Before the television broadcast in Osaka began fans had the chance to see a Japanese Super Flyweight title fight between unbeaten champion Sho Ishida (19-0, 10) and mandatory challenger Taiki Eto (14-4, 10). The bout, part of the champions Carnival, was a highly anticipated bout between two young men tipped for real success.
Early on in the bout it was Ishida's fast jab and sharp right hands that were the eye catching blows and they helped him take a lead when the scores were publicly announced after 5 rounds, with all 3 judges favouring the the talented champion. The shots that Ishida were landing where the "point scoring shots" but not the most damaging shots and Eto managed to do enough in a number of those rounds to keep things close.
In round 8 the bout began to turn significantly with Eto managing to come on strong. From then on it was a race against time for the challenger who seemed to know he had to try and over-turn the cards. The challenger wen tall out on an offensive march for the final 3 rounds and seemed to enjoy more success during those 3 rounds than he'd had in much of the rest of the fight. Not only was Eto coming on strong but Ishida was noticeably tiring and it was very clear he was struggling with the pace of the bout.
Sadly for the challenger it was too little too late and he could only convince one of the judges that he had deserved to win with the judges turning in cards of 97-93 and 96-95 to Ishida whilst the third judge favoured Eto 96-95.
After the fight Ishida apologised for his poor stamina which certainly resulted in a very difficult ending to the bout. If the bout had been 12 rounds it's likely we would have seen a new champion being crowned. If anything this tough struggle late on should make it clear that Ishida isn't ready for a world title bout, yet. Though he certainly is getting there and one more solid 10 rounder should be good preparation for a world title shot. Maybe a bout between Ishida and former champion Teiru Kinoshita would be a good option. For Eto he'll come again, this may have been his second loss in a Japanese title fight but he'll certainly come again and will almost certainly win a title somewhere down the line.
Kazuto Ioka to fight Juan Carlos Reveco on April 22nd?
It's fair to say that 2014 has been quiet so far with very, very few bouts of note being announced. It seems however that we are on the verge of a major announcement as the Argentinian press has released a date for a much anticipated fighter which has been spoken about through out the last 12 months or so.
The bout in question will see former 2-weight world champion Kazuto Ioka (16-1, 10) battle against WBA Flyweight champion Juan Carlos Reveco (35-1, 19) in an attempt to become the second ever Japanese born 3-weight world champion, following in the footsteps of Koki Kameda.
According to http://piramideinformativa.com, an Argentinian website, the bout is now set for April 22nd and will take place in Japan which will see Reveco returning to the country for the first time since he defeated Masayuki Kuroda, back in February 2013. It will also see Reveco fighting for the first time since he stopped Thailand's Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep back in December in a bout that saw both men being dropped.
Although the Argentinian site doesn't state a venue it's hard to see the bout being fought anywhere but the Bodymaker Colosseum in Osaka where Ioka has fought 7 of his last 8 bouts. It's also fair to assume that this show will also feature the Japanese Super Flyweight title bout between defending champion, and Ioka stablemate, Sho Ishida (18-0, 10) and mandatory challenger Taiki Eto (14-3, 10) and may also feature Ryo Miyazaki (22-1-3, 13), possibly in a world title fight of his own.
Whilst the show hasn't yet been formerly announced by the Ioka Gym we suspect they will confirm the date, or announce a different one, early in February after they return from a short training camp in Hawaii, which is where the picture was taken.
P.S-Huge thanks to Massimo for bringing this story to our attention. It's honestly appreciated and we're so sorry for not including you're name when the article was originally posted.
All Champion Carnival bouts for 2015 now set!
Yesterday we saw all of the Champions Carnival being officially announced, with all but one of those bouts now having a date and venue set, with that one in particular likely to be announced in the coming days.
The Minimumweight bout will take place on March 26th at the Korakuen Hall and will see Go Odaira (11-4-3, 1) defending his belt against Yutaka Sowano (9-5-1, 6). For Odaira this will be his 3rd defense of the title he won in January 2014 whilst Sowano will be taking part in his first title fight. This will be one of two title bouts on this show though does, unfortunately, look like one of the weakest over-all bouts.
At Light Flyweight we will see Yu Kimura (15-2-1, 2) defending his belt, for the 3rd time, against former world title challenger Shin Ono (18-6-2, 2). This bout pits world ranked fighters against each other and the winner will almost certainly be getting a world title fight later in the year. This bout is set for April 4th and will also take place at the Korakuen Hall.
In the Flyweight division we get a genuinely mouth watering encounter as the all action Suguru Muranaka (21-2-1, 7) attempts to record the 3rd defence of his title as he goes up against Tetsuma Hayashi (25-2-2, 9). Muranaka is universally world ranked and has looked in great form recently with wins over Takuya Kogawa and Masayuki Kuroda in 2 of his last 3 bouts. Hayashi himself comes into this bout unbeaten in 8 bouts dating back to April 2012. This bout is set for April 8th and will also take place at the Korakuen Hall.
The Super Flyweight bout will see the unbeaten Sho Ishida (18-0, 10) defending his belt against Taiki Eto (14-3, 10). For Ishida this will be his second defense as the 23 year old attempts to work towards a world title later in the year. As for Eto this is a second chance to claim the national title that he failed to win when he fought Yohei Tobe last year. Notable this bout has no venue or date set though the suspicion is that it will be in Osaka, likely at the Bodymaker Colosseum, on the undercard of the much anticipated WBA Flyweight title bout between Juan Carlos Reveco and Kazuto Ioka. Notably this lends credence to the fact the Ioka Vs Reveco bout will be in April.
The Bantamweight title bout is possibly the pick of the bunch as Kentaro Masuda (21-6, 11), a late bloomer, hunts the 3rd defence of his title. Masuda, who looked sensational when he blasted out Konosuke Tomiyama in his first defense, will be up against the fast rising Shohei Omori (13-0, 8). To say Omori had a great 2014 is stating the obvious withhis win over Christian Esquivel being a fantastic victory however Masuda has really bloomed himself and this looks like it's going to be something very special. The date for this one has been set for April 13th and will be yet another bout at the Korakuen Hall.
Yukinori Oguni (14-1, 4) will be making the first defense of his Super Bantamweight title as he takes on Gakuya Furuhashi (17-5, 7). This bout is a notable on for both men with Oguni trying to defend the title and move towards a world title bout whilst Furuhashi gets a long awaited title bout. For those who don't recall Furuhashi was originally set to fight then champion Hidenori Otake back on July 18th of last year, of course Otake suffered a rib injury and then went on to vacate the titleto battle Scott Quigg for the WBA world title. Otake's injury may have cost Furuhashi a title shot last year but it did leave an opportunity for Oguni who took it by defeating Yasutaka Ishimoto and we now find the Oguni colliding with Furuhashi who finally gets his chance on April 30th at the Korakuen Hall in what is 1 of 3 titles bouts on the same show, more about that later.
Another very interesting, and potentially explosive, encounter comes at Featherweight where Satoshi Hosono (26-2-1, 20) looks to defend his title against Rikiya Fukuhara (30-7-1, 22). This is a rematch of a non-title bout the two men had back in 2012 and is also a rescheduled bout that was supposed to take place last year, before Fukuhara suffered an injury. We suspect this could be very exciting as long as it lasts though we do feel that Hosono has to be favoured when the two come to blows on March 5th at the Korakuen Hall.
Yet another really good bout, and in fact the first of the Champion Carnival bouts, takes place on February 9th and sees unbeaten Super Featherweight champion Rikki Naito (11-0, 5) attempt to record his 3rd defence as he battles fellow unbeaten Masayuki Ito (16-0-1, 7) in what looks like a genuinely brilliant bout that is set to be a high speed chess match. This "unbeaten showdown" is the perfect way to kick off the Champion Carnival match ups.
As mentioned earlier there will be 3 title fights on April 30th, one of those is the Super Bantamweight title bout, another is the Lightweight title bout that will see Kota Tokunaga (14-2, 9) fighting against Yuya Sugizaki (20-9-1, 6) for the vacant belt. Both men will be fighting in their first title bouts and it's probably fair to say this is the weakest of the bouts however it's he sort of bout that could be surprisingly good with both fighters going all out to make a name for themselves and win the title.
At 140lbs we will see the unbeaten Hiroki Okada (9-0, 7) attempt to record his second defense of the title as he battles against former title challenger Hayato Hokazono (18-4-1, 11). Okada's predecessor, Keita Obara, took 4 rounds to deny Hokazono the title in April 2013 however Obara looks to be significantly better than Okada. For Okada this is a good, solid test whilst Hokazono gets a second bite at the proverbial apple in what looks like a competitive match up but not a headline stealing one. This will be one of two bouts on March 7th at the Korakuen Hall.
The other title bout on March 7th takes place at Welterweight as Suyon Takayama (21-1, 7) attempts to record his 5th defence of the title. Takayama, who won the title back in December 2012, will be up against former foe Nobuyuki Shindo (16-2, 6) in a rematch of a 2008 encounter, won by Shindo via split decision. We'll be honest Takayama is one of the weakest champions in Japan and we'd not be shocked to see him dethroned by Shindo, however Shindo himself is no world beater and this could be another close contest between the two men.
On April 19th at the Sumiyoshi Ward Center in Osaka we see Japanese Light Middleweight champion Yuki Nonaka (27-8-2, 9) defending his belt for the second time as he takes on former champion Takayuki Hosokawa (26-10-3, 9). This bout is a fight with possible world title implications as both men are ranked by the IBF and is a fight we actually expected to see last year, before Hosokawa vacated the belt due to illness. Nonaka comes into this bout on the back ofa very good, albeit razor thin, win over Charlie Ota and a win here would really put Nonaka onto the verges of a world title eliminator.
The Middleweight bout, which takes place on the same show as the Odaira/Sowano contest, will see Akio Shibata (24-8-1, 10) defending his Japanese title for the 3rd time as he takes on Yasuyuki Akiyama (10-4-1, 8) in what looks to be a mismatch. Shibata, the unified OPBF and Japanese champion, has to be heavily favoured here though Akiyama has nothing to lose and will be coming into the contest full of confidence courtesy of his longest career winning streak, 4 bouts.
Possibly the most interesting bout for Western fans comes at Heavyweight where Kyotaro Fuimoto (11-1, 6) attempts to record his 3rd defence of the title and over-come nemesis Nobuhiro Ishida (27-10-2, 11) in a much anticipated rematch that takes place exactly a year after their first, very competitive, meeting. A year ago Fujimoto took home the win over Ishida in an 8 round bout that began Ishida's Heavyweight run, since then both men have picked up a couple of wins and Ishida has literally done all he can to force this rematch which could be one of the true highlights of the Champions Carnival. For those wondering this is the 3rd bout on the April 30th card at the Korakuen Hall.
Note-All bouts except for the Lightweight bout sees “Fighter 1” entering as the champion.
Akinori Watanabe and the Eto brothers score quick wins!
Earlier today at the Holy Land of Japanese boxing fans got the chance to see a Shirai Gushiken Gym card. The show, which featured 10 bouts in total, was streamed on the Gushiken ustream channel and full of explosive though one sided bouts with all the contests ending inside the schedule.
Although much of the card, especially the under-card, wasn't worth talking about the trio of headline bouts was certainly of note to fans of Japanese and even Asian boxing.
The first of the 3 notable bouts saw Taiki Eto (13-3, 10) stop the win-less Thai Brukluk Kor Narong Service (0-2) in 2 rounds. For the Thai visitor this was his second successive stoppage loss, following a 2nd round loss to Sho Ishida, whilst for Eto it was a bounce back victory following his own stoppage loss to Yohei Tobe earlier this year.
The second bout was also stopped in the second round as the exciting and hard hitting Akinori Watanabe (31-4, 27) took card of Chatchai Sithsaithong (8-4, 6) in quick fashion. For the 29 year old Watanabe this was his first bout since winning the PABA Light Middleweight crown last November on a card that also featured Koki Kameda narrowly defending his WBA Bantamweight title against Jung-Oh Son.
The final bout on the card proved to be the shorted, by far, as Super Featherweight title hopeful Shingo Eto (14-2-1, 9) made extremely light work of Thai debutant Arnon Sithsaithong (0-1). Arnon lasted just 126 seconds as Eto made a real statement with such a quick blow out win.
Yohei Tobe stops Taiki Eto to claim Japanese title!
In a minor shock, at least to us, Yohei Tobe (8-1-1, 5) managed to stop Taiki Eto (12-3, 9) earlier today to claim the Japanese Super Flyweight title.
Going in to the bout Tobe was ranked #1 by the JBC whilst Eto was #2 as the men tried to claim the belt vacated by Teiru Kinoshita earlier this year. We had expected a thriller going in though favoured Eto's hard punching, the bout however didn't go as we expected and instead it was almost all 1-way traffic from Tobe who claimed the first title of his career.
Tobe started excellently, he used his jab, movement and aggressiveness to prevent Eto from setting himself with his bombs. It was a bit of a mismatch early on with Eto often chasing shadows and punching the air due to Tobe's sharp and accurate work.
It wasn't until round 8 that Eto had any major success as he landed a right that seemed to buzz Tobe for a second. Tobe recovered well from it however and in the following round landed a devastating right hand of his own that sent Eto down and forced the referee to call a halt to the bout.
For Tobe this victory probably means more than his early career wins over both Wandee Singwancha and current world champion Kohei Kono. It may not take away his defeat to Ryo Akaho in an OPBF title bout but will certainly make him feel like he's back on the track to the top and in fact he may well view a rematch with Kono or Akaho as one of his next steps.
As for Eto this is his second loss in a title bout having come up short in an OPBF title bout with Arthur Villanueva. With his power and style Eto will always be fun but this bout, more than any other, showed his technical limitations and may well see him either needing to go back to the gym in an attempt to completely change his style, or accept that he's a limited but fun to watch domestic level fighter.
In regards to boxrec these fighters were both top 25 in the Super Flyweight division with Tobe going in ranked #18 whilst Eto was ranked #21, as a result we'd expect this victory to push Tobe to around #12 or #13. Interestingly Eto was ranked #12 by the WBA going in so we should see Tobe given a world ranking as a result of this victory.