Chiba stops Kurihara to claim OPBF title
Earlier today at Korakuen Hall fight fans saw a new OPBF Bantamweight champion being crowned, as Keita Kurihara (16-7-1, 14) [栗原慶太] was upset by Kai Chiba (14-3, 9) [千葉 開], who recorded the biggest win of his career, by far.
The bout, which was streamed on YouTube, saw the two men putting on an excellent and well matched contest.
In the early going Kurihara applied pressure, taking the middle of the ring and patiently stalking his man, whilst Chiba moved around the ring, looking for angles to let his shots off. It was tense with both men waiting for the other to make the wrong move. As the rounds went on however the action began to heat up, and things slowly became more and more interesting, with both moving through the gears. It was clear through out that Chiba was the more polished boxer, the better move and the quicker man, but Kurihara's power seemed to keep Chiba full alert, and stop him from taking too many risks.
The interesting, though somewhat tense, early rounds saw Kurihara doing enough to be in the lead when the scorecards were first announced publicly after 4 rounds, leading 39-37 on all 3 cards. He would extend that lead in round 5 before Chiba began to find his groove, feeling more relaxed and getting to work, sweeping much of the middle portion of the bout to leave the cards even after 8 rounds, with all 3 judges having the bout 76-76. Chiba had managed to not just win rounds, but also turn the style of fight around, leaving Kurihara backing up and controlling the middle of the ring himself.
With momentum on Chiba's side going into the final stages of the bout it seemed things were against Kurihara, who was looking tired and seemingly breaking down mentally and physically. He was being forced to dig deep, and his moments of success were few and far between, though with his well regarded power he remained dangerous as he showed in round 10. That was until round 11, when he ended up taking a bit of a beating, staggering through the late portion of the round. He was spent, damaged and had taken a lot of punishment down the stretch, even being backed on to the ropes, where Chiba began to land numerous big head shots. To his credit Kurihara took them, and tried to fire back, but he was unable to get Chiba's respect, with the challenger's more accurate shots taking a toll, despite some fearsome exchanges.
The damage done in round 11 was something Kurihara couldn't recover from and early in round 12 Chiba was all over him, forcing the referee to step in and save him, with the stoppage coming 50 seconds into the 12th round.
The bout, which was streamed on YouTube, saw the two men putting on an excellent and well matched contest.
In the early going Kurihara applied pressure, taking the middle of the ring and patiently stalking his man, whilst Chiba moved around the ring, looking for angles to let his shots off. It was tense with both men waiting for the other to make the wrong move. As the rounds went on however the action began to heat up, and things slowly became more and more interesting, with both moving through the gears. It was clear through out that Chiba was the more polished boxer, the better move and the quicker man, but Kurihara's power seemed to keep Chiba full alert, and stop him from taking too many risks.
The interesting, though somewhat tense, early rounds saw Kurihara doing enough to be in the lead when the scorecards were first announced publicly after 4 rounds, leading 39-37 on all 3 cards. He would extend that lead in round 5 before Chiba began to find his groove, feeling more relaxed and getting to work, sweeping much of the middle portion of the bout to leave the cards even after 8 rounds, with all 3 judges having the bout 76-76. Chiba had managed to not just win rounds, but also turn the style of fight around, leaving Kurihara backing up and controlling the middle of the ring himself.
With momentum on Chiba's side going into the final stages of the bout it seemed things were against Kurihara, who was looking tired and seemingly breaking down mentally and physically. He was being forced to dig deep, and his moments of success were few and far between, though with his well regarded power he remained dangerous as he showed in round 10. That was until round 11, when he ended up taking a bit of a beating, staggering through the late portion of the round. He was spent, damaged and had taken a lot of punishment down the stretch, even being backed on to the ropes, where Chiba began to land numerous big head shots. To his credit Kurihara took them, and tried to fire back, but he was unable to get Chiba's respect, with the challenger's more accurate shots taking a toll, despite some fearsome exchanges.
The damage done in round 11 was something Kurihara couldn't recover from and early in round 12 Chiba was all over him, forcing the referee to step in and save him, with the stoppage coming 50 seconds into the 12th round.