Monthly award winners for January Announced
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Earlier today the East Japan Boxing Association announced their monthly award winners for January, which was admittedly a very quiet month with very little action and very, very few, notable bouts.
The MVP for the month was OPBF Featherweight champion Mikito Nakano (12-0, 11) [中野幹士], who made his first defense by stopping Hiroki Hanabusa (13-4-5, 5) [英洸貴] in the third round of their bout, back on January 18th. The win was a really good one for Nakano, who seems to be aware that he’s not yet ready for world class, but is certainly not too far from it, and the win over Hanabusa showed what he could do, and saw him stop a man who recently went the distance with the world ranked Angelo Pena in Switzerland.
The fighting Spirit Award was also won by a regional Featherweight champion who scored a win on January 18th, with this award going to WBO Asia Pacific Featherweight champion Kenji Fujita (8-0, 4) [藤田健児], following his win over hard hitting Filipino Michael Casama (10-3-1, 10). The win was, in many ways, the best we’ve seen of Fujita who looked like the real as he broke down Casama and forced the Filipino’s team to pull their man from the bout, following what was a surgical performance by the former amateur stand out.
The Newcomer award was won by Ohashi Gym hopeful Yuya Tanaka (3-1, 3) [田中湧也]who stopped the previously unbeaten Yushi Yamaguchi (2-1) [山口友士] on January 14th. The performance saw Tanaka show a bit of everything and it’s clear he and his team see a move into the Japanese rankings later this year. He was really impressive in stopping Yamaguchi and announcing himself as one to watch.
The MVP for the month was OPBF Featherweight champion Mikito Nakano (12-0, 11) [中野幹士], who made his first defense by stopping Hiroki Hanabusa (13-4-5, 5) [英洸貴] in the third round of their bout, back on January 18th. The win was a really good one for Nakano, who seems to be aware that he’s not yet ready for world class, but is certainly not too far from it, and the win over Hanabusa showed what he could do, and saw him stop a man who recently went the distance with the world ranked Angelo Pena in Switzerland.
The fighting Spirit Award was also won by a regional Featherweight champion who scored a win on January 18th, with this award going to WBO Asia Pacific Featherweight champion Kenji Fujita (8-0, 4) [藤田健児], following his win over hard hitting Filipino Michael Casama (10-3-1, 10). The win was, in many ways, the best we’ve seen of Fujita who looked like the real as he broke down Casama and forced the Filipino’s team to pull their man from the bout, following what was a surgical performance by the former amateur stand out.
The Newcomer award was won by Ohashi Gym hopeful Yuya Tanaka (3-1, 3) [田中湧也]who stopped the previously unbeaten Yushi Yamaguchi (2-1) [山口友士] on January 14th. The performance saw Tanaka show a bit of everything and it’s clear he and his team see a move into the Japanese rankings later this year. He was really impressive in stopping Yamaguchi and announcing himself as one to watch.