Tuesday 3 December 2013

Katsunari Takayama v Vergilio Silvano

The first world title fight of a new week was in Japan earlier today as Japan's criminally under-rated Katsunari Takayama (26-6-0-1, 10) successfully defended his IBF Minimumweight title with a clear unanimous decision over Filipino challenger Vergilio Silvano (17-3-1, 10)

The fight started well for Takayama who rocked Silvano in the opening round and from then on Takayama didn't look back.

The Japanese fighter went from good to great as he went from rocking Silvano in the opening to out speeding him and out working in pretty much every subsequent round. He was like a buzzsaw moving in and out with punches connecting on the challenger at will in the first half of the fight, then like a machine circling the challenger in the second half of the fight. It was amazing to see Takayama's perpetual motion, he was honestly like the energeriser bunny.

To Silvano's credit he never looked hurt other than in the first round. Instead he stood there, taking the shots and trying to deliver his own in return. Unfortunate for the Filipino he spent much of his time hitting air as Takayama seemed to just move as Silvano was throwing his shots.

Although clearly up on the scorecards going in to the championship rounds Takayama refused to slow down. It seemed he was enjoying his day immensely, it was his first fight in Japan since 2009 and he was doing all he could to put on a show for the fans who had traveled to see him. Instead of cruising to the decision he continued on the offensive hitting Silvano with every shot in the book in a performance that showed why many view him as the #1 at 105lbs.

By the end of the contest there was no doubting who had won. It was a landslide and Takayama had hardly dropped a round on what was an excellent performance by a man who has often been forgotten by the boxing public.

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