Champions retain at Korakuen Hall
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7
Earlier today the legendary Korakuen Hall played host to an intriguing regional title double header, as the boxing calendar slowly begins to pick up in Asia, after a very slow start to the year.
The first of the regional title bouts saw the talented Ryusei Kawaura (13-2, 9) [川浦龍生] successfully defend his WBO Asia Pacific Super Flyweight title as he scored one of his best wins, and stopped the hard hitting Takahiro Tai (8-2, 8) [田井宜広]. In what was a tense and exciting bout.
Early on Tai, well known for his switch hitting and his powder, looked good, and landed power shots with both hands, leaving Kawaura cut above his right eye. Kawaura, the more technically skilled of the two, began to tighten up his defense and allowed Tai’s aggression to be his own downfall, as he began to land counters, making Tai pay for his wild shots. In round 6 Kawauara’s shots took a toll, dropping Tai. Tai beat the count, but was under pressure quickly after the restart, with the referee waving the bout off after a barrage from the champion. Following the contest Kawaura revealed that his game plan was to allow Tai to slow down, and use his defense, something he did well, whilst Tai openly admitted he wasn’t good enough and that Kawaura was too strong for him, though he seemed in good spirits and like he learned a lot from this experience.
The second title bout on this show saw Daishi Nagata (21-3-2, 7) [永田大士] pull himself off the canvas to retain his OPBF and WBO Asia Pacific Light Welterweight titles with a win over the very game Hiroto Hoshi (7-4-4, 3) [星大翔].
Hoshi got off to the dream start, dropping Nagata in the opening round with a right hand, having staggered him just moments earlier. It seemed that Hoshi was going to really dangerous, though sadly for him that was his highlight for the fight, as Nagata regrouped brilliantly, and began to take the fight to Hoshi, targeting the challengers body in round 2, and continued to grind down and outwork Hoshi, who was forced to fight Nagata’s fight.
In round 8 the pressure and relentlessness of Nagata finally broke Hoshi’s resilience. Hoshi was forced into the ropes and Nagata kept shots coming until the referee decided enough was enough stopping Hoshi 36 seconds into the 8th round.
After the win Nagata explained "It turned into a fierce battle. I think I would have lost if I hadn't been wary of Hoshi. It's not that the knockdown was effective, but rather that I lost my balance and went down. However, even though I was acting all tough, I think the knockdown was actually effective." As for Hoshi, he seemed to realise that the early knockdown was the worst thing that could have happened, explaining "Because I knocked him down first, I tried to finish him off there, and all the plans I had prepared went out the window.
The first of the regional title bouts saw the talented Ryusei Kawaura (13-2, 9) [川浦龍生] successfully defend his WBO Asia Pacific Super Flyweight title as he scored one of his best wins, and stopped the hard hitting Takahiro Tai (8-2, 8) [田井宜広]. In what was a tense and exciting bout.
Early on Tai, well known for his switch hitting and his powder, looked good, and landed power shots with both hands, leaving Kawaura cut above his right eye. Kawaura, the more technically skilled of the two, began to tighten up his defense and allowed Tai’s aggression to be his own downfall, as he began to land counters, making Tai pay for his wild shots. In round 6 Kawauara’s shots took a toll, dropping Tai. Tai beat the count, but was under pressure quickly after the restart, with the referee waving the bout off after a barrage from the champion. Following the contest Kawaura revealed that his game plan was to allow Tai to slow down, and use his defense, something he did well, whilst Tai openly admitted he wasn’t good enough and that Kawaura was too strong for him, though he seemed in good spirits and like he learned a lot from this experience.
The second title bout on this show saw Daishi Nagata (21-3-2, 7) [永田大士] pull himself off the canvas to retain his OPBF and WBO Asia Pacific Light Welterweight titles with a win over the very game Hiroto Hoshi (7-4-4, 3) [星大翔].
Hoshi got off to the dream start, dropping Nagata in the opening round with a right hand, having staggered him just moments earlier. It seemed that Hoshi was going to really dangerous, though sadly for him that was his highlight for the fight, as Nagata regrouped brilliantly, and began to take the fight to Hoshi, targeting the challengers body in round 2, and continued to grind down and outwork Hoshi, who was forced to fight Nagata’s fight.
In round 8 the pressure and relentlessness of Nagata finally broke Hoshi’s resilience. Hoshi was forced into the ropes and Nagata kept shots coming until the referee decided enough was enough stopping Hoshi 36 seconds into the 8th round.
After the win Nagata explained "It turned into a fierce battle. I think I would have lost if I hadn't been wary of Hoshi. It's not that the knockdown was effective, but rather that I lost my balance and went down. However, even though I was acting all tough, I think the knockdown was actually effective." As for Hoshi, he seemed to realise that the early knockdown was the worst thing that could have happened, explaining "Because I knocked him down first, I tried to finish him off there, and all the plans I had prepared went out the window.