Nakano claims first title, Lee retains Japanese belt
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Earlier today we had the 22nd WHO'S NEXT DYNAMIC GLOVE on U-NEXT. The card featured two notable title bouts, in what was a card that went over-looked, but over-delivered.
Prior to the title bouts we got a thriller as Takara Kawaguchi (9-0-1, 6) [川口高良] scored his biggest win to date, over-coming the touted Hyoga Miyata (3-1, 1) [宮田彪我] in a scintillating war. The two men engaged from early on, Miyata suffered a nasty cut part way through the bout, and from there on seemed to be determined to try and win a battle of wills with Kawaguchi that saw both men trading volume up close. In the end however Kawaguchi worsened the cut and forced the ringside doctor to stop the bout in round 7, securing him a scalp over a very touted youngster.
In the first of the two title bouts the unbeaten Mikito Nakano (11-0, 10) [中野幹士] claimed his first professional title, as he stopped Filipino Bryx Piala (9-2, 3) to claim the OPBF Super Featherweight title. Nakano, one of the hottest prospects in Japan, looked too strong, too powerful and too good from early on, and in round 3 a body attack dropped Piala, and essentially took the fight out of him. To his credit Piala got back to his feet and began the 4th round, but was damaged good as Nakano closed the show early the following round to claim the OPBF title and begin his long awaited march to world title contention, and ultimately an expected world title shot in the coming years.
In the main event Japanese 140lb champion Kuntae Lee (8-0-2, 1) [李健太], made his first defense, as he took a wide decision win over the out-classed but thorough gutsy Ryan Joshua Yamamoto (7-7, 1) [山本ライアン ジュシュア]. From the off it was clear that Yamamoto wasn’t there to just make up the numbers and instead there for one of the biggest upsets of the years. Sadly for him however he couldn’t real with the speed, boxing skills and ring IQ of Lee who was too sharp on a round by round basis. Saying that Yamamoto had far, far more success than most were expecting, but lacked the power needed, when he landed, to have Lee in real trouble. If anyone was in trouble it was Yamamoto, in round 10, when Lee put his foot on the gas and began to try and force a late stoppage, but Yamamoto’s heart and desire couldn’t be questioned as he saw out the round and went the distance with the talented champion. After 10 rounds the scores were 100-90, and 99-91, twice, for Lee though he was given a genuine test here by a very determined challenger.
Prior to the title bouts we got a thriller as Takara Kawaguchi (9-0-1, 6) [川口高良] scored his biggest win to date, over-coming the touted Hyoga Miyata (3-1, 1) [宮田彪我] in a scintillating war. The two men engaged from early on, Miyata suffered a nasty cut part way through the bout, and from there on seemed to be determined to try and win a battle of wills with Kawaguchi that saw both men trading volume up close. In the end however Kawaguchi worsened the cut and forced the ringside doctor to stop the bout in round 7, securing him a scalp over a very touted youngster.
In the first of the two title bouts the unbeaten Mikito Nakano (11-0, 10) [中野幹士] claimed his first professional title, as he stopped Filipino Bryx Piala (9-2, 3) to claim the OPBF Super Featherweight title. Nakano, one of the hottest prospects in Japan, looked too strong, too powerful and too good from early on, and in round 3 a body attack dropped Piala, and essentially took the fight out of him. To his credit Piala got back to his feet and began the 4th round, but was damaged good as Nakano closed the show early the following round to claim the OPBF title and begin his long awaited march to world title contention, and ultimately an expected world title shot in the coming years.
In the main event Japanese 140lb champion Kuntae Lee (8-0-2, 1) [李健太], made his first defense, as he took a wide decision win over the out-classed but thorough gutsy Ryan Joshua Yamamoto (7-7, 1) [山本ライアン ジュシュア]. From the off it was clear that Yamamoto wasn’t there to just make up the numbers and instead there for one of the biggest upsets of the years. Sadly for him however he couldn’t real with the speed, boxing skills and ring IQ of Lee who was too sharp on a round by round basis. Saying that Yamamoto had far, far more success than most were expecting, but lacked the power needed, when he landed, to have Lee in real trouble. If anyone was in trouble it was Yamamoto, in round 10, when Lee put his foot on the gas and began to try and force a late stoppage, but Yamamoto’s heart and desire couldn’t be questioned as he saw out the round and went the distance with the talented champion. After 10 rounds the scores were 100-90, and 99-91, twice, for Lee though he was given a genuine test here by a very determined challenger.