This Week In Boxing: December 29–31

a c Blocked Unblock Follow Following Dec 28, 2015

[lead]Tuesday December 29, 2015[/lead]

From Ariake Colosseum, Tokyo, Japan

Time: 2:00 AM PST, 5:00 AM EST, 10:00 AM GMT, 7:00 PM JST

TV: Fuji TV (Japan)

Naoya Inoue 8(7)-0 vs Warlike Parenas 24(21)-6–1

12 rounds

sundaypuncher super flyweight championship

There are 2 types of prospects we see in 2015: the super prospect and the traditional one. The super prospect is a risky venture that involves facing quality opponents very early and racing toward a world title as quickly as possible. Amateur accomplishments can speed this process up, but we’ve seen that no matter how good those accomplishments are, there is no guarantee. Clever matchmaking plays a vital role for the super prospect, but ultimately it comes down to the fighter. At this point, it’s a bit unclear how it pays off because no super prospect has really made it huge.

The other school of thought regarding the grooming of prospects is much slower and it has it’s own unique risks. The long road of the regular prospect faces stunted growth or arrested development from facing sub-par opponents for too long, impatience from fans unwilling to watch mismatch after mismatch in the name of development, overconfidence and recklessness from inflated confidence, and ultimately a loss of momentum if their step up doesn’t come soon enough.

There are few fighters out there who have mastered some version of either method. One such fighter who has is Naoya Inoue. Inoue was rushed from the outset of his career, but what makes Inoue unique is that his record suggests he’s a super prospect, but really his handlers have followed the traditional model verbatim. Inoue steadily increased his level of opposition as any prospect would, he just took out a lot of the filler fights. He jumped from local to regional to country to continent to world champion. Now he stands as a multi-division champion at the age of 22.

Inoue’s path of development is what all young fighters should strive for if they think they’ve got the talent to. Inoue’s quick path has led him to stardom in Japan and worldwide recognition. He didn’t have to deal with the 40 something fights of obscurity that Roman Gonzalez had to struggle through before getting his time to shine. He also didn’t try Lomachenko’s blistering pace that saw him lose in his second professional fight. And certainly Inoue didn’t try Kazuto Ioka’s deceitful, but impressive on paper, accomplishment driven path. Inoue has dominated in rapid fashion against increasing levels of opposition and it has placed him amongst the very best in the sport.

There’s something terrifying about Inoue. It’s not his power either. It is that he’s 22 years old. Let that sink in a bit. He’s a 22 year old multi-division champion who doesn’t do catchweights, doesn’t have any questionable names on his resume, and doesn’t like to finish fights inside of 12 rounds. This is a kid who at 21 years old destroyed the very best fighter in the super flyweight division. He dismantled a long reigning champion who feasted on young fighters. Inoue got rid of him with ease and the truly scary thing about him is that he’s showing improvement each time he fights. At this point, the sky is the limit for Inoue. If Inoue wins another world title in another division, or if he beats someone like Roman Gonzalez, it’s time we start to acknowledge that we might have a generational talent on our hands with Inoue.

Warlito Parenas isn’t the big name we expected for Inoue to face in his first defense of his super flyweight title, but hand injuries have kept him on the shelf for a year. Given the circumstances, Parenas is an acceptable opponent. He’s a good domestic fighter, certainly one of the better 115 lb fighters in the Philippines, but that is probably not going to be good enough. We’re talking about The Monster here. Inoue is on a path to greatness and Parenas is simply another fighter in the way of an oncoming freight train.

Entertainment Rating: 💯💯💯 Importance Rating: 💯💯💯💯💯

Javier Mendoz 24(19)-2–1 vs Akira Yaegashi 22(12)-5

12 rounds

light flyweight division

It is a testament to Akira Yaegashi’s talent and his ability to consistently entertain that in the fight directly proceeding his knockout loss to Roman Gonzalez, he got a shot at a vacant world title. What helped get Yaegashi that title shot is that he’s one of the most endearing fighters out there. When Yaegashi fights, you can be absolutely assured that he’s going to leave everything in the ring. You only need to count the amount of times his face has resembled ground beef after a fight, and yet his hand the one raised in victory. That’s the kind of fighter that Yaegashi is… or was.

Was because fighters like Yaegashi tend to age in dog years. At 32 years old and after 5 losses, with his most recent 2 being brutal knockout losses to Roman Gonzalez and Pedro Guevara, Yaegashi has to be near the end of the line. It’s a sad thing to face because Yaegashi’s such a fan favorite, but the facts need to be stated. The truth is that his last 2 opponents, both of which were easily put away, had a combined record of 3–13. While he may have looked solid against those two, looking back to his last two real fights against title contenders is a grim memory. We saw Yaegashi give it his all, as he often does, but in slow motion. As if there was a lag in his mind between thought and action. Yaegashi managed to land big shots on Gonzalez, but there was nothing behind the shots. Gonzalez swallowed them and continued to pummel him into submission. By the time Guevara got his hands on him, it was over before it started.

Yaegashi is often joked about as being a Sergio Martinez impersonator who had only mastered the reckless swagger and not the ability to avoid a punch. Mendoza will be Yaegashi’s last attempt to capture a title and enjoy some time at the top. At this point, winning a title is just as dangerous as fighting for one. Mendoza is a good fighter. He’s beaten the domestic light flyweights of Mexico with ease, but will he be able to assert himself against a former world champion in Akira Yaegashi?

Mendoza’s win over Ramon Hirales indicates maybe. His win over Milan Melindo suggests absolutely. Mendoza should win this one easily. The hope is that Yaegashi can come out and put on one last great show without being so poor on defense that you have to turn away. It’s unlikely though. Yaegashi is the kind of guy that fights on heart and balls. These guys tend to crash and burn the hardest and this might be the moment. Or he can reach into some reservoir of greatness and deliver one last classic.

Entertainment Rating: 💯💯💯💯 Importance Rating: 💯💯💯💯

Takuma Inoue 5(1)-0 vs Rene Dacquel 15(5)-5–1

12 rounds

super flyweight division

What is scarier than The Monster? What about a 19 year old version of him. That’s what Takuma Inoue is. Takuma is following in the footsteps that his older brother Naoya. The interesting thing here is that Takuma is on track to surpass Naoya with how fast he seems to be gunning for a world title.

If you’re looking for what separates the two, it is probably that Takuma doesn’t have the KO ratio that Naoya does. No reason to be alarmed. Naoya didn’t start out with the one-punch power he has now. It was developed through technique and probably aging. There is still hope for Takuma. Should the power come along, Takuma will be just as scary as Naoya. Rene Dacquel is a very good fight for Takuma. He’s gotten a couple of good wins in his career and has proven he can go deep into fights. This will be a great learning experience for Takuma.

Entertainment Rating: 💯💯💯 Importance Rating: 💯💯

[hr gap=””]From Sands Bethlehem, Bethlehem, Pensylvania

Time: 6:00 PM PST, 9:00 PM EST, 2:00 AM GMT

TV: Fox Sports 1 (US)

Omar Douglas 15(11)-0 vs Frank De Alba 17(6)-1–2

10 rounds

super featherweight division

You can find boxing fans complaining about mismatches anywhere where there are fans communicating with one another. They’ll say things like “we’re sold main events that aren’t even good” or “all the big names cherry pick” or some variation of that nonsense. The problem with that is that these fans fail to see that there are good cards all the time. This card is a great one and there have been plenty. Just last week on HBO Latino we got a great main event, ShoBox was terrific a few weeks ago. We saw on all of these cards young prospects get pushed to their limit in competitive fights. The problem is that people don’t want to admit that they only watch the big cards on HBO, Showtime, NBC, CBS, etc. By sticking to the big cards with names, you’ll obviously see a slew of mismatches and lots of complaints.

Tuesday we’ll see 24 year old super featherweight prospect Omar Douglas get tested. Douglas is a guy that relies on his ability to outbox opponents because he’s not that big of a puncher. He has pretty good timing to make up for a lack of speed and power. He’s been able to drop guys in the past, simply by throwing punches at the right time. He doesn’t look like he’s got the attributes to dominate his division, but what you can tell right now is that he’s going to be a really tough out for anyone that steps in the ring with him. He’s very tenacious in the ring and he’s the perfect size for super featherweight.

De Alba’s blemishes came really early in his career. So early that they aren’t worth mentioning. Since his early losses, he’s turned his career around and gotten respectable wins. He should be a really good test for Douglas.

Entertainment Rating: 💯💯💯 Importance Rating: 💯💯💯

Miguel Cruz 11(10)-0 vs Virgil Green 11(4)-3

8 rounds

welterweight division

Miguel Cruz turned pro at 22 and is still very green. He’s shown good power, but he’s also fighting guys that if he failed to knock them out, it would be troublesome.

Entertainment Rating: 💯💯💯 Importance Rating: 💯💯

[lead]Thursday December 30, 2015[/lead]

From Aichi Prefectural Gym, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

Time: 11:00 PM PST, 2:00 AM EST, 7:00 AM GMT, 4:00 PM JST

Note that this fight actually begins on Wednesday the 29th if you’re on pacific time.

TV: CBC (Japan) TBS (Japan)

Kosei Tanaka 5(2)-0 vs Vic Saludar 11(9)-1

12 rounds

minimumweight division

Remember that there are two ways to go about bringing a prospect up. There is the slow and steady way or the title shot as soon as they can place their gloves up way. Kosei Tanaka chose the latter and got a world title as fast as he possibly could without being considered reckless. Tanaka is a 20 year old minimumweight who looked like a phenom early on. It seemed like he would be the next big thing after his 4th professional fight when he fought Ryuji Hara. Hara was 18–0 and looked like he was no joke. It looked like the winner here would certainly be onto bigger and better things. Tanaka stopped him and immediately the whispers began to circulate in boxing circles.

Tanaka followed his big win over Hara with a very close win over Julian Yedras for a vacant title. The win wasn’t as impressive as many had hoped for and all the talk of Tanaka overtaking Inoue quickly died down. Tanaka showed that an experienced and gritty fighter would give him a lot of trouble. Despite his struggle with Yedras, he did have his man hurt and he did escape with a title. There is no need to panic just yet. At 20 years old, Tanaka is still on his way to being a very good fighter. He’s just a little farther from his goal than we thought.

Vic Saludar has taken only one loss and it was early on in his career. Since then he’s fought a bunch of inexperienced or bad fighters in the Philippines. Tanaka should get by Saludar with ease.

One last thing about Tanaka. When I say that he struggled with Yedras, let me make something clear. Those were struggles of a young fighter attempting to be great. That was a good win and it should be put into perspective. For a 20 year old fighter with 4 professional fights to beat a guy like Yedras was a big deal. When comparing his performance with the expectations people had of Tanaka, that is where the disappointment comes from. In reality, Tanaka is miles from where the traditional 20 year old fighter is and should still be considered a little prodigy.

Entertainment Rating: 💯💯💯💯 Importance Rating: 💯💯💯💯[hr gap=””]

From EDION Arena Osaka, Osaka, Japan

Time: 1:00 AM PST, 4:00 AM EST, 9:00 AM GMT, 6:00 PM JST

TV: TBS (Japan)

Kazuto Ioka 18(10)-1 vs Juan Carlos Reveco 36(19)-2

12 rounds

flyweight division

Kazuto Ioka is desperate for recognition and accomplishment. He’s spent the entirety of his career chasing whatever title he can easily get his hands on. In his 10th fight he unified the minimumweight division by beating our old friend Akira Yaegashi in an all-out war. At that point in Ioka’s career he was seen as a potential star and force in boxing. Maybe even one of the best young fighters in the sport. His name was dropped by anyone wanting to sound smarter or wanted to boast about their boxing knowledge. (The same way Tanaka was last year.)

Ioka wasn’t happy just being the king of minimumweight. He quickly abandoned the division after beating Yaegashi. (If you’ve never seen that fight, then it probably won’t make sense why he did it. If you have seen the fight, you know why he left.) Ioka bounced around light flyweight and scored a world title. At this point he began teasing fans with the prospect of a fight between the old super prospect and the new rising phenom Naoya Inoue. Again, Ioka decided on moving up in weight.

His first fight at flyweight was disastrous. On paper it seemed simple. An old Thai fighter who got a late start to boxing with only a handful of meaningful fights. It should have been an easy win for someone as established as Ioka. As we now know after seeing more of him at the world level, Amnat Ruenroeng is no easy out. It was the most difficult fight of Ioka’s career and suffered his first career defeat. (To Ioka’s credit, Ruenroeng is the toughest fight in all of boxing. He’s harder to fight than Golovkin and Kovalev. With Ruenroeng there is no gameplan. Golovkin and Kovalev seem to have easy gameplans because they actually box in a professional manner. With Ruenroeng, there’s no telling what he’s going to do in the ring and that includes boxing.)

If we’re going to be even nicer to Ioka, we’ll say that the Ruenroeng fight was close as evidenced by the split decision. (It wasn’t that close.) Since losing that fight, he’s won a paper title from Juan Carlos Reveco in a very close fight. They’re rematching and at 26 years old, Ioka still has a shot at being a top tier fighter.

Entertainment Rating: 💯💯💯 Importance Rating: 💯💯💯

Katsunari Takayama 30(12)-7 vs Jose Argumedo 15(9)-3–1

12 rounds

minimumweight division

Earlier it was mentioned that there are few fighters as endearing as Yaegashi. One such fighter who comes close is Katsunari Takayama. What’s not to love about a guy who may or may not have actual boxing skill, but decides it’s not worth it to figure it out? How can you not love a guy who comes out guns blazing in each fight? Who doesn’t like a guy who says each time a round begins that it’s him or me and i’m not scared of what the answer is?

Katsunari Takayama is persistent. You see it in the way he fights and you see it in how many times he’s lost titles and came back and gotten 2 more.

Entertainment Rating: 💯💯💯💯 Importance Rating: 💯💯💯💯

From Ota-City General Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan

Time: 4:30 AM PST, 7:30 AM EST, 12:30 PM BST, 9:30 PM JST

TV: TV Tokyo (Japan)

Takashi Uchiyama 23(19)-0–1 vs Oliver Flores 27(17)-1–2

12 rounds

sundaypuncher super featherweight championship

The winds are changing at 130 pounds. At 36 years old, Takashi Uchiyama, the long reigning super featherweight kingpin is ripe for the picking. In the time that Uchiyama has been out of the ring, we’ve had several new talents emerge in the division and each look as dangerous as the next one. The division is in a state of turnover and Takashi Uchiyama now has the opportunity to show us if he’s a special fighter… or if this is the end of his reign.

What’s made Uchiyama good for so long is his ability to be consistently good. He’s not completely dominant, he’s not flawless in the ring, or excellent at any one thing. He’s been dropped by big shots in his fights plenty of times, but what has made him such a great champion is that when he’s been dropped, you can always expect him to get up and knock the other guy down.

To speak to Uchiyama’s excellence, he’s one of the few boxers out there with a Nike sponsorship. He doesn’t just wear the trunks, they actually sponsor him with a section on their Nike Japan website.

In the 10th year of Uchiyama’s career, he will face Oliver Flores of Nicaragua. At best Flores is a domestic fighter. He’s tried stepping up once back in 2012 against a young Mexican prospect named Miguel Berchelt. Berchelt knocked Flores’s head off with a big left hook.

Uchiyama doens’t have the youth that Berchelt did, but he certainly has the power. Uchiyama is far more well-rounded as he can box, bang, or do whatever his opponent prefers.

According to this website you’re reading, Uchiyama is the 11th best fighter in the world. One that is ripe for the picking but still one of the best.

Entertainment Rating: 💯💯💯💯 Importance Rating: 💯💯💯💯