Olascuaga retains in disappointing fahsion, Tanaka upset, Nasukawa claims first title, Nakatani retains!
For a second day in a row we got a stacked card courtesy of Amazon Prime and Teiken, with 3 world title fights and a notable regional title bout on it.
The show kicked off with WBO Flyweight champion Anthony Olascuaga (7-1-0-1, 5) making his first defense, as he faced former WBO Light Flyweight champion Jonathan Gonzalez (28-3-1-2, 14). The bout, Olascuaga’s 4th in Japan, came only 3 months after his title win, when he stopped Riku Kano for the vacant title whilst it saw Gonzalez return to Japan, for the first time since his controversial win over Shokichi Iwata.
From the off the champion came forward, pressuring the smaller Gonzalez, backing him up onto the ropes. Gonzalez was slippery, showing the defensive skills he’s well known for, whilst looking for counter shots. Sadly after less than 2 minutes of the bout we had a nasty clash of heads, which left Gonzalez with a nasty cut around the left eye. Although the fight restarted it was stopped just moments later when Gonzalez told the referee he couldn’t see, giving us a hugely disappointing ending to what should have been a great opportunity for Olascuaga to score a notable win against a former world champion. Sadly for Gonzalez the outcome leaves us all questioning his heart, something that has long been questioned, and appears, once again, to not be there when the going gets even slightly tough for him.
Given how disappointing the first bout was we were hoping for a solid follow up, and we ended up getting something a little bit special as Kosei Tanaka (20-2, 11) [田中恒成] was dethroned of the WBO Super Flyweight title by unbeaten South African challenger Phumelele Cafu (11-0-3, 8).
From the off this one looked really interesting with Tanaka pressing and using and Cafu looking to counter. More interesting than the style was the speed, with both men looking insanely fast. The speed and experience of Tanaka showed in the first round, with Cafu being caught by several solid shots, including a great right hand, whilst landing very little of note himself. Cafu did however show a lot more ambition in round 2 landing a lovely left hook of his own in the first minute of the round and having success through the round. Despite it being a better round for Cafu he was still being tagged by fast, clean single shots form Tanaka in what was a very competitive round.
Round 3 started very interestingly with the men fighting at mid range and fighting tit for tat with some lovely back and forth as Cafu’s confidence began to grow through the round. The tempo also seemed to increase whilst showed some lovely variety to both head and body as the fight began to really warm up and both began to move through the gears. The action continued to excite in round 4, though Tanaka seemed to begin to instill his will on the action a bit more, with a great right hand up top and some fantastic body work whilst Cafu was forced to back up more and looked to be feeling the body work of the champion. In exchanges Cafu held his own, but for much of the round Tanaka was the one landing the better shots.
Cafu looked to get his jab going early in round 5 but was caught by a gorgeous uppercut, Cafu responded well and managed to create some space before landing a huge counter right hook that dropped Tanaka. The champion got to his feet but was under pressure the rest of the round as Cafu patiently stalked him. Having seen out the round Tanaka looked clear headed as we went into round 6, despite that it did seem like Cafu was coming on strong and he landed another huge right hand part way through round 6. Tanaka managed to find his range as the round went on and landed some great body shots through the round, though Cafu managed to have some great success up top.
The body work from Tanaka continued in round 7 as he enjoyed getting close and although Cafu continued to have success the body shots did seem to be taking their toll as Cafu started to back up. Cafu really seemed to be feeling the tempo as Tanaka started to put in the jets with blistering combinations, and switching from head to body. Cafu was still dangerous, especially with his counters, but he did look like a man being broken down. Cafu showed some life early in round 8, but Tanaka quickly went back to the body and re-established his tempo, walking through a right hook from Cafu to keep the pressure on. The body work was not only slowing Cafu but also taking some pop from his shots and making it easier for Tanaka to out work and outland him.
Going into round 9 Cafu was visibly slowing the speed of Tanaka was still there, making it easier for Tanaka to land clean, and even push Cafu backwards when they were up close. Cafu continued to have moments, especially with the right hand, but it seemed like every time he had success Tanaka would answer, with interest. The following round saw the two men exchanging punches regularly, and when they did it was Cafu looking to get away from the action for him to catch his breath, something Tanaka didn’t allow. Instead Tanaka kept up the pressure with his rapid fire jabs and repeatedly went to the body of Cafu when they were close. Cafu’s heart showed, as he looked to fire off big right hands, but they seemed to lack the power needed to force Tanaka to give him space.
The pressure we had seen from Tanaka over the previous few rounds continued in round 11 as he just walked his man down and banged the drum. Cafu landed a great right hand, that got Tanaka’s respect, but Tanaka was like a man possessed, marching forward, responding to every moment Cafu had making sure to out work the challenger , who tried to steal the round with a huge effort in the final seconds. Round 12 was much like round 11, with Tanaka pressing and Cafu responding, giving us some amazing action up close as both seemed to be looking tired and feeling the tempo of a very hotly contested war. Although both were clearly feeling it, Cafu was feeling it more and he backed off, and seemed to be fighting off heart alone, with some big counters under intense pressure.
Despite Cafu looking rather out of his depth in the opening round, he warmed into it brilliantly, more than hung in the first half of the fight, scored the knockdown in round 5, and was clearly in the lead at the midway point. In the second half Tanaka came back strong, pressing the action, and forcing a high tempo action fight. It seemed he took the second half, though Cafu certainly had moments in every round with some big counter shots. He was feeling the body work, but gritted it out and fought hard to get Tanaka’s respect.
After 12 rounds this was super close, with bout having some great ebbs and flows, but being a fight really of two halves. That led us to the scorecards which were 114-113 Cafu, 114-113 Tanaka and 114-113 Cafu, who took the split decision with a career-defining victory. A victory that was earned by the knockdown in round 5.
Given how sensational the fight was, and how close it was, it’s fair to say we’d love to see a rematch.
In the chief support bout on the show we saw the hotly tipped and super charismatic Tenshin Nasukawa (5-0, 2) [那須川天心] claim the previously vacant WBO Asia Pacific Bantamweight title bout, as he beat the previously unbeaten Filipino Gerwin Asilo (9-1, 4).
After a really great bout between Tanaka and Cafu we were hoping for something fun here, but sadly Asilo didn’t really seem to want to win. He showed very little ambition throughout the contest, relying on single right hands, with little to set them up, no creativity, and no real desire. Nasukawa, a counter puncher much like Asilo, didn’t really look like he knew what to do early on when his opponent looked unwilling to engage, but as the fight went on Nasukawa began to let his shots go. To begin with it was single shots to the body from Nasukawa which caught the eye, along with his ultra sharp jab. As the fight went on he began to take more risks, letting the odd combination go. In round 9 he finally managed to get Asilo to fight, but only doing so after he dropped Asilo, and only very late in the round. In round 10 we saw Nasukawa continue to control the action, though a clash of heads left him cut around the left eye, and after the cut it finally seemed like Asilo wanted to fight. By then it was too little too late, and all he had really done was ruin the potential to be given another big fight in Japan.
Sadly the matchmaking needs to be questioned here. Asilo, who never looked like he was making a genuine effort to win, was not the sort of opponent to put Nasukawa in with in a chief support slot on a card of this nature. For Nasukawa’s skill set to shine he needs to be fighting someone coming to win, letting shots go, and giving Nasukawa openings to counter, not a fellow counter puncher. Nasukawa will feel happy to have got 10 rounds under his belt, but at this tempo that was not really saying much.
After 10 rounds we went to the judges, but the scores were pretty academic, with the real question being how many rounds could they give Asilo. As it turned out one managed to give him 3 rounds, putting in a score of 97-92, whilst the other two judges had it 98-91 to Nasukawa. Whilst Nasukawa didn’t shine, and he never got out of second gear, he will have to be asking his team how they’ve now managed to find back to back opponents that offered very little in terms of ambition.
In the main event we saw 3-weight world champion Junto Nakatani (29-0, 22) [中谷 潤人] make his second defense of the WBC Bantamweight title against experienced Thai challenger Tasana Salapat (76-2, 53), aka Petch CP Freshmart or Petch Sor Chitpattana.
To begin with we saw the two fighters look to establish their jabs and figure out their opponent. The power shots were limited through the opening round, with 2 left hands from Nakatani being the only real shots of note outside of some jabs from both. To his credit the challenger took them well. The pace was upped in round 2 as the challenger began to show some more ambition, though was tagged by a left hand as a result. As the round went on Salapat was beginning to take more risks, and whilst he was having the occasional success he was also being tagged as Nakatani played a patient, intelligent game and tried to lure his foe in. Just after the 10 second clacker we saw Nakatani land a solid 2 punch combination, which was the highlight of a good round for the challenger.
In round 3 Nakatani began to open up more, landing some solid shots with both hands, including some nasty left hooks, particularly when Tasana over-extended his shots. It was a controlled tempo from Nakatani, who was happy to create space, control the tempo, and make Salapat come to him, walking him into shots. In round 4 Nakatani slipped a shot as Salapat came forward, throwing himself into the corner before Nakatani opened up with a rare combination. Later in the round Nakatani would again land a sharp combination. Salapat, to his credit, took the power of Nakatani well, and had moments with his own left hand, but he was clearly coming off second best. 40- 36 x 2
39-37 all to Junto
In round 5 the pace picked up with the two men each having moments on the inside, with Nakatani landing some great uppercuts. It seemed as if he had seen enough to be comfortable taking more risks against the Thai. Salapat had some moments of his own, but he was outgunned and outlanded with the speed, variation, timing and placement of Nakatani being far too good. Round 6 started much like how round 5 was fought, with the men standing in range for stretches, and Naktani using Salapat’s head like it was target practice. Hurting him with a huge left hand counter, before unloading, dropping the Thai. Salapat showed his toughness, getting back to his feet and fighting back as Nakatani tried to take him out. To his credit Salapat seemed to recover remarkably quickly but Nakatani could still smell blood and dropped his man at the end of the round, with the referee waving the bout off.
The show kicked off with WBO Flyweight champion Anthony Olascuaga (7-1-0-1, 5) making his first defense, as he faced former WBO Light Flyweight champion Jonathan Gonzalez (28-3-1-2, 14). The bout, Olascuaga’s 4th in Japan, came only 3 months after his title win, when he stopped Riku Kano for the vacant title whilst it saw Gonzalez return to Japan, for the first time since his controversial win over Shokichi Iwata.
From the off the champion came forward, pressuring the smaller Gonzalez, backing him up onto the ropes. Gonzalez was slippery, showing the defensive skills he’s well known for, whilst looking for counter shots. Sadly after less than 2 minutes of the bout we had a nasty clash of heads, which left Gonzalez with a nasty cut around the left eye. Although the fight restarted it was stopped just moments later when Gonzalez told the referee he couldn’t see, giving us a hugely disappointing ending to what should have been a great opportunity for Olascuaga to score a notable win against a former world champion. Sadly for Gonzalez the outcome leaves us all questioning his heart, something that has long been questioned, and appears, once again, to not be there when the going gets even slightly tough for him.
Given how disappointing the first bout was we were hoping for a solid follow up, and we ended up getting something a little bit special as Kosei Tanaka (20-2, 11) [田中恒成] was dethroned of the WBO Super Flyweight title by unbeaten South African challenger Phumelele Cafu (11-0-3, 8).
From the off this one looked really interesting with Tanaka pressing and using and Cafu looking to counter. More interesting than the style was the speed, with both men looking insanely fast. The speed and experience of Tanaka showed in the first round, with Cafu being caught by several solid shots, including a great right hand, whilst landing very little of note himself. Cafu did however show a lot more ambition in round 2 landing a lovely left hook of his own in the first minute of the round and having success through the round. Despite it being a better round for Cafu he was still being tagged by fast, clean single shots form Tanaka in what was a very competitive round.
Round 3 started very interestingly with the men fighting at mid range and fighting tit for tat with some lovely back and forth as Cafu’s confidence began to grow through the round. The tempo also seemed to increase whilst showed some lovely variety to both head and body as the fight began to really warm up and both began to move through the gears. The action continued to excite in round 4, though Tanaka seemed to begin to instill his will on the action a bit more, with a great right hand up top and some fantastic body work whilst Cafu was forced to back up more and looked to be feeling the body work of the champion. In exchanges Cafu held his own, but for much of the round Tanaka was the one landing the better shots.
Cafu looked to get his jab going early in round 5 but was caught by a gorgeous uppercut, Cafu responded well and managed to create some space before landing a huge counter right hook that dropped Tanaka. The champion got to his feet but was under pressure the rest of the round as Cafu patiently stalked him. Having seen out the round Tanaka looked clear headed as we went into round 6, despite that it did seem like Cafu was coming on strong and he landed another huge right hand part way through round 6. Tanaka managed to find his range as the round went on and landed some great body shots through the round, though Cafu managed to have some great success up top.
The body work from Tanaka continued in round 7 as he enjoyed getting close and although Cafu continued to have success the body shots did seem to be taking their toll as Cafu started to back up. Cafu really seemed to be feeling the tempo as Tanaka started to put in the jets with blistering combinations, and switching from head to body. Cafu was still dangerous, especially with his counters, but he did look like a man being broken down. Cafu showed some life early in round 8, but Tanaka quickly went back to the body and re-established his tempo, walking through a right hook from Cafu to keep the pressure on. The body work was not only slowing Cafu but also taking some pop from his shots and making it easier for Tanaka to out work and outland him.
Going into round 9 Cafu was visibly slowing the speed of Tanaka was still there, making it easier for Tanaka to land clean, and even push Cafu backwards when they were up close. Cafu continued to have moments, especially with the right hand, but it seemed like every time he had success Tanaka would answer, with interest. The following round saw the two men exchanging punches regularly, and when they did it was Cafu looking to get away from the action for him to catch his breath, something Tanaka didn’t allow. Instead Tanaka kept up the pressure with his rapid fire jabs and repeatedly went to the body of Cafu when they were close. Cafu’s heart showed, as he looked to fire off big right hands, but they seemed to lack the power needed to force Tanaka to give him space.
The pressure we had seen from Tanaka over the previous few rounds continued in round 11 as he just walked his man down and banged the drum. Cafu landed a great right hand, that got Tanaka’s respect, but Tanaka was like a man possessed, marching forward, responding to every moment Cafu had making sure to out work the challenger , who tried to steal the round with a huge effort in the final seconds. Round 12 was much like round 11, with Tanaka pressing and Cafu responding, giving us some amazing action up close as both seemed to be looking tired and feeling the tempo of a very hotly contested war. Although both were clearly feeling it, Cafu was feeling it more and he backed off, and seemed to be fighting off heart alone, with some big counters under intense pressure.
Despite Cafu looking rather out of his depth in the opening round, he warmed into it brilliantly, more than hung in the first half of the fight, scored the knockdown in round 5, and was clearly in the lead at the midway point. In the second half Tanaka came back strong, pressing the action, and forcing a high tempo action fight. It seemed he took the second half, though Cafu certainly had moments in every round with some big counter shots. He was feeling the body work, but gritted it out and fought hard to get Tanaka’s respect.
After 12 rounds this was super close, with bout having some great ebbs and flows, but being a fight really of two halves. That led us to the scorecards which were 114-113 Cafu, 114-113 Tanaka and 114-113 Cafu, who took the split decision with a career-defining victory. A victory that was earned by the knockdown in round 5.
Given how sensational the fight was, and how close it was, it’s fair to say we’d love to see a rematch.
In the chief support bout on the show we saw the hotly tipped and super charismatic Tenshin Nasukawa (5-0, 2) [那須川天心] claim the previously vacant WBO Asia Pacific Bantamweight title bout, as he beat the previously unbeaten Filipino Gerwin Asilo (9-1, 4).
After a really great bout between Tanaka and Cafu we were hoping for something fun here, but sadly Asilo didn’t really seem to want to win. He showed very little ambition throughout the contest, relying on single right hands, with little to set them up, no creativity, and no real desire. Nasukawa, a counter puncher much like Asilo, didn’t really look like he knew what to do early on when his opponent looked unwilling to engage, but as the fight went on Nasukawa began to let his shots go. To begin with it was single shots to the body from Nasukawa which caught the eye, along with his ultra sharp jab. As the fight went on he began to take more risks, letting the odd combination go. In round 9 he finally managed to get Asilo to fight, but only doing so after he dropped Asilo, and only very late in the round. In round 10 we saw Nasukawa continue to control the action, though a clash of heads left him cut around the left eye, and after the cut it finally seemed like Asilo wanted to fight. By then it was too little too late, and all he had really done was ruin the potential to be given another big fight in Japan.
Sadly the matchmaking needs to be questioned here. Asilo, who never looked like he was making a genuine effort to win, was not the sort of opponent to put Nasukawa in with in a chief support slot on a card of this nature. For Nasukawa’s skill set to shine he needs to be fighting someone coming to win, letting shots go, and giving Nasukawa openings to counter, not a fellow counter puncher. Nasukawa will feel happy to have got 10 rounds under his belt, but at this tempo that was not really saying much.
After 10 rounds we went to the judges, but the scores were pretty academic, with the real question being how many rounds could they give Asilo. As it turned out one managed to give him 3 rounds, putting in a score of 97-92, whilst the other two judges had it 98-91 to Nasukawa. Whilst Nasukawa didn’t shine, and he never got out of second gear, he will have to be asking his team how they’ve now managed to find back to back opponents that offered very little in terms of ambition.
In the main event we saw 3-weight world champion Junto Nakatani (29-0, 22) [中谷 潤人] make his second defense of the WBC Bantamweight title against experienced Thai challenger Tasana Salapat (76-2, 53), aka Petch CP Freshmart or Petch Sor Chitpattana.
To begin with we saw the two fighters look to establish their jabs and figure out their opponent. The power shots were limited through the opening round, with 2 left hands from Nakatani being the only real shots of note outside of some jabs from both. To his credit the challenger took them well. The pace was upped in round 2 as the challenger began to show some more ambition, though was tagged by a left hand as a result. As the round went on Salapat was beginning to take more risks, and whilst he was having the occasional success he was also being tagged as Nakatani played a patient, intelligent game and tried to lure his foe in. Just after the 10 second clacker we saw Nakatani land a solid 2 punch combination, which was the highlight of a good round for the challenger.
In round 3 Nakatani began to open up more, landing some solid shots with both hands, including some nasty left hooks, particularly when Tasana over-extended his shots. It was a controlled tempo from Nakatani, who was happy to create space, control the tempo, and make Salapat come to him, walking him into shots. In round 4 Nakatani slipped a shot as Salapat came forward, throwing himself into the corner before Nakatani opened up with a rare combination. Later in the round Nakatani would again land a sharp combination. Salapat, to his credit, took the power of Nakatani well, and had moments with his own left hand, but he was clearly coming off second best. 40- 36 x 2
39-37 all to Junto
In round 5 the pace picked up with the two men each having moments on the inside, with Nakatani landing some great uppercuts. It seemed as if he had seen enough to be comfortable taking more risks against the Thai. Salapat had some moments of his own, but he was outgunned and outlanded with the speed, variation, timing and placement of Nakatani being far too good. Round 6 started much like how round 5 was fought, with the men standing in range for stretches, and Naktani using Salapat’s head like it was target practice. Hurting him with a huge left hand counter, before unloading, dropping the Thai. Salapat showed his toughness, getting back to his feet and fighting back as Nakatani tried to take him out. To his credit Salapat seemed to recover remarkably quickly but Nakatani could still smell blood and dropped his man at the end of the round, with the referee waving the bout off.