Boxing Challenge: Japanese Super Cards!

     The two night boxing extravaganza from Tokyo with seven world championships at stake had a little of everything over the two evenings.

A dominant knockout from the best boxer on the card, two champions losing their titles in upsets, vacant titles were filled, and competitive bouts showcased the best fighters in Japan, except for the very best- Naoya Inoue.

The biggest star retained his title on Monday as Junto Nakatani blasted Petch Sor Chitpattana out in six rounds to keep his WBC bantamweight title.

Nakatani was the one prohibitive favorite of the seven championship events and he followed up with an impressive performance in winning every round before the stoppage.

The lean Nakatani could move up to junior featherweight and a mega match against undisputed junior featherweight king Naoya Inoue and that may have been sped up a bit after the result of the Sunday main event where the Monster's brother Takuma Inoue was upset by Seiya Tsutsumi and lost his WBA bantamweight strap along with a possible unification match with Nakatani.

Tsutsumi's aggressive attack reminded me of WBA featherweight champion Nick Ball and while Inoue was competitive, he was unable to slow Tsutsumi down and lost a lucrative potential fight with Junto Nakatani.

Tsutsumi scored a knockdown in round eleven for the highlight before the reading of the cards, which read 117-110, 115-112, and a surprisingly close 114-113.

My score for Tsutsumi was 116-111 and I'll be very interested in the new champion's first title defense.

The junior bantamweight division had only one title match and it saw a new champion walking away with a title-winning surprise as Phumelele Cafu upset Kosei Tanaka via split decision.

The fight was filled with exchanges and excellent stages for both men with the difference coming in round five with Cafu landing a punishing counter-right that knocked down Tanaka.

The knockdown made the difference for Cafu who won on two cards (and mine) at 114-113 with Tanaka winning on the other card at 114-113.

Had there not been a knockdown, Tanaka would have retained his title by a Majority Decision Draw.

I would not be against these two hooking up in a rematch soon.

Three of the four flyweight world titles were on the line over the two days.

Former unified junior flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji won the vacant WBC title by battering former champion Cristofer Rosales into submission when the doctor stopped the fight before the start of round eleven.

Rosales was brave in taking his beating but Teraji's varied attack was more than Rosales could handle at this stage of his career.

Says here that I'd favor Teraji against anyone in the division, he's that good.

Seigo Yuri Akui retained his WBA version of the title by a split decision over Thananchai Charunphak.

Another tight battle that I could use close either way.

Scores for Akui at 117-111 and 115-113 with the dissenting score of 115-113 for Charunphak.

I scored 115-113 for Akui.

The WBO title held by Anthony Olascuaga remained with him after a first-round head clash opened a cut over Jonathan Gonzalez's eye, which resulted in a no-contest.

One junior flyweight title was filled when Shokichi Iwata won the vacant WBO belt by stopping Jairo Noriega in the third round.

Noriega won the first two rounds but Iwata knocked Noriega down twice in round three, the second knockdown dropping him face-first for the finish,

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 147 Pts (4) 

TRS: 141 Pts (5)

Vince Samano: 86 Pts (6)

Boxing Challenge; Teraji knocks out Kyoguchi, unifies titles.

  Early Tuesday morning on the East Coast, a terrific card from Saitama, Japan rewarded those who either got up from bed early or stayed up all night with three excellent fights in the boxing challenge.

In the main event, Kenshiro Teraji knocked out Hiroto Kyoguchi in the seventh round to unify the WBA and WBC light flyweight titles.

Teraji is listed as the same height and only a half-inch longer in reach but the WBC champion seemed taller and rangier than his WBA counterpart and when Teraji used that size from the outside, he couldn't miss Kyoguchi with the jab or right hand.

What often makes good fights is when one fighter ignores his advantages and decides to fight and when Teraji made that decision, the fight was quite entertaining with Kyoguchi having more than his share of moments.

Round five may have a claim for the round of the year as Teraji knocked down Kyoguchi and appeared to be on the edge of a stoppage before appearing to punch himself out a bit before Kyoguchi landed a big right hand that had Teraji on the run and when the bell rang to end the round, Kyoguchi looked to be the fighter in better shape.

Teraji calmly boxed in the sixth and came out for the seventh with a second wind, dominating the round and knocking down Kyoguchi late in the round with the referee ending the fight without a count.

I had Teraji ahead 58-55 at the time of the stoppage as Teraji cemented himself as the best light flyweight in the world for the time being and he may have a chance to add another title in the division next year.

Teraji's opponent would be WBO champion Jonathan Gonzalez, who held off a strong early attack from Shokichi Iwata to retain his belt via unanimous decision.

Iwata came forward for the entire fight but was in only his tenth pro fight and when the longer reach of Gonzalez began to make the difference in the middle rounds, Iwata didn't have very much to answer with other than aggression.

Gonzalez has been knocked out in all three of his defeats but against Kenshiro Teraji, he will be hard-pressed to avoid the power of the Japanese star.

I scored Gonzalez a winner at 116-112 which was the same as two judges with a dissenter at 117-111 for Gonzalez.

Junto Nakatani vacated his WBO flyweight title to move to 115 pounds earlier in the week and he earned a unanimous decision over former WBA and IBF mini-flyweight/strawweight champion Francisco Rodriguez in a rough and tumble matchup.

Rodriguez played the role of the wily veteran heel with clutching, grabbing, and other borderline tactics that would cost him one point in the seventh round.

Nakatani will be better for the experience but he still deserved the decision as he landed the better punches.

Nakatani's win on the cards were 99-90, 98-91, and 97-92 with my score the same as the middle ledger.

Nakatani could be facing the winner of the WBA-WBO junior bantamweight unification between Joshua Franco and Kazuto Ioka, a fight that would be huge in Japan, should Ioka emerge as the winner.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 181 Pts (4) 

Ramon Malpica: 154 Pts (0)

Vince Samano: 148 Pts (3)