Yota Sato
Courtesy of Boxrec.com
When we talk about recognised Japanese fighters it's fair to say that one of the most over-looked is former WBC Super Flyweight champion Yota Sato (26-3-1, 12) who is all but an unknown outside of the East. Despite this the 29 year old is amongst the very best pound-for-pound fighters in Japan and has shown himself to be one of the most criminally under-rated fighters on the planet.
Despite starting his career with a debut loss to Kazuki Yamato back in 2004 Sato has really made himself in to a genuinely top tier fighter. In fact since starting his career 5-2 Sato had spent more than 7 years unbeaten as he climbed up the rankings and to a world title strap, before recently losing it to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.
As mentioned above, since his second loss in 2005 (the narrowest of narrow decisions to Junichiro Sugita) Sato went on a streak winning 21 of 22 bouts. The only mark in that time was a draw with Filipino born Japanese based Zerofit Jerope who had also drawn with talented South African Vusi Malinga.
The winning streak of Sato's had genuinely been impressive. Not only did he claim the interim Japanese Super Flyweight title by defeating the then unbeaten Go Onaga but he then claimed the full title by beating former world title challenger Daigo Nakahiro. As the Japanese champion Sato would defend his belt 4 times defeating Yuki Fukumoto, Kohei Kono (who then went on to hold the WBC Super Flyweight title), Yoshihito Ishizaki and the then unbeaten Kenjo Oba.
Despite starting his career with a debut loss to Kazuki Yamato back in 2004 Sato has really made himself in to a genuinely top tier fighter. In fact since starting his career 5-2 Sato had spent more than 7 years unbeaten as he climbed up the rankings and to a world title strap, before recently losing it to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.
As mentioned above, since his second loss in 2005 (the narrowest of narrow decisions to Junichiro Sugita) Sato went on a streak winning 21 of 22 bouts. The only mark in that time was a draw with Filipino born Japanese based Zerofit Jerope who had also drawn with talented South African Vusi Malinga.
The winning streak of Sato's had genuinely been impressive. Not only did he claim the interim Japanese Super Flyweight title by defeating the then unbeaten Go Onaga but he then claimed the full title by beating former world title challenger Daigo Nakahiro. As the Japanese champion Sato would defend his belt 4 times defeating Yuki Fukumoto, Kohei Kono (who then went on to hold the WBC Super Flyweight title), Yoshihito Ishizaki and the then unbeaten Kenjo Oba.
Of those Japanese title fights it's obvious that the Kono win was the big one. Kono had twice fought for world titles coming up short against both Nobuo Nashiro and Tomas Rojas. Although he hadn't claimed a world title many felt he had done enough to defeat the hard headed Nashiro whilst he had also managed to drop Rojas in a losing effort . Since losing to Sato though Kono has seen his own stock rise due to his KO victory over Tepparith Kokietgym.
In March 2012 Sato would make the jump from national champion to world champion as he upset the highly talented Suriyan Sor Rungvisai for the WBC title. Although not known as a puncher Sato twice dropped Suriyan in round 3 and put on an excellent showing. Although the score cards (116-110 and 114-112-twice) were close Sato was a clear winner with the knockdowns making the difference on two of the scorecards. The bout it self was a real humdinger with both men landing shots on each other in a bout that really didn't get the attention that it sorely deserved. Sato, unlike many, didn't just sit on his laurels and less than 4 months after claiming the title he made his first defense out pointing Filipino Sylvester Lopez (who was then ranked #1 by the WBC) and then on New Years Eve Sato defeated unbeaten domestic rival Ryo Akaho to make the second defense of his title in a little over 9 months. Sato's title reign came to an end, like many fellow Japanese champions, in Thailand as the unheralded Srisaket Sor Rungvisai forced a relentless and hectic pace on to Sato who simple couldn't survive against the power and tempo that was forced up on him. Sato will be looking to bounce back from his stoppage loss to Srisaket sooner rather than later, though will likely be needing to rebuild from the Japanese title level as opposed to jumping straight back in to a world title bout. For those interested in seeing Sato the video below, courtesy of CarlosBoxful shows his final Japanese title defense against Kenji Oba. In that bout you get to see Sato's wicked straight right and stinging uppercuts, though he's actually a fighter who, as he showed against Suriyan, can go to war up close if needed. Although he's not a huge puncher he's a sharp puncher and when he connects clean fighters know about it which goes some way to explain his somewhat low KO% though |
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