed to see both men struggling to just get their distance right. The second round also seemed like it was going to be a tactical affair, with both again looking to use their jab to measure the other man. Ken Shiro broke away from that when he feinted to with with his left before landing a brutal straight right hand to the midsection of the challenger half way through the round. The body landed perfectly and sent Lopez down in agony where he was counted out. For Ken Shiro the win secures him his third defense of the title, his second straight inside the distance, and shows how much he has developed as the champion. As for Lopez it is only the second time he has been stopped in his 42 fight career. A frustrating few weeks for Gennady Golovkin (38-0-1, 34) concluded earlier tonight as he took on American Vanes Martirosyan (36-4-1, 21), a late replacement for Mexico's Saul “Canelo” Alvarez who failed a drugs test in the build to a fight with Golovkin. Coming in to the bout Martirosyan had been inactive for 2 years, and had lost his most recent bout at Light Middleweight. Sadly for Martirosyan he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Golovkin's frustrations were taken out on the underwhelming challenger, who suffered his first stoppage loss whilst Golovkin recorded his 20th world title title defense and retained the WBA “super” and WBC Middleweight titles. The first round saw Martirosyan start pretty well and he seemed sharp and fast, not like a fighter who had ring rust from inactivity. Sadly though his speed and success really didn't help Martirosyan as Golovkin took what blows he landed with out flinching whilst coming forward himself and looking to land his own, trademark, bombs. Having had a good opening round Martirosyan seemed to look to start round 2 fast, but was caught by an uppercut that clearly hurt him. The challenger was bundled over before landing a few shots of his. Sadly the success of Martirosyan seemed to infuriate Golovkin who immediately returned fire and lets his shots go, forcing Martirosyan on to the ropes, and then down to the canvas for the 10 count. Now Golovkin is in a weird position. He clearly wants the rematch with Alvarez, the bout is the biggest paying contest by a mile, but he has an IBF mandatory title fight due with Ukrainian Sergiy Derevyanchenko and would also like to have a WBO unification bout with Billy Joe Saunders. It suddenly seems like fighters, like Ryota Murata and Jermall Charlo, want a piece of Golovkin and he may well have gone from being one of the sports most avoided men into one of the most wanted, with a number of fighters vying to have him as their next foe. For Martirosyan the loss was an expected one, and although it's unclear what his plans are, he really didn't look like a Middleweight in their with Golovkin, and his further could be very short if he continues to fight as a Middleweight. The career of Floyd Mayweather Jr ended last year, at least for now, with the American having amassed an excellent 50-0 professional record. A number his fans celebrated, despite win #50 coming against the debuting Connor McGregor. Mayweather's record is a very impressive one, but today it was tied, as Thai fighter Wanheng Menayothin (50-0, 18) [วันเฮง ไก่ย่างห้าดาวยิม] matched the figure, and recorded his 9th defense of the WBC Minimumweight title. Not only that but he did it in amazingly dominant fashion. The unbeaten champion was up against young mandatory challenger Leroy Estrada (16-3, 6) from Panama and the bout looked like a man against a child. The energetic and naturally quicker Estrada had a decent first first round. He looked busy, confident and aggressive as he used his southpaw jab and straight left hand to score with what were clean, but relatively harmless shots. It seemed like all the powerful blows came from Wanheng, but there was few of them, with the Thai instead choosing to use the round to see what the visitor had. Unfortunately for Estrada it was as good as things got for him, and whilst it was a solid round for the challenger, he didnt look like he had the power, the output or the tenacity to really trouble the champion, who looked very relaxed and confident. The second round saw Estrada try to continue to use his speed and jab, but by now Wanheng was beginning to move through the gears, and rocked Estrada early in the round. A right hand late on again stung the challenger. It was clear by the end of the round that Wanheng had the power to hurt the challenger and was starting to get his timing down as well. Going into round 3 it seemed less a case of whether Wanheng was going to reach 50-0 and more a case of when. That when seemed "soon" when Estrada was dropped early in round 3 as he began to look like a child in there against a more mature, stronger fighter. Estrada showed his heart to get up but was hurt again by a right hand, and dropped with about a minute left, this time his legs were gone. Another right hand saw Estrada wobble again, and it looked like the referee could have jumped in before the challenger fired back and showed signs of fighter. The third round was a huge 10-7 round for the champion, but Estrada's fight kept him in the bout. Sadly it was for nought as he was again dropped twice in round 4, with Wanheng again dominating the challenger, dropping his man with a big right hand early in the round before scoring another knockdown late to secure back-to-back 10-7 rounds. At the end of the end of the round it seemed almost certain the referee would step in, if not Estrada's corner given that the open scoring had the bout 39-33, twice, and 40-32, in favour of the Thai. Instead Estrada went out for round 5, and was finally stopped, following the bouts 5th knockdown. For Estrada the bout was a bit of a beating, and one prolonged by a referee who really seemed to hate the challenger, and it showed that whilst he's a very good fighter he's not a top tier one. As for Wanheng, who scored his first stoppage since May 2016, the win sees him match Mayweather's figure and further cement his reign as the WBC champion. (Image courtesy of Thairec.com) On Saturday the WBC stripped hard hitting Japanese fighter Daigo Higa (15-1, 15) [比嘉 大吾] of their Flyweight title, after he failed to make the 112lb limit. Today he suffered further as he suffered his first loss, and saw his perfect stoppage run come to an end at the hands of talented Nicaraguan Cristofer Rosales (27-3, 18). Not only did Higa lose his first bout, but for the first time he looked like a fighter who was mentally broken, as well as physically exhausted, and left many questioning why and his team even went ahead with this fight. In the build up Higa had looked horrific. He had looked drained and beaten at the medical checks on on Thursday, looked equally as deflated at the signing ceremony on Friday and had failed to make the limit on Friday. Even this morning, at a special same day weigh in, he looked less than his usual confident self. From the first round he looked slow, and like he was questioning himself in the ring. His usual intensity wasn't there, his aggression was lacking and his pressure fighting, a trademark of his, was totally absent. Rosales, like a professional, used his advantages from the off and stuck to his game plan. He out boxed Higa early on, moved well and made the most of his jab. It was a gameplan that liked like it was drilled into him before the fight, and was something that had been tailored to make the most of his height and reach advantages. As the fight went on Higa had some moments, particularly to the body, but even on the inside he seemed to be losing the mini-skirmishes the two fighters were having as Rosales matched him, backed him off and forced Higa to think twice. It was clear that the same day weigh in had taken something from the Japanese fighter, and his usually all out attack was absent. It wasn't until round 5, with Higa well behind, that the fight really turned into an inside battle. Sadly for Higa he couldn't maintain any real output for long and it was often Rosales landing the better shots, connecting cleanly to his body and snapping his head back with shots up top. It was the style of fight Higa would have dreamed of having, but he looked like he was only half the fighter he usually was. Even then a fully fit Higa would have struggled with Rosales, who had clearly prepared himself to start on the outside before going inside and standing toe-to-toe. After a few rounds of toe-to-toe action it seemed like Higa was becoming incredibly desperate. His power was lacking, his combinations looked forced and Rosales was taking everything and returning it with serious interest. After 8 rounds the judges score cards were announced. One judge had given Higa a single round, another judge had given managed to give him 3 whilst the third judge, inexplicably, had the bout even. Despite the close nature, on paper, of those cards Higa's team knew he was a spent force and in round 9 finally pulled their man out mid-round. Despite stopping the bout before their man had gotten seriously hurt there needs to be serious questions as to why SGS even allowed this bout to go ahead. Higa had defended his title just over 2 months ago, although it was a quick blow out the turn around seemed too quick and given how Higa had previously struggled to make weight they really needed a much longer camp, especially for someone as talented as Rosales. Not only that but they should have really pulled him at the start of this week, he looked mentally broken at the medical and never looked like he had rebuilt his confidence coming into this bout. It's easy to say in hindsight that getting into the ring was the wrong decision, but it wasn't a smart choice. In fact it was a further hit for the SGS gym following Yoshimitsu Kimura's loss in mid week against Richard Pumicpic for a regional title. Hopefully there will be sense in Higa's team and he will make a move up in weight, he shouldn't have been in the ring today and if he tries to remain at Flyweight his career is going to be a very short one. For Rosales this is a huge win and a very well deserved one. Higa's issues in camp can't take away from Rosales who did his job, was professional through out and fought to his gameplan. He was, as he usually is, very impressive and well deserving of his win. He'll likely have a target on his back from WBC #1 ranked contender Andrew Selby, who beat him recently, but this title win may well be what he needs to boost his confidence to the next level, and perhaps even avenge the loss to Selby. (Image courtesy of daily.co.jp) In boxing it's hard to think of a persona non-gratis, but that certainly seems to describe former WBC Bantamweight champion Luis Nery (26-0, 20) in regards to Japan. Last year he defeated Shinsuke Yamanaka (27-2-2, 19) [山中慎介] to claim the WBC Bantamweight title, but would fail a drugs tests. A rematch was planned for the title, though yesterday Nery came in massively over-weight and even with a 2 hour grace period still couldn't make the Bantamweight limit causing him to be stripped of the title on the scales.
Despite failing to make weight the rematch went ahead today, and unfortunately for Yamanaka he was stopped again. This time in 2 rounds in what looks likely to be his final bout. The Japanese fighter looked good, for the first minute, as he landed several body shots but as soon as Nery landed anything it seemed like Yamanaka was troubled, his punch resistance seemingly gone. A jab sent Yamanaka's knees to jelly and he was dropped, though it was incorrectly ruled a slip. Not long after that he was down, and it ruled a knockdown. Yamanaka saw out the first round but Nery smelled blood. Yamanaka was down again very early in round 2. When he got up his looked all wrong with his balance gone. He was down again moments later, before a third knockdown of the round saw the referee stop the bout. Given how easily he went down, and his age, this is almost certainly it for Yamanaka who had a great career before the first bout with Nery. He managed to record 12 defense and will go down as one of Japan's greatest world champions. Sadly though his career will be finished with back to back losses, both in tainted bouts. For Nery it's hard to know what's next. His failed drug's test and inability to make weight has seriously tainted his two best wins. He's a very good fighter, but we really don't know how good he actually is. Had he not failed a drugs test or failed to make weight he would likely be regarded as one of the top Bantamweights on the planet. Now however he looks like someone who can't score a world class win cleanly. He looks like a fighter who needs unfair advantages and will likely have that sort of reputation going forward. He may well struggle to get big fights after the weight fiasco and will almost certainly have to be fighting at 122lbs, if not 126lbs going forward, where his natural size will be less effective. It's a real shame to see Yamanaka bow out on back-to-back losses to someone who has essentially cheated in both fights but it's really time he walked away and spent time with his kids, his family and looked for future ventures, including potentially become a gym owner or a trainer. It's worth noting that the title will remain vacant, and could well be on the line for a bout between Petch Sor Chitpattana and Emmanuel Rodriguez, who had previously been ordered to fight in an eliminator. Last year we saw Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (45-4-1, 40) announce himself on to Western audiences as he twice beat Roman Gonzalez to become a 2-time WBC Super Flyweight champion. This past Saturday he returned to the US to make his second defense of the title, facing off with the highly skilled Mexican Juan Francisco Estrada (36-3, 25) on “Superfly 2”.
On paper the bout had all the ingredients to be something very special. It had one of the sports biggest punchers against one of the sports against one of the sports best all round fighters in a contest that fans had been anticipating ever since Srisaket stopped Gonzalez, in their second boud. The bout started slowly, with both men looking to find their range and timing. It was Estrada who settled quicker and he certainly took the first round with no argument, and also likely the second as the crowd got behind everything he did. It was a crowd that seemed to clearly be cheering on the Mexican though it seemed like he had brought a pistol to a shotgun fight and in round 3 Srisaket started to land body shots with regularity. The success of the Thai seemed to make Estrada a little bit more apprehensive and the middle rounds were strong ones for the Thai, who seemed to out work, out muscle and our power the Mexican. Despite being out powered Estrada had real moments of success, landing some beautiful single shots. Sadly for him they seemed to just bounce off Srisaket whilst the Thai's shots had a clear impact on the challenge, making sweat fly through the air and buzzing Estrada on a number of occasions. The middle rounds not only saw Srisaket land his best shots but also seemed to cause Estrada to miss more. He seemed unsure of himself at times and fell short with a lot of shots. He managed to use his feet to keep Srisaket to only throwing singles, but did little to impose himself offensively. Then again even when he did land bombs they didn't do anything to the Thai to discourage him from rushing in as, and when, he wanted. By round 10 it seemed like Srisaket had done enough to retain his title, if he could stay up right. Despite that Estrada wasn't wanting to just roll over and give up his shot, and it showed as he finished round 11 really strong, before having a huge round 12. In fact round 12 will go down as on of the best rounds of the year as both traded bombs for the 3 minutes. Estrada was the one getting the better off it, by quite some margin with accuracy and work rate, and he even stunned Srisaket at times, but could never quite get enough sustained success to drop the Thai, who was firing back through out the round. The final round seemed like one that Estrada fought knowing he was behind, knowing he needed a knockdown or even a knockout. The judges scorecards could have been all over the place, with a number of rounds being close, in the end though the scores were 114-114, 115-113 and 117-111, giving Srisaket the majority decision win and his second defense. With successive wins over Roman Gonzalez, twice, and Juan Francisco Estrada it's hard to argue with Srisaket's resume, and he has really added to his previous big wins against Jose Salgado and Yota Sato. For Estrada he has proven he can hang with the best Super Flyweights, though will be kicking himself for not turning up the heat and taking more risks earlier in the fight. He really did control the final round, when he forced a war on Srisaket and had he done that earlier in the bout who knows whether Srisaket would have won or not. One of the often used excuses for fans not watching the lower weights is the lack of power that the fighters have. Those likely haven't seen the terrific WBC Flyweight champion Daigo Higa (15-0, 15) [比嘉 大吾], who made his second defense earlier today and continued his perfect stoppage run, recording a Japanese record equalling 15th straight stoppage. The champion, defending his title in a home-coming defense in Okinawa, was up against former WBO Minimumweight champion Moises Fuentes (25-5-1, 14) in what looked like an interesting match up on paper. Fuentes was an experienced challenger, who was world class, and had simply out grown the lower weights. He had significant reach and height advantages over Higa and looked less like a fighter moving up in class than the champion he towered over. Whilst interesting on paper it really wasn't that competitive in the ring. Fuentes looked to start aggressively, and actually backed Higa up very early on, landing a looping right hand in the opening seconds. It was however one of the very moments of success for Fuentes, who also managed to back Higa on to the ropes though was punished for doing so. Higa's power was shown in a jab that pushed Fuentes back. Moments after being backed up himself he landed another jab that saw Fuentes's legs betray him and a follow up saw him landing some monstrous bombs on to Fuentes, who's chin some how held up to some massive shots. Higa would then go to the body and Fuentes' ribs felt the punishment, with the Mexican dropping to the canvas in agony. He tried to beat the count but was counted out rising to his feet as Higa cemented his name in Japanese boxing history. The brilliant youngster not only tied the long standing Japanese KO record of Tsuyoshi Hamada, at 15 KO's, but he also became the first Japanese fighter to successfully defend a world title in Okinawa, and managed to bring world title fights back to the area after more than 30 years away. In fact the last time there was a world title defense in Okinawa it was Higa's very own mentor Yoko Gushiken, who lost the WBA Light Flyweight title to Pedro Flores back in 1981! Next time out Higa will be looking to set a new Japanese record with 16 straight stoppages, and after today's performance there will be very few Flyweights who will feel comfortable in getting in the ring with him. Making his live terrestrial TV debut WBC Light Flyweight champion Ken Shiro (12-0, 6) [拳 四朗] knew he had a chance to shine earlier today, as he made his second defense and took on aggressive Panamanian challenger Gilberto Pedroza (18-4-2, 8). On paper it was an easy defense but with the pressure of a multi-million audience figure and the need to excite there was clearly a lot at play for the champion, who had already scored huge wins over Ganigan Lopez and Pedro Guevara this year.
The pressure to make sure he won was clear the opening round as he boxed cautiously behind his jab, and moved, stopping the wild and aggressive Pedroza from landing. The visitor had clearly come to win but spent much of the round hitting the air as the champion put on a show case of movement. That same tactic worked in round 2, though during the round the champion began to find his range and landed several uppercuts to the body. The success Ken Shiro had in round 2 grew in round 3 as he began to hold his feet, look comfortable in there and began to try and look for opportunities to counter. Although it wasn't quite a masterclass it was beginning to look like Ken Shiro was starting to think about way to shine and landed several eye catching combinations. Early in round 4, which was delayed due to grease on Pedroza's face, Ken Shiro landed a perfect counter right hand. The shot rocked Pedroza and opened the door for the champion to let his hands fly, which he did when Pedroza was on the ropes. The challenger tried to survive, holding the champion, but he couldn't keep the champion off him. A follow up attack, punctuated by a body shot, sunk Pedroza's knees and the shots kept flying until Pedroza was ruled down. The challenger looked like he had had enough but continued, for a few moments as Ken Shiro again jumped on his man and dropped him. This time it was enough for the referee to stop the bout. Although unlikely to be included in the 2017 Fighter of the Year conversation the Japanese fighter has scored two wins over consensus top 10 divisional rivals, in Lopez and Guevara, and topped it off with a stay busy win to end the year. It's been a break out year for the youngster who seems to be constantly developing and with today's win will have built his profile significantly at home. The performance will have helped as will his personality which showed through in his post fight interviews shown on Fuji TV. There is still developing to do, but he did what he needed to and will be moving in to 2018 as one of the leading fighters at 108lbs. With his TV debut a real success the question now is whether or not Fuji will continue to show case the babyfaced champion. There is a lot of very interesting contests out there for him, including rematches with Lopez or Guevara, a bout with WBO champion Angel Acosta or bouts with domestic rivals like Tetsuya Hisada and Ryuji Hara. For Pedroza however it's back to the Latino scene where he will have to hone his skills if he's to come again at this level. Boxing has a number of records, which seem odd and look rather unreal. One of those is the record of Japanese fighters in Thailand in world title fights, a record that stands at 0 wins, 23 losses and 1 draw. The latest of those losses however was a controversial one, as WBC Minimumweight champion Wanheng Menayothin (49-0, 17) [วันเฮง ไก่ย่างห้าดาวยิม] retained his title with a very questionable win over former WBO champion Tatsuya Fukuhara (19-6-6, 7) [福原 辰弥].
On paper it looked like a mismatch in favour of the Thai, who was looking to equal the 49-0 record of Rocky Marciano and record his 8th defense. It was however the total opposite of what we expected, with Fukuhara setting an insane pace in the opening round and forcing Wanheng to fight fire with fire. It was as if no one had told Fukuhara that he was there to lose, and instead of being respectful of Wanheng's unbeaten record he went straight at the champion. To his credit Wanheng did fight back, and landed the better shots, but was very much taken by surprise by the intense work rate of the challenger. Wanheng managed to have better success in rounds 2 and 3, as he landed the bigger shots, and actually started round 3 with the initiative, something he hadn't done in the first two rounds. Despite starting well Fukuhara came back at him later in the round, showing good variety and the high tempo which had caused so many issues for Wanheng, not only in the opening stages of this bout bus also against Melvin Jerusalem. Wanheng also had credible success in round 4, arguably his best round of the fight, as he forced Fukuhara to fight at range, made the most of his technical abilities and prevented the challenger from unloading with volume. It was a round that showed the skill level differences between the two men. After 4 rounds the champion was up on the score-cards, with all 3 judges favouring the local, and although it felt like he was fortunate to be in the lead it wasn't out of the question for him to be up. The success of Wanheng continued in round 5 as he managed to make the most of his heavier hands, but he wasn't able to discourage Fukuhara who continued to press the action and ended the round looking like a man possessed, despite eating the best Wanheng had to offer. In round 6 Wanheng's pace seemed to drop off as Fukuhara managed to again cut the distance, get to work and press with not only his volume but also some very solid shots, including a big head shot mid-way through the round. Wanheng did land his own stiff right hand late in the bout, but it seemed like a clear round for the challenger. Fukuhara's success seemed to grow from there, as he pressured Wanheng with serious intensity, landing not only flurries to the body but also some really eye catching head shots, including a big uppercut. Wanheng returned the favour with some body shots of his own, but was clearly out worked through the round, and appeared to be showing signs of tiredness as Fukuhara refused to back off. The challenger was even more intense and driven in round 8 as he thoroughly out worked Wanheng, landing bigger and heavier shots on to a champion who was looking at the referee for every minor incident. It was looking like the champion was frustrated by the fact Fukuhara was always in his face and always refusing to back off, despite the clean shots the champion had been able to land. With the champion looking like he was flagging the open scores after round 8 seemed like they were going to be very interesting, bizarrely however they were all widely in favour of Wanheng, reading 80-73, 79-73, and 78-74. It seemed clear at this point that Fukuhara wasn't only up against the unbeaten champion, but also the judges. Knowing that he wasn't going to get the decision Fukuhara changed his tactics in round 9. The high energy and intense assaults were put on the back burner as he looked to land bigger, heavier shots. Those became the key in round 9 as he landed some big shots which seemed to force Wanheng to on to the back foot. Wanheng had his moments, but was again out worked, and out landed by the challenger. Fukuhara continued to look bombs in rounds 10 and 11 as Wanheng looked more and more tired, struggling to even raise his arms at the end of round 11. Fukuhara seemed to ignore his defense at times, instead choosing to just chase Wanheng and unload, and the only real breaks in action happened when Wanheng tired up the challenger, or complained about some small issue, with the referee starting to seem like yet another opponent for the challenger. The final round saw Fukuhara go all out for the stoppage. He combined power shots with volume and an insane intensity that saw him jump on Wanheng at every opportunity. It was a thrilling final round that saw Wanheng being forced to respond with power shots, until he was spent and forced into pure survival mode. It was a thrilling all action effort from the challenger, but given the scores after round 8 it was clear it wasn't going to be enough to see the title change hands. With the judges scoring the bout in favour of Wanheng he had now scored 8 defenses, but this is the second time where he could be regarded as very fortunate in recent times, and it does seem like his reign is living on borrowed time. For Fukuhara the bout seems to suggest he can continue fighting at world level, and will almost certainly get another shot down the line. |
World Title Results
Whether you like them or not World Titles add prestige to any bout as a result we've included the results of world title bouts in this special section. Archives
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