BoxingScene.com's Television Picks of the Week
It’s not over yet.
Really.
Despite the feeling that 2010 had come to a fistic close last weekend, there is a bit of epilogue to the year yet to come. None of it will be a big deal on U.S. TV but for fans in Japan, boxing still has one more week to go. Thursday and Saturday will see critical matches at 115, 112, and 118 respectively. Two of those will be on the same card.
All of them make up the picks of the week.
Pick Road Warrior: #1 Hugo Cazares vs. Hiroyuki Hisataka (Thursday, Japan)
For the fifth time in his last nine fights, Mexico’s Cazares (33-6-2, 24 KO), the WBA Jr. Bantamweight titlist, will be stepping onto hostile turf. This will be the third of those encounters, in his last five, to take place in Osaka. The rest of his career speaks to a simple truth for the fighter dubbed “El Increible”: have check, will travel.
And entertain.
Hisataka (19-8-1, 8 KO) has won two straight and lasted the route in title fight losses in his last five fights to Takefumi Sakata and Denkaosan Kaovitchit. His can be a deceptive ledger and, challenging again for the WBA belt now worn by Cazares, this could be the 25-year old’s last chance. Cazares is the type who finds himself in fights even when he doesn’t have to be. It’s in his makeup. A win and talk should (but who knows if it will) turn to a rubber match with Japanese rival Nobuo Nashiro. The two have combined for a pair of fantastic fights already and one more would be the life this suddenly shallow field needs.
Pick Brothers: The Kameda Show (Sunday, Japan)
While not necessarily beloved, there is no doubt the magnitude of stardom the Kameda brothers have in Japan. The television ratings don’t lie. Neither does the pen. Hall of Fame writer Joe Koizumi is a mirror into the zeitgeist of the Kameda phenomenon in Japan, his work dripping with a distaste that borders on the negative reactions generated for one Muhammad Ali once upon a time.
We still don’t know if either is as good a fighter as they are magnets for attention.
#4 Flyweight and WBA titlist Daiki (18-2, 11 KO), younger and not quite as big a draw as big brother, makes his second title defense against Silvio Olteanu (11-3, 5 KO) in a fight that could be a showcase. This Kameda brother is showing improvement after having seen some tough veterans early on.
The big star is, and remains, Koki (23-1, 15 KO) and he has gone where his body led him. Now in the loaded Bantamweight division, the former Jr. Flyweight beltholder and formed lineal Flyweight king is looking to make it two straight since losing the latter title earlier this year. He’s got the tougher assignment with veteran puncher and former titlist Alexander Munoz (35-3, 27 KO) across the ring. They will mix for a vacant WBA Bantamweight belt, even though the excellent Anselmo Moreno is still the champion of that organization (but then again, who isn’t these days? Utter dreck!). Ignore the stupid belt and focus on the pretty good match. It’s a real test for both.
Back in 2011.
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Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com