Kenshiro unifies in thriller, Olascuaga gets controversial win, Iwata dethrone, Tsuboi makes sensational cameo
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Just moments ago we saw the end of a brilliant, controversial, compelling and intriguing show from the Ryogoku Kokugikan, which really had everything.
Sadly the first major bout was almost entirely missed on the international feed, with fans only getting a glimpse of former World Amateur Champion Tomoya Tsuboi (1-0, 1) [坪井智也], who made a real statement as he took apart WBO Asia Pacific #2 ranked Bantamweight Boonrueang Phayom (14-4, 14), in the second round. From the short glimpse fans around the world got, Tsuboi was super sharp, accurate and offensive, picking apart the Thai visitor with combinations until eventually dropping him with a body shot. The Thai got back to his feet but was under pressure again and dropped for a second time, with the referee waving it off after the second knockdown.
The first of the 3 world title bouts on the show saw an upset as Shokichi Iwata (14-2, 11) [岩田翔吉] lost the WBO Light Flyweight title in his first defense, to Rene Santiago (13-5, 9), in a really compelling bout had a bit of everything. Early on it was a battle of jabs, before we began to see Iwata applying intense pressure and not really caring about what he was getting caught with. It seemed like the champion was confident he would, sooner or later, break down the fleet footed Santiago, who was quicker and more versatile. It was a tactic that made sense, especially with Iwata catching Santiago with heavy shots and plenty of body shots, to take the legs away from the challenger. It seemed, after 5 rounds, that the pressure was beginning to take it’s toll on Santiago, who seemed to be hurt once or twice to the body, and doing more to keep Iwata away, than trying to actually win.
Just as it started to seem like Santiago was beginning to wilt he began to turn things around. He began to use Iwata’s pressure against him, moving around the ring countering well, and making Iwata look incredibly predictable and one paced. Round after round Iwata began to look more frustrated, more swollen, and more reckless, whilst Santiago was clearly enjoying the fight, showing off some brilliant boxing, luring Iwata in, firing off his shots, and getting away before Iwata could fire anything off. The early success of Iwata was easy to forget as we got into the championship rounds, with the champion being incredibly frustrated and the challenger looking relaxed, comfortable and confident. Iwata’s frustration saw him knowing he had to put his foot on the gas in the final rounds, which he did, though Santiago responded, giving us a sensational 12th round, but it was another one for the Puerto Rican who stamped his authority on the outcome, an outcome that was confirmed with scores of 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112. The 118-110 was too wide, but the others were very much acceptable scores.
The second world title fight on the show was a really compelling match up as WBO Flyweight champion Anthony Olascuaga (9-1, 6), who returned to Japan for his 5th straight fight and overcame former 2 weight world champion Hiroto Kyoguchi (19-3, 12) [京口紘人] in a bout marred by poor scoring.
From the off it seemed like we were seeing a more polished, mature and intelligent Kyoguchi than we’d ever seen. The offensive machine that he had once been was tuned down, and instead he was fighting a much more conservative fight, picking his spots well, and making every shot count, with some really telling body shots and straight shots up top. It was clear, early on, that Olascuaga wasn’t expecting this sort of polish from Kyoguchi, who had often been a hyper aggressive fighter. As the rounds went on Olascuaga managed to find success, but it was rarely sustained, but Kyoguchi showed real composure, boxing to a plan, getting success, round after round with his clean, heavy shots. He never seemed to really hurt Olascuaga, who seemed the bigger man, but he was frustrating him, and scoring on the naturally bigger, younger fighter. As the rounds went on Kyoguchi began to feel more and more comfortable, really taking the fight to Olascuaga in round 9, with the champion on the ropes, and it seemed clear that there were glimpses of the younger Kyoguchi in there.
We got a moment of drama in round 11, when Kyoguchi was ruled to have been knocked down, on what appeared to be a very clear slip. Notably Olascuaga didn’t jump on Kyoguchi after the knockdown, instead still looking like he lacked confidence in himself. In the final round, and likely knowing he was behind, Olascuaga began to fight a lot more offensively, with the two men tiredly swinging at each other, it was a real change in tempo from Olascuaga who seemed like a man who knew his title was slipping away and that he would need something big. It was a really good round of action, and was a good end to a very good fight.
It was clear it was close, and it seemed, to us, that Kyoguchi had just done enough. In the eyes of two judges however the bout was one sided, with scores of 118-109 and 117-110 that didn’t reflect the bout, whilst the third score, 114-113, was essentially decided on the knockdown call, to give Olascuaga his first defense, and the most impressive win of his career, albeit a win that few seem to have agreed with.
In the main event of the show we get something special as WBC Flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji (25-1, 16) [寺地 拳四朗] scored a sensational 12th round TKO over WBA counterpart Seigo Yuri Akui (21-3-1, 11) [阿久井政悟] to unify the two titles, becoming the first Japanese fighter to win two All-Japanese unification bouts after having also done so at 108lbs. The bout had high expectations, given the men involved, their familiarity and styles of both, but it easily exceeded the lofty expectations fans had, and should be one of the FOTY contenders come the end of the year.
The fight started with both having respect, but also having a point to prove, with both fighting at a high tempo and looking to get their jabs going. From there on Akui looked to land his powerful right hands and Kenshiro looked to mix in body shots. From there on it seemed like the fight just got better and better, with rounds 2-5 being high level boxing, with Kenshiro firing off combinations, landing clean, but struggling to hurt Akui who seemed to be able to get Kenshiro’s respect every time he landed a right hand, and he landed a lot of them making the most of Kenshiro’s leaky defense. Through the middle rounds Kenshiro seemed to change his gameplan and went from boxing behind his jab, staying busy and trying to outbox Akui at middle range, to instead taking the fight to Akui on the inside, and unleashing more uppercutts and body shots, trying to neutralise the Akui hand by not giving him the space to get full extension. Rounds 6 and 7 saw Kenshiro really upping the ante with the inside work, and although Akui had moments in both, it seemed he was being out worked and broken down and that perhaps he was feeling the tempo. Kenshiro then changed tactics again, and he got on to his toes to dart in and out, which saw him creating space, but also taking extra punishment, with Akui timing him well, and having sustained success, hurting Kenshiro several times in the rounds that followed. Not only was Akui hurting Kenshiro in rounds 10 and 11, but Kenshiro was starting to look tired, as the bout began to slip away from him, and his high output was slowing. It seemed like the titles were heading back to Okayama with Akui.
Amazingly however Kenshiro stormed out for the final round and put Akui under intense pressure from the opening seconds. After failing to really hurt Akui in the first 11 rounds he managed to hurt him within seconds of the round start, and forced Akui to hold on. Kenshiro was throwing everything at Akui, including the kitchen sink, and it was clear Akui was wilting, rapidly. As the assaults continued from Kenshiro Akui’s defenses started to fall apart, his legs wobbled slightly, his lip was left with a split in it, and the referee stepped in to save him. The stoppage seemed a quick one, though likely came from a mix of Akui’s legs buckling, twice, the blood leaking from his lip and the fact there was still a lot of the round left.
The stoppage, with 89 seconds left, took the bout out of the hands of the judges, though the scorecards were close, with scores of 105-104 for Akui, twice, and 106-103 to Kenshiro.
Sadly the first major bout was almost entirely missed on the international feed, with fans only getting a glimpse of former World Amateur Champion Tomoya Tsuboi (1-0, 1) [坪井智也], who made a real statement as he took apart WBO Asia Pacific #2 ranked Bantamweight Boonrueang Phayom (14-4, 14), in the second round. From the short glimpse fans around the world got, Tsuboi was super sharp, accurate and offensive, picking apart the Thai visitor with combinations until eventually dropping him with a body shot. The Thai got back to his feet but was under pressure again and dropped for a second time, with the referee waving it off after the second knockdown.
The first of the 3 world title bouts on the show saw an upset as Shokichi Iwata (14-2, 11) [岩田翔吉] lost the WBO Light Flyweight title in his first defense, to Rene Santiago (13-5, 9), in a really compelling bout had a bit of everything. Early on it was a battle of jabs, before we began to see Iwata applying intense pressure and not really caring about what he was getting caught with. It seemed like the champion was confident he would, sooner or later, break down the fleet footed Santiago, who was quicker and more versatile. It was a tactic that made sense, especially with Iwata catching Santiago with heavy shots and plenty of body shots, to take the legs away from the challenger. It seemed, after 5 rounds, that the pressure was beginning to take it’s toll on Santiago, who seemed to be hurt once or twice to the body, and doing more to keep Iwata away, than trying to actually win.
Just as it started to seem like Santiago was beginning to wilt he began to turn things around. He began to use Iwata’s pressure against him, moving around the ring countering well, and making Iwata look incredibly predictable and one paced. Round after round Iwata began to look more frustrated, more swollen, and more reckless, whilst Santiago was clearly enjoying the fight, showing off some brilliant boxing, luring Iwata in, firing off his shots, and getting away before Iwata could fire anything off. The early success of Iwata was easy to forget as we got into the championship rounds, with the champion being incredibly frustrated and the challenger looking relaxed, comfortable and confident. Iwata’s frustration saw him knowing he had to put his foot on the gas in the final rounds, which he did, though Santiago responded, giving us a sensational 12th round, but it was another one for the Puerto Rican who stamped his authority on the outcome, an outcome that was confirmed with scores of 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112. The 118-110 was too wide, but the others were very much acceptable scores.
The second world title fight on the show was a really compelling match up as WBO Flyweight champion Anthony Olascuaga (9-1, 6), who returned to Japan for his 5th straight fight and overcame former 2 weight world champion Hiroto Kyoguchi (19-3, 12) [京口紘人] in a bout marred by poor scoring.
From the off it seemed like we were seeing a more polished, mature and intelligent Kyoguchi than we’d ever seen. The offensive machine that he had once been was tuned down, and instead he was fighting a much more conservative fight, picking his spots well, and making every shot count, with some really telling body shots and straight shots up top. It was clear, early on, that Olascuaga wasn’t expecting this sort of polish from Kyoguchi, who had often been a hyper aggressive fighter. As the rounds went on Olascuaga managed to find success, but it was rarely sustained, but Kyoguchi showed real composure, boxing to a plan, getting success, round after round with his clean, heavy shots. He never seemed to really hurt Olascuaga, who seemed the bigger man, but he was frustrating him, and scoring on the naturally bigger, younger fighter. As the rounds went on Kyoguchi began to feel more and more comfortable, really taking the fight to Olascuaga in round 9, with the champion on the ropes, and it seemed clear that there were glimpses of the younger Kyoguchi in there.
We got a moment of drama in round 11, when Kyoguchi was ruled to have been knocked down, on what appeared to be a very clear slip. Notably Olascuaga didn’t jump on Kyoguchi after the knockdown, instead still looking like he lacked confidence in himself. In the final round, and likely knowing he was behind, Olascuaga began to fight a lot more offensively, with the two men tiredly swinging at each other, it was a real change in tempo from Olascuaga who seemed like a man who knew his title was slipping away and that he would need something big. It was a really good round of action, and was a good end to a very good fight.
It was clear it was close, and it seemed, to us, that Kyoguchi had just done enough. In the eyes of two judges however the bout was one sided, with scores of 118-109 and 117-110 that didn’t reflect the bout, whilst the third score, 114-113, was essentially decided on the knockdown call, to give Olascuaga his first defense, and the most impressive win of his career, albeit a win that few seem to have agreed with.
In the main event of the show we get something special as WBC Flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji (25-1, 16) [寺地 拳四朗] scored a sensational 12th round TKO over WBA counterpart Seigo Yuri Akui (21-3-1, 11) [阿久井政悟] to unify the two titles, becoming the first Japanese fighter to win two All-Japanese unification bouts after having also done so at 108lbs. The bout had high expectations, given the men involved, their familiarity and styles of both, but it easily exceeded the lofty expectations fans had, and should be one of the FOTY contenders come the end of the year.
The fight started with both having respect, but also having a point to prove, with both fighting at a high tempo and looking to get their jabs going. From there on Akui looked to land his powerful right hands and Kenshiro looked to mix in body shots. From there on it seemed like the fight just got better and better, with rounds 2-5 being high level boxing, with Kenshiro firing off combinations, landing clean, but struggling to hurt Akui who seemed to be able to get Kenshiro’s respect every time he landed a right hand, and he landed a lot of them making the most of Kenshiro’s leaky defense. Through the middle rounds Kenshiro seemed to change his gameplan and went from boxing behind his jab, staying busy and trying to outbox Akui at middle range, to instead taking the fight to Akui on the inside, and unleashing more uppercutts and body shots, trying to neutralise the Akui hand by not giving him the space to get full extension. Rounds 6 and 7 saw Kenshiro really upping the ante with the inside work, and although Akui had moments in both, it seemed he was being out worked and broken down and that perhaps he was feeling the tempo. Kenshiro then changed tactics again, and he got on to his toes to dart in and out, which saw him creating space, but also taking extra punishment, with Akui timing him well, and having sustained success, hurting Kenshiro several times in the rounds that followed. Not only was Akui hurting Kenshiro in rounds 10 and 11, but Kenshiro was starting to look tired, as the bout began to slip away from him, and his high output was slowing. It seemed like the titles were heading back to Okayama with Akui.
Amazingly however Kenshiro stormed out for the final round and put Akui under intense pressure from the opening seconds. After failing to really hurt Akui in the first 11 rounds he managed to hurt him within seconds of the round start, and forced Akui to hold on. Kenshiro was throwing everything at Akui, including the kitchen sink, and it was clear Akui was wilting, rapidly. As the assaults continued from Kenshiro Akui’s defenses started to fall apart, his legs wobbled slightly, his lip was left with a split in it, and the referee stepped in to save him. The stoppage seemed a quick one, though likely came from a mix of Akui’s legs buckling, twice, the blood leaking from his lip and the fact there was still a lot of the round left.
The stoppage, with 89 seconds left, took the bout out of the hands of the judges, though the scorecards were close, with scores of 105-104 for Akui, twice, and 106-103 to Kenshiro.