cooljupiter

Good article, as always. Yeah, "Sometimes when we touch" is one of my favorite songs, a masterpiece especially when sung by Rod Stewart. I'm sorta happy that Mosley last night wasn't into "I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides" mode.

Both are pretty skilled fighters. Donaire's got the advantage in power and quickness over Mijares. Mijares, on the other hand, is a more experienced champion who knows how to avoid getting hit. Should this bout take place, I would be unable to decide on which fighter I should bet my 2 cents on. And hey, RichLoc, that video is just awesome. Won't you include into it some scenes from the Munoz bout? I'd be loving it. Every MijaresMania will appreciate your effort. Keep up the good work.

It wasn't a lucky hometown draw for Naito. The judges were all fair and firm to my eyes. My scorecard was 114-113 (10-10 for the 9th) in favor of Wongjongcam. So that split draw was within a margin of understanding. It deserves Fight of the Year, but I don't think Naito was the Fighter of the Year though. With Darchinyan and Donaire moving on up to superflyweight contention and Sakata being knocked out, Naito is the only flyweight to win the award. That is all there is to it.

Enoki has what it takes to knock guys out. But Chris John will is a highly skilled champion who knows how to fight on ryhthm. I saw John take care of Zaiki Takemoto. Looks like John knows how to hurt and discourage guys. Enoki is a quite superior Asian fighter, but Chris John is the best featherweight in Asia.

here's an idea fight Koki Kameda in the states, donate a percentage of the PPV to charity for the Japanese relief effort no one good is available at superbantamweight at the moment, seems like they are all locked up Donaire fighting Koki sounds like a brilliant idea to me. A battle of Asians. A fight between two young three-division champions. Donaire is a JP friendly person. Koki has been craving for making his US ring debut. Donation is also a good idea at this point. I'm starting to think that this fight should take place.

While the last paragraph is great and all, the rest of the article is just another Ronnie's way of journalism.

Good read. It's true that once you delve deeper into boxing, you'll soon realize that it could never be truer. Too bad, there have been so many pointless PPVs, many of which have so far failed to chase new fans out of the woodwork.

The bout was fueled badly dur to its foul festive nature. That was ugly. Wrestling rather than boxing. A streetfight rather than a fight.

I don't say that there is no point in this matchup, but there are other fights that WILL be acclaimed by fight fans around the world. Sure, it is a Pavlik - Abraham showdown. Hopkins is now on life support, putting himself in line with big names. If B Hop wants a fight, then he can fight Glenn Johnson. Now that WOULD be interesting.

warp1432 - Thanks for your reply. I'm glad to know that there are people - one person at least - who pay attention to the lower weight categories out there. The flyweight division may be, and may have been, a cause for concern and frustration for the US fight fans, but I think this is a very good opportunity to let Japanese remember how exciting Boxing is. Sorta selfish it might sound, but I hope the WBA and WBC flyweight belts remain in Japan for the boxing business of this country, which has been in a long period of slumber, maybe for a year or two. At the same time, I want to see Nonito Donaire in action against Japanese fighters with the title on the line though. What a dilemma...

I think Arce has to settle the score with Vasquez Jr first, or he can unify with Nishioka. Going up or down isn't his current focus.

I wonder why Montiel is willing to fight Munoz, who is already done for. I want to see him fight Donaire NOW. Heh. That's too much to ask for. But I say Montiel shouldn't fight someone like Munoz or even Mijares. A Hasegawa rematch wouldn't suffice either. It's Donaire, nobody else.

If Nishioka goes head to head to fight fire with fire, then both will have a chance at winning by knockout. But I think - believe I'd say - that Nishioka will use his superior speed and avoid too many exchanges. Nishioka by clear decision.

The unification fight between Naito and Sakata is still a possibility, which is not a feasibility at this point of time. Sakata is willing to unify the titles, while Naito conditionally agrees on it. Naito has said that in order for the unification to take place, both Sakata and himself make at least five title defenses respectively. Having both champions on the same card was for a variety of reasons such as (A) Sakata is not famous enough to headline an event while Naito is a quite notable figure in Japan and (B) maybe they will once again share the same night to fight for their title defenses, possibly on Dec 31st. For me, both reasons don't make much sense. Some people argue that it is no longer a world title if it's fought between two Japanese fighters, which I think is far from correct. Look at Vasquez and Marquez. They are both Mexicans and they've fought three times in a row for the world title. Sure, it's not usual, but it is not unlikely. I, for one, need the unification to come true. As for the problems regarding Koki Kameda, there are so many of them. First, Koki has been ranked #1 by the WBA for quite a while, but he has never been willing to challenge WBA champion Sakata. He is still at #1, but the mandatory contendor is now Denkaosan Kaovichit of Thai who is WBA #2 ranked fighter and fought Sakata for the title a year and a half ago to mark a split draw decision. Second, you may not believe this, but almost all Japanese fight fans don't want to see Koki in action. He has done so many fouls in the ring most of which the referees did not call appropriately. Hell, he instructed his younger brother Daiki to stub Naito in the eye with the elbow between rounds when Daiki fought Naito. And that voice was televised across the country of Japan. He paid the penalty and was banned from fighting for 3 months. Of course, the suspension has already been lifted, but people have not yet forgiven the Kameda brothers as their public apology was far from apology but a bunch of excuses. That's why he did an exodus to Mexico to fight some underdogs. Naito himself is not willing to face Koki for the time being neither, his promoter is happy to accept the fight though. Naito's next mandatory is still unknown. Some say it's Julio Cesar Miranda, while others say it's Ponomrunglek Kratingdaeng. I lean on Miranda, for I saw him win the eliminator on the undercard of Mijares - Munoz. Well, to cut a lot of story short, there is no point in Naito accepting Koki's challenge at this point. Koki is no longer an equivalent of ODLH in Japan. I've been wondering when a Mijares - Montiel clash takes place by the way...

This is just marketing on behalf of Kameda and his team. He has no intention of fighting those fighters. Kameda knows that Darchinyan, Donaire, and Arce aren't super flyweights anymore. Darchinyan just gave up his titles at 115 and won the IBO at 118. Donaire is scheduled to fight at 118 in July and Arce hasn't fought at 115 sine the Darchinyan fight even scheduled to fight Morel at 118. 115 is an open division. Ditto, to everthing you said. Koki is a very shrewed person, and he knows how to make himself look bigger than he really is. Just talking about fighting well known boxers and bragging about how good he COULD be is his daddy's way of making a name for the family. Hell, he won't be fighting even the likes of Hugo Cazarez.

Kirkland will be floored early to come back to knock the guy out late.

Naito by close unanimous decision.

As a fight fan who lives in Japan, I'd like to make it clear that this is absolutely freaking not the first time the Kameda brothers and their handlers have hurt the sport of boxing. As far as I'm concerned, these brats need to be banned from the ring indefinitely.

I think a boxer like Arce should be qualified to do an hasta-la-vista-baby kind of fight to make his fight fight one to remember. Let's get it on, but not against a top notch peleador.

Not really true...he wasn't allowed to avoid. The financing fell through for it when it was scheduled in the States and Arce wasn't traveling. The WBC did nothing to force it on either side, perfectly happy to take good fees from both. My very personal opinion is that Arce couldn't stand a chance against Pong considering how he struggled to make even 115. Plus, he was so bad at southpaw fighters. Mijares did a perfect job of making Arce look like a toddler and the Thai Devid was clearly robbed in their eliminator. The stupid WBC wanted to make sure that they could retain a belt in their home turf in a popular figure in El Travieso.

I don't think it's as bad as people say over there. Edwin Valero liked it so much, he lived there. Linares was doing pretty good in Japan also until he ran into Salgado. You always worry about home town decisions and home cooking, but if a fighter is really good, he can do it anywhere. Sometimes it's better to travel and learn and see. Oh yeah, Japanese girls are HOT. With you on that. I live in Japan, and let me add some more to this. Cristian Mijares won his superflyweight belt in Japan with a split nod in his favor against the tough Japanese Katsushige Kawashima in Japan. Oscar Larios was knocked down by slick JP southpaw Takahiro Aoh in their first meeting, but he eventually won the match by a fair and firm decision. Some of, maybe many of JP fighters might be bums as people say they are, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Japan is a land of home town decisions.

What on earth is 'unbeaten world junior world champion'? Putting that aside, is Tomoki really worth being mentioned here? He's done anything worthy of noting I guess...

Accidents happen when they happen. But not like this... I sure wish, hope I mean, one more time that I could see him step up into the ring and punish a guy like he has done many times. Miracles happen when they happen. I sure hope one happens to him soon.

Koki and Sosa has some unfinished business. When Koki was doing his campaign as a world rated fighter, he was reportedly considering inviting Sosa to Japan to make a fight happen. It was before both of them were crowned. Koki suddenly changed his mind and called off the fight, which would have been very interesting I guess. Now that Sosa is without a belt and Koki has one, it's about time they decided who is the better fighter as a flyweight champion of the world.

Far from impressive. That is all there is to it.

Nah... I believe Harada deserves a little bit higher slot. He was a legendary fighter in this country, and he is now a legendary TV commentator He is, to many JP boxing fans, is an equivalent of Mexico'S JCC.

Munoz is literally a shot fighter. He, I assume, is no worthy of bantamweight title shots. Koki is not eligible for the championship fight either. He's done nothing at the weight. Koki has first to prove he has what it takes to JP fight fans by facing and defeating Pong.

I had assumed the Nashiro - Kono bout would be for the regular championship, but the story behind this seems much more complicated than I had thought. After all, the WBA's super champion system is, for me, shrouded in mystery. Well, recognizing one super champion in one weight division and one regualr champion in the same division at the same time is understandable to some extent. Allowing two title bouts between 4 world rated fighters consecutively and respectively, however, is totally beyond my understanding, almost ludicrous. Furthermore, each title bout has an eliminator bout factor to itself to challenge the winner of the other bout?! Then why sanction both bouts as championship bouts? Just rather make one a regular title bout and the other an eliminator instead, really. It's difficult to see any point in an interim championship fight while there is yet no actual regular champion above which there is already a super champion who isn't allowed to unify his title with a champion/champions - dang, this is nuts -withing the same sanctioning body.

Just another lowlife jobber boxer has done a very bad job against yet another hyped-up jobber boxer in Tomoki. Daiki seems to have what it takes, - at least to my eyes, but this El Mexicanito brat doesn't look like at all he has it in him.

To hell with these kinds of ranting. Fighting a mandatory over an opportunity to unify the belts? So, Morel is a better fighter than Hasegawa in business terms from Arum's point of view? Montiel is not thinking about sending the contract back to Japan? Why did he receive it then? He should have made it clear that he's not facing Hasegawa the moment the fight was announced by Teiken of Japan. Is this bullshit some kind of red herring or what? The Montiel camp unsatisfied with the amount of money on the table? Damn them all.