In a turgid and unexciting battle highlighted by the vocal chords of Jay Nady, Carlos Molina (22-5-2, 6) claimed the IBF Light Middleweight title defeating Ishe Smith (25-6, 11)
The first of 3 title fights on "The One" was marked out as "the one to send fans to sleep" and unfortunately it lived up to that idea.
Surprisingly the fight started brightly with Molina being an aggressive front foot fighter throwing lots of shots with Smith trying to counter things with his left hook. Unfortunately Smith's shots were rarely landing in the early portion and Molina, for all his good work, was unable too land too much clean past the intelligent defense of Smith.
After clearly taking the first 4 rounds Molina's work become scrappier and in fact he started to recieve persistent warnings from the referee who was warning him for leading with the head on a regular basis. The warnings seemed to kill off Molina's work somewhat whilst Smith continued to make the bout ugly. The ugly rounds, which started in rounds 5 or 6, become a consistent which lacked any sort of clean work. Interestingly the ugliness of these rounds seemed to suit Smith who was able to land the few eye catching shots whilst Molina threw a lot but landed little.
By the time we'd reached the championship rounds it was fair to say fan interested in the contest had died. The rounds through the middle had been close but uninteresting. They'd been close due to how awful and messy they'd been and unfortunately they'd completely killed any entertainment value any fans had. In fact it was probably fair to say that fans were using the bout as a toilet break by this point.
With the bout in the balance the two men finally came alive with some clean work in the championship rounds.
The 11th round saw Smith having by far his best round before Molina came back in the final round, clearly winning that one.
With the middle rounds so difficult to score it was no shock to see a split decision rendered with 2 of the judges feeling Molina's work deserved to take the decision in what was a fair decision given the work he put in compared to Smith's lazy and lethargic effort.
If you missed this one, don't bother trying to catch it!
Saturday, 14 September 2013
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
Kazuto Ioka v Kwanthai Sithmorseng
Japanese boxing youngster Kazuto Ioka (13-0, 9) successfully retained his WBA Light Flyweight title earlier today as he overcame Thailand's Kwanthai Sithmorseng (43-2-1, 22) in an impressive and one-sided affair.
Ioka, a former WBA/WBC Minimumweight champion started the bout carefully trying to box his way into the bout behind his jab. It was a worrying sign for the Thai that he couldn't actually get around the jab of the champion in first stanza, and from then on Ioka merely moved up through the gears.
Although Kwanthai was brave and took a bit of a beating, especially in round 5 he looked to have the toughness to see out a few more rounds against Ioka, who appeared to be using the bout as a sparring session at times. It was impressive that Ioka was fighting in first gear and making a former world champion look out classed, out skilled and generally second rate.
In the seventh round Ioka moved up a gear and this time he forced Kwanthai to the canvas where the Thai took the 10 count as Ioka recorded his second successful defense of his title.
Ioka, a former WBA/WBC Minimumweight champion started the bout carefully trying to box his way into the bout behind his jab. It was a worrying sign for the Thai that he couldn't actually get around the jab of the champion in first stanza, and from then on Ioka merely moved up through the gears.
Although Kwanthai was brave and took a bit of a beating, especially in round 5 he looked to have the toughness to see out a few more rounds against Ioka, who appeared to be using the bout as a sparring session at times. It was impressive that Ioka was fighting in first gear and making a former world champion look out classed, out skilled and generally second rate.
In the seventh round Ioka moved up a gear and this time he forced Kwanthai to the canvas where the Thai took the 10 count as Ioka recorded his second successful defense of his title.
Ryo Miyazaki v Jesus Silvestre
Japanese fighter Ryo Miyazaki (20-0-3, 11) successfully defended his WBA Minimumweight title for the second time earlier today as he unified the "regular title" and the "interim title" via a very hard fought decision victory over Mexican Jesus Silvestre (27-4, 20).
The bout started with the over-looked and talented Mexican fighting on the front foot, using a determined pressure style to for Miyazaki backwards. Miyazaki seemed to realise early on that he was up against a talented and strong fighter and instead of fighting toe-to-toe the Japanese fighter tried fighting off the back foot.
A clash of heads in round 2 saw the doctor called for to look over Miyazaki though the Japanese fighter seemed to be fine and immediately turned back to trying to out box his Mexican opponent.. Although it was Miyazaki who looked to be the more technically skilled of the two men, it was the pressure of Silvestre that was really controlling the ring and forcing a fight to happen.
Although neither man was too bothered from the head clash in the second clash of heads another, much more serious one occurred in the fifth round with both men feeling the effects. This headclash seemed to spring real life into the bout as the two men traded up on the inside and and give us the sort of action fans would have been expecting from the off.
It was obvious by the mid way point that Miyazaki was really struggling with Silvetsre, he was unable to force the Mexican to respect him and likewise he was unable to force Silvestre backwards, essentially forcing him to to use his legs as much as his hands.
Whilst the headclashes may have caused the cuts on Miyazaki's face the sixth round merely saw them worsen as both men picked up the pace in a genuinely excellent round, the first first stand out round of the bout.
Following Miyazaki's success in round 6 he went up a level and began to box to actually box, picking his shots and get in and out. This made him look a class ahead of Silvestre for the first time. The Mexican however proved not to be discouraged as he continued to apply pressure though for the first time he was beginning to be forced backwards.
Miyazaki's success seemed to breathe a new confidence in him and in round 10 we again saw trading, and a headclash. This time the clash lead to Miyazaki's right eye bleeding leaving him with cuts on both of his eyes, giving Silvestre two big targets to aim for.
With blood sticking to his face Miyazaki got on his bike in round 11 and tried to avoid any sort of a confrontation, that was until the warrior instinct kicked in late in the round and Miyazaki engaged in a turf ware with Silvestre. It wasn't pretty but it was thoroughly exciting with both men being forced to take bombs as the round ended in some of the best action I've seen all year.
With the fight still on the line going in to the final round both men gave it their all in an attempt to take home the decision. Unfortunately for the Mexican he was unable to do enough, in Japan, to defeat the home fighter, losing by a majorly thin majority decisions with scores of 115-114, 115-113 and 114-114 being rendered.
Had the fight been fought outside of Japan we'd have not been shocked to have seen the decision go the other way, though the fight wasn't a robbery, it was certainly a fight with no clear winner as both men each had a clean to many of the early rounds. In fact if anything it was Miyazaki's small run of of rounds in the middle of the bout that actually saw him claiming the victory here, despite Silvestre arguably taking the final 2 or 3 rounds.
After the bout Miyazaki said he would vacate and move up a division, looking at this bout it was seem 108 or 112 would be best for him, and in fact at 112 he could face Akira Yaegashi in what would be a nail on FOTY contender.
The bout started with the over-looked and talented Mexican fighting on the front foot, using a determined pressure style to for Miyazaki backwards. Miyazaki seemed to realise early on that he was up against a talented and strong fighter and instead of fighting toe-to-toe the Japanese fighter tried fighting off the back foot.
A clash of heads in round 2 saw the doctor called for to look over Miyazaki though the Japanese fighter seemed to be fine and immediately turned back to trying to out box his Mexican opponent.. Although it was Miyazaki who looked to be the more technically skilled of the two men, it was the pressure of Silvestre that was really controlling the ring and forcing a fight to happen.
Although neither man was too bothered from the head clash in the second clash of heads another, much more serious one occurred in the fifth round with both men feeling the effects. This headclash seemed to spring real life into the bout as the two men traded up on the inside and and give us the sort of action fans would have been expecting from the off.
It was obvious by the mid way point that Miyazaki was really struggling with Silvetsre, he was unable to force the Mexican to respect him and likewise he was unable to force Silvestre backwards, essentially forcing him to to use his legs as much as his hands.
Whilst the headclashes may have caused the cuts on Miyazaki's face the sixth round merely saw them worsen as both men picked up the pace in a genuinely excellent round, the first first stand out round of the bout.
Following Miyazaki's success in round 6 he went up a level and began to box to actually box, picking his shots and get in and out. This made him look a class ahead of Silvestre for the first time. The Mexican however proved not to be discouraged as he continued to apply pressure though for the first time he was beginning to be forced backwards.
Miyazaki's success seemed to breathe a new confidence in him and in round 10 we again saw trading, and a headclash. This time the clash lead to Miyazaki's right eye bleeding leaving him with cuts on both of his eyes, giving Silvestre two big targets to aim for.
With blood sticking to his face Miyazaki got on his bike in round 11 and tried to avoid any sort of a confrontation, that was until the warrior instinct kicked in late in the round and Miyazaki engaged in a turf ware with Silvestre. It wasn't pretty but it was thoroughly exciting with both men being forced to take bombs as the round ended in some of the best action I've seen all year.
With the fight still on the line going in to the final round both men gave it their all in an attempt to take home the decision. Unfortunately for the Mexican he was unable to do enough, in Japan, to defeat the home fighter, losing by a majorly thin majority decisions with scores of 115-114, 115-113 and 114-114 being rendered.
Had the fight been fought outside of Japan we'd have not been shocked to have seen the decision go the other way, though the fight wasn't a robbery, it was certainly a fight with no clear winner as both men each had a clean to many of the early rounds. In fact if anything it was Miyazaki's small run of of rounds in the middle of the bout that actually saw him claiming the victory here, despite Silvestre arguably taking the final 2 or 3 rounds.
After the bout Miyazaki said he would vacate and move up a division, looking at this bout it was seem 108 or 112 would be best for him, and in fact at 112 he could face Akira Yaegashi in what would be a nail on FOTY contender.
Saturday, 7 September 2013
Moises Fuentes v Luis De La Rosa
Just a few hours after Ricky Burns had controversially retained his WBO Lightweight title, Moises Fuentes (18-1-1, 9) claimed WBO interim Light Flyweight title, in circumstances that could not be any more different to the Burns Vs. Beltran fight.
Fuentes stormed out of his corner, refused to back off and took out Colombian co-challenger Luis De La Rosa (22-3-1, 12) in just 160 seconds.
It seemed like Fuentes wasn't there to mess about but were there to make a statement and that's exactly what he did, specifically to Filipino Donnie Nietes, the WBO "regular" champion a man who had retained against Fuentes in similar circumstances as Burns did against Raymundo Beltran.
Against Nietes, Fuentes was in fine form battling the home champion around the ring, smashing him to the ribs, out working him and generally dominating him. Just had Beltran had done to Burns. Like Beltran he'll be hoping to get a rematch, odds are here however, if Fuentes doesn't get a rematch he'll be given the title by default.
For Dela Rosa this is a third loss in a world title bout and by far the most damning. He had been very game and competitive against Raul Garcia, he had battled hard with Merlito Sabillo, here however he was brushed aside like an ugly girl as a night club. I'm afraid that if he can't make 105lbs Minimumweight limit then his dreams of ever being a world champion have to be forgotten about, especially against the bigger men at 108lbs.
Fuentes stormed out of his corner, refused to back off and took out Colombian co-challenger Luis De La Rosa (22-3-1, 12) in just 160 seconds.
It seemed like Fuentes wasn't there to mess about but were there to make a statement and that's exactly what he did, specifically to Filipino Donnie Nietes, the WBO "regular" champion a man who had retained against Fuentes in similar circumstances as Burns did against Raymundo Beltran.
Against Nietes, Fuentes was in fine form battling the home champion around the ring, smashing him to the ribs, out working him and generally dominating him. Just had Beltran had done to Burns. Like Beltran he'll be hoping to get a rematch, odds are here however, if Fuentes doesn't get a rematch he'll be given the title by default.
For Dela Rosa this is a third loss in a world title bout and by far the most damning. He had been very game and competitive against Raul Garcia, he had battled hard with Merlito Sabillo, here however he was brushed aside like an ugly girl as a night club. I'm afraid that if he can't make 105lbs Minimumweight limit then his dreams of ever being a world champion have to be forgotten about, especially against the bigger men at 108lbs.
Ricky Burns v Raymundo Beltran
Over the past 12 months boxing has seen some really strange decisions, in fact, up until tonight by robbery of the year was Moises Fuentes being denied a clear victory over Donnie Nietes in a bout for the WBO Light Flyweight title. There was no way in my mind that Fuentes failed to win that contest.
Unfortunately this evening boxing threw us another curve ball, this time in the UK as Scotland's Ricky Burns (36-2-1, 11) retained his title in one of the truly controversial bouts of the year.
Entering as a clear favourite against US based Mexican Raymundo Beltran (28-6-1, 17), Burns was supposed to dominate Beltran, a man viewed by many as a glorified journeyman and merely the "sparring partner" of Manny Pacquiao. It was as if many had looked past Beltran actually being a fine fighter in his own right, and being on an excellent run which included victories over Hank Lundy and Ji-Hoon Kim as well as "losses", take that term lightly, to Luis Ramos Jr and Sharif Bogere in the last 30 months.
It appeared that almost everyone, other than Beltran himself, thought he was there to lose as Burns took a step towards an American showdown with HBO's new star in the making Terrance Crawford. What transpired however was a robbery that even Ronnie Biggs would have been proud of.
The opening round was a good one for Burns, I can't possibly take that away from him as he landed crisp, clean shots time after time. If you merely saw the first round then turned it off, the pre-fight idea of Burns winning with ease would have been a fair conclusion. Then however things began to turn, the second round, another round Burns likely won, saw the Scot given his first taste of Beltran's power as he tagged him to the body and attempted to break down the home town fighter.
At the end of round 2 it appeared that Beltran had damaged the jaw of Burns, with later reports suggesting it had been dislocated. This injury clearly bothered Burns though as it appeared to come from clean punches there was little he could do other than put up with it and fight, especially following comments made from him, and more specifically his team, following his last defense where Jose Gonzalez was forced to pull out of the bout with an injury.
With the damage done in the second round Beltran was spurred on and he moved up a gear landing body shots and bullying Burns around the ring. It wasn't obvious what the injury was to fans but it was clear that Beltran could smell blood as he went on the hunt and applied intelligent pressure round after round, looking to land sweeping shots up top and hurtful blows down low.
Through several of the following rounds Beltran really did all he could to claim the rounds on the scorecards. Unfortunately, despite clearly winning a number of rounds, the judges seemed to be dead set against giving him all the credit he deserved. In fact by the mid way point it seemed difficult to even make a case that Burns was level, never mind actually leading the bout.
Although Burns had fallen behind on almost every neutral's scorecard he did come out firing very impressively in round 7, a round in which it appeared Beltran was starting to tire. The shots from Burns had again looked smooth, snappy and sharp, something that had been absent for several rounds and it appeared the turn around was on.
With Burns claiming round 7 it appeared the momentum shift was on, this was flipped completely in round 8 however as Burns was dropped in the clearest round of the fight. Beltran, who had dropped Burns with a single sweeping shot went for the finish though Burns managed to see out the round and get to his stool unscathed.
Unfortunately for the Scot it was was then difficult to make a case for him winning too much afterwards. He was on his bike for most of rounds 9 and 10 as Beltran tried to drop him again, and although he fought back well in round 11 it was too close to call a clear Burns round with the twelfth being similarly close.
With Beltran having clearly won at least 6 rounds, if not 7, 8 or even 9 and scoring a knockdown it appeared that we had had an upset. Unfortunately the judges failed to see what everyone else seemed to see and in fact they managed to come up with a split decision, leaving many with little more than questions.
What did Beltran need to do to win? What was Carlos Ortiz Jr (115-112 Burns) watching? Was this a second successive "off night" for Burns? Is Burns that good? Will Beltran get a rematch? And, maybe more worryingly, will another world level boxer return to fight in Britain again?
Feel free to come up with your own answers, but I know mine, and I know my stomach is turning with anger towards this sport, at least in Britain, more and more this past year.
Unfortunately this evening boxing threw us another curve ball, this time in the UK as Scotland's Ricky Burns (36-2-1, 11) retained his title in one of the truly controversial bouts of the year.
Entering as a clear favourite against US based Mexican Raymundo Beltran (28-6-1, 17), Burns was supposed to dominate Beltran, a man viewed by many as a glorified journeyman and merely the "sparring partner" of Manny Pacquiao. It was as if many had looked past Beltran actually being a fine fighter in his own right, and being on an excellent run which included victories over Hank Lundy and Ji-Hoon Kim as well as "losses", take that term lightly, to Luis Ramos Jr and Sharif Bogere in the last 30 months.
It appeared that almost everyone, other than Beltran himself, thought he was there to lose as Burns took a step towards an American showdown with HBO's new star in the making Terrance Crawford. What transpired however was a robbery that even Ronnie Biggs would have been proud of.
The opening round was a good one for Burns, I can't possibly take that away from him as he landed crisp, clean shots time after time. If you merely saw the first round then turned it off, the pre-fight idea of Burns winning with ease would have been a fair conclusion. Then however things began to turn, the second round, another round Burns likely won, saw the Scot given his first taste of Beltran's power as he tagged him to the body and attempted to break down the home town fighter.
At the end of round 2 it appeared that Beltran had damaged the jaw of Burns, with later reports suggesting it had been dislocated. This injury clearly bothered Burns though as it appeared to come from clean punches there was little he could do other than put up with it and fight, especially following comments made from him, and more specifically his team, following his last defense where Jose Gonzalez was forced to pull out of the bout with an injury.
With the damage done in the second round Beltran was spurred on and he moved up a gear landing body shots and bullying Burns around the ring. It wasn't obvious what the injury was to fans but it was clear that Beltran could smell blood as he went on the hunt and applied intelligent pressure round after round, looking to land sweeping shots up top and hurtful blows down low.
Through several of the following rounds Beltran really did all he could to claim the rounds on the scorecards. Unfortunately, despite clearly winning a number of rounds, the judges seemed to be dead set against giving him all the credit he deserved. In fact by the mid way point it seemed difficult to even make a case that Burns was level, never mind actually leading the bout.
Although Burns had fallen behind on almost every neutral's scorecard he did come out firing very impressively in round 7, a round in which it appeared Beltran was starting to tire. The shots from Burns had again looked smooth, snappy and sharp, something that had been absent for several rounds and it appeared the turn around was on.
With Burns claiming round 7 it appeared the momentum shift was on, this was flipped completely in round 8 however as Burns was dropped in the clearest round of the fight. Beltran, who had dropped Burns with a single sweeping shot went for the finish though Burns managed to see out the round and get to his stool unscathed.
Unfortunately for the Scot it was was then difficult to make a case for him winning too much afterwards. He was on his bike for most of rounds 9 and 10 as Beltran tried to drop him again, and although he fought back well in round 11 it was too close to call a clear Burns round with the twelfth being similarly close.
With Beltran having clearly won at least 6 rounds, if not 7, 8 or even 9 and scoring a knockdown it appeared that we had had an upset. Unfortunately the judges failed to see what everyone else seemed to see and in fact they managed to come up with a split decision, leaving many with little more than questions.
What did Beltran need to do to win? What was Carlos Ortiz Jr (115-112 Burns) watching? Was this a second successive "off night" for Burns? Is Burns that good? Will Beltran get a rematch? And, maybe more worryingly, will another world level boxer return to fight in Britain again?
Feel free to come up with your own answers, but I know mine, and I know my stomach is turning with anger towards this sport, at least in Britain, more and more this past year.
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
Daiki Kameda v Rodrigo Guerrero
It's not often that a fighting family really dominates. Sure in recent years the Klitschko's have thoroughly controlled the Heavyweight division but they've been the only family of note to really dominate in a while.
This past summer however the Kameda brother's have really taken over in the lower divisions. Right now both Tomoki and Koki are Bantamweight title holders and they've just been joined by middle child Daiki (29-3, 18) who successfully became a 2-weight world champion earlier today as he out pointed Mexican Rodrigo Guerrero (19-5-1, 12) for the IBF title.
The fight started in a genuinely tedious manner. Daiki fought with a very unexciting hit-and-run style that whilst won him many of the early rounds didn't make for a very appealing to watch contest. in fact for many of the early rounds it was fair to say that clean action was kept to a minimal with effective singles from Daiki and little of note from Guerrero who struggled to pin down the elusive Japanese fighter.
From the first 5 rounds of the bouts the sole moment of joy for Guerrero appeared to have been a low blow he took that saw Daiki deducted a point. Lets be fair, if a guy getting punched in the nuts is his only highlight you can sort of see the hole he was in come the start of the sixth round.
It as in round 6 that Guerrero began to have his first real success as he managed to take Kameda to the body, almost as if he realised that the head can move but the body can't. It was a sound idea and one that he perhaps should have used from the opening bell rather than waiting several rounds to start with.
The success of Guerrero's grew from a decent round 6 to a very round 8 and 9 as he finally began to connect on Daiki with some regularity. It was only rounds 6-9 that you could make a really strong case for Guerrero winning with out many complaints.
It seemed, going in to round 10, that the success of Guerrero was going to grow and grow and that if continued the fight was going to be very difficult to score. Instead however Daiki seemed to realise he was in a fight and rather than try to move to avoid the pressure he began to stand his ground. The fact Daiki couldn't create the space in round 10 saw him fighting fire-with-fire as the two men traded attacks with Daiki's being a genuine eye as he tried to get Guerrero out of there. The Mexican weathered the storm but was forced to concede the round.
Whilst round 10 had been a fight changer Daiki failed to capitalise on it as he was deducted a second point in round 11 that saw some doubt brought on to the scorecards, he did however do enough to take 19 points from the final 2 rounds and make sure of a decision in his favour, despite what some may think.
Although I struggle to agree with the 117-109 card scored in favour of Daiki, the other two cards 116-110 and 114-112 both feel about right with Daiki certainly deserving the decision but the deductions did make things much closer on the cards than perhaps they should have been.
This past summer however the Kameda brother's have really taken over in the lower divisions. Right now both Tomoki and Koki are Bantamweight title holders and they've just been joined by middle child Daiki (29-3, 18) who successfully became a 2-weight world champion earlier today as he out pointed Mexican Rodrigo Guerrero (19-5-1, 12) for the IBF title.
The fight started in a genuinely tedious manner. Daiki fought with a very unexciting hit-and-run style that whilst won him many of the early rounds didn't make for a very appealing to watch contest. in fact for many of the early rounds it was fair to say that clean action was kept to a minimal with effective singles from Daiki and little of note from Guerrero who struggled to pin down the elusive Japanese fighter.
From the first 5 rounds of the bouts the sole moment of joy for Guerrero appeared to have been a low blow he took that saw Daiki deducted a point. Lets be fair, if a guy getting punched in the nuts is his only highlight you can sort of see the hole he was in come the start of the sixth round.
It as in round 6 that Guerrero began to have his first real success as he managed to take Kameda to the body, almost as if he realised that the head can move but the body can't. It was a sound idea and one that he perhaps should have used from the opening bell rather than waiting several rounds to start with.
The success of Guerrero's grew from a decent round 6 to a very round 8 and 9 as he finally began to connect on Daiki with some regularity. It was only rounds 6-9 that you could make a really strong case for Guerrero winning with out many complaints.
It seemed, going in to round 10, that the success of Guerrero was going to grow and grow and that if continued the fight was going to be very difficult to score. Instead however Daiki seemed to realise he was in a fight and rather than try to move to avoid the pressure he began to stand his ground. The fact Daiki couldn't create the space in round 10 saw him fighting fire-with-fire as the two men traded attacks with Daiki's being a genuine eye as he tried to get Guerrero out of there. The Mexican weathered the storm but was forced to concede the round.
Whilst round 10 had been a fight changer Daiki failed to capitalise on it as he was deducted a second point in round 11 that saw some doubt brought on to the scorecards, he did however do enough to take 19 points from the final 2 rounds and make sure of a decision in his favour, despite what some may think.
Although I struggle to agree with the 117-109 card scored in favour of Daiki, the other two cards 116-110 and 114-112 both feel about right with Daiki certainly deserving the decision but the deductions did make things much closer on the cards than perhaps they should have been.
Denkaosan Kaovichit v Nobuo Nashiro
In a highly entertaining battle for the "interim" WBA Super Flyweight title Thai legend Denkaosan Kaovichit (62-3-1, 26) managed to out box and out point Japanese hard man Nobuo Nashiro (19-6-1, 13), in what is possibly the last major bout either of the men will have.
The bout started well for Kaovichit who used his superior speed in the early rounds to throw and land combinations on his tough but flat footed foe who for the first 2 or 3 rounds really struggled to get into range. Every punch Kaovichit threw seemed to raise cheers from the crowd who were showing their support even when Kaovichit was falling well short with his shots.
It wasn't until the fourth round that Nashiro managed to get any real success as his relentless pressure seemed to begin to pay off. Unfortunately despite the round being much closer than the first few Kaovichit did manage to just do enough to claim it, as he did again in the fifth round. By now though the crowd were becoming more and more subdued, the combinations of Kaovichit had gone and instead they'd been replaced by by singles as he tried to avoid a tear up with Nashiro.
By the start of round 6 it was appearing as if the fight was beginning to turn in the direction of the Japanese fighter who was growing in to the bout. In fact by the end of round 6 Kaovichit was looking every bit of his 37 years with his legs starting to look stationary and his straights becoming more and more pushed.
Just as Kaovichit was looking like he was tiring he managed to have a much better round as Nashiro's pressure really failed to have any effect. This was the first round since early in the bout that Nashiro was made to clearly look second best, though Kaovichit himself didn't look particularly great as his own work rate dropped significantly.
Rounds 8 and 9 were highlighted by some of the best action of the fight as the two men stood toe to-toe and traded shots inside. Whilst the 8th was Kaovichit's the 9th was certainly Nashiro's as he appeared to realise he'd need a stoppage to take home the title. Surprisingly Kaovichit took the bombs of Nashiro without too many issues though it was obvious that this was just the start of a storm that he'd have to weather.
In round 10 Nashiro continued his assault and at one point the Thai commentators did seem a little worried by how many shots Kaovichit was being forced to take before he managed to find a second wind and throw his first notable combination in several rounds.
Despite Kaovichit ending round 10 well that was really his last success as Nashiro went all out for the stoppage in the championship rounds. The pressure and assault from Nashiro saw him landing a steady stream of right hands through round 11 though Kaovichit tied up regular and smothered much of Nashiro's offense as he did his best to see out the round.
After holding and wrestling through much of round 11 Kaovichit managed to do the same the following round as he managed to see off Nashiro's late charge, a charge that probably began a round too late for the Japanese fighter who was unable to over-turn a large points deficit on the cards of at least 2 judges (I believe the result was a split decision though will correct this if I'm wrong when I do get the official decision.
The bout started well for Kaovichit who used his superior speed in the early rounds to throw and land combinations on his tough but flat footed foe who for the first 2 or 3 rounds really struggled to get into range. Every punch Kaovichit threw seemed to raise cheers from the crowd who were showing their support even when Kaovichit was falling well short with his shots.
It wasn't until the fourth round that Nashiro managed to get any real success as his relentless pressure seemed to begin to pay off. Unfortunately despite the round being much closer than the first few Kaovichit did manage to just do enough to claim it, as he did again in the fifth round. By now though the crowd were becoming more and more subdued, the combinations of Kaovichit had gone and instead they'd been replaced by by singles as he tried to avoid a tear up with Nashiro.
By the start of round 6 it was appearing as if the fight was beginning to turn in the direction of the Japanese fighter who was growing in to the bout. In fact by the end of round 6 Kaovichit was looking every bit of his 37 years with his legs starting to look stationary and his straights becoming more and more pushed.
Just as Kaovichit was looking like he was tiring he managed to have a much better round as Nashiro's pressure really failed to have any effect. This was the first round since early in the bout that Nashiro was made to clearly look second best, though Kaovichit himself didn't look particularly great as his own work rate dropped significantly.
Rounds 8 and 9 were highlighted by some of the best action of the fight as the two men stood toe to-toe and traded shots inside. Whilst the 8th was Kaovichit's the 9th was certainly Nashiro's as he appeared to realise he'd need a stoppage to take home the title. Surprisingly Kaovichit took the bombs of Nashiro without too many issues though it was obvious that this was just the start of a storm that he'd have to weather.
In round 10 Nashiro continued his assault and at one point the Thai commentators did seem a little worried by how many shots Kaovichit was being forced to take before he managed to find a second wind and throw his first notable combination in several rounds.
Despite Kaovichit ending round 10 well that was really his last success as Nashiro went all out for the stoppage in the championship rounds. The pressure and assault from Nashiro saw him landing a steady stream of right hands through round 11 though Kaovichit tied up regular and smothered much of Nashiro's offense as he did his best to see out the round.
After holding and wrestling through much of round 11 Kaovichit managed to do the same the following round as he managed to see off Nashiro's late charge, a charge that probably began a round too late for the Japanese fighter who was unable to over-turn a large points deficit on the cards of at least 2 judges (I believe the result was a split decision though will correct this if I'm wrong when I do get the official decision.
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