The 2019 Asian Boxing Awards - Round of the Year
In late 2019 we did a number of short articles under "The Round Review" banner, covering 14 of the best rounds from 2019. Now we've selected one of those as our round of the year.
The round we selected was the brilliant second round from the Japanese Youth Bantamweight title between Toshiya Ishii and Haruki Ishikawa. The bout wasn't aired live anywhere though the bout got rave reviews from fans in the venue. When it was made available to watch, on tape delay, and even knowing the result we didn't expect the round too live up to the expectations we had. Amazingly it exceeded the expectations with the two men really hammering each other with bombs in a thrilling, round of action.
The round pitted two youngsters against each other, and whatever it is Japanese youngsters, facing off for Japanese Youth titles, do tend to provide thrilling action. They seems to want that Youth title to help launch their careers to bigger and better things. That was on show here.
Just seconds into the round we had a knockdown, not long after that the two men rocked each other with simultaneous left hooks as they stood and traded. A few moments of sloppy action, as both tried to get their senses back followed before the round rebuilt to give us an exceptional final 90 seconds or so.
This was a great example of Japanese officiating, with the referee not looking to interfere at every opportunity but letting fight on the inside. Yes the third man was involved a few times but his involvement was short, necessary and not there to break the action but to get it restarted.
This was drama, this was bombs away and this was the start of the end, with the bout ending in round 4 when Ishikawa was almost sent out of the ring.
We know fans will suggest that others rounds deserve this honour, notably the 11th round of Naoya Inoue Vs Nonito Donaire, and whilst that was an amazing, really it was, we preferred seeing Ishii and Ishikawa stumbling away from each other, rather than Ernie Sharif giving Inoue a body check. The best thing about 2019 however is that we had about 20 rounds that could all be spoken about in depth. Last year was an amazing year, and a year that should be celebrated for what it delivered!
The round we selected was the brilliant second round from the Japanese Youth Bantamweight title between Toshiya Ishii and Haruki Ishikawa. The bout wasn't aired live anywhere though the bout got rave reviews from fans in the venue. When it was made available to watch, on tape delay, and even knowing the result we didn't expect the round too live up to the expectations we had. Amazingly it exceeded the expectations with the two men really hammering each other with bombs in a thrilling, round of action.
The round pitted two youngsters against each other, and whatever it is Japanese youngsters, facing off for Japanese Youth titles, do tend to provide thrilling action. They seems to want that Youth title to help launch their careers to bigger and better things. That was on show here.
Just seconds into the round we had a knockdown, not long after that the two men rocked each other with simultaneous left hooks as they stood and traded. A few moments of sloppy action, as both tried to get their senses back followed before the round rebuilt to give us an exceptional final 90 seconds or so.
This was a great example of Japanese officiating, with the referee not looking to interfere at every opportunity but letting fight on the inside. Yes the third man was involved a few times but his involvement was short, necessary and not there to break the action but to get it restarted.
This was drama, this was bombs away and this was the start of the end, with the bout ending in round 4 when Ishikawa was almost sent out of the ring.
We know fans will suggest that others rounds deserve this honour, notably the 11th round of Naoya Inoue Vs Nonito Donaire, and whilst that was an amazing, really it was, we preferred seeing Ishii and Ishikawa stumbling away from each other, rather than Ernie Sharif giving Inoue a body check. The best thing about 2019 however is that we had about 20 rounds that could all be spoken about in depth. Last year was an amazing year, and a year that should be celebrated for what it delivered!