"Muh nothing to the table"

[crimsonfalcon07]

Oh you don't have to tell me. I constantly tell people "In Japan, if you're not ready to fight for a world title by your tenth fight, the thought is you'll never be ready"

Over here, we have people making excuses for not fighting anyone in 30 fights.

Narvaez became HOF eligible just this year I believe. I expect him to make it

Narvaez was eligible for class of 2023 but didn't make it in. They chose Tim Bradley, Carl Froch, and Rafael Marquez.

[_Rexy_]

Narvaez was eligible for class of 2023 but didn't make it in. They chose Tim Bradley, Carl Froch, and Rafael Marquez.

Yes, sorry. This past year. It's 2024 now. lol

[Elheath]

Oh you don't have to tell me. I constantly tell people "In Japan, if you're not ready to fight for a world title by your tenth fight, the thought is you'll never be ready"
Over here, we have people making excuses for not fighting anyone in 30 fights.
Narvaez became HOF eligible just this year I believe. I expect him to make it

Of course there are some slow guys who finally get their chances late, but If you are considered talented enough to be a long term champion, the faster it is. At the least, you should be in the waiting line for a world title by the time you are in double digits. One factor that helps that mindset is that Japan doesn't have the worthless Mayweather style "thou holy zero-ness" worship for being "undefeated" so they don't let prospects marinate and marinate and rot until they are 30 years old. Throw them against a world title if the chance is available, and if the challenge fails then just come back stronger and retry in a few years

For reference, the age and fight the current Japanese multi-belt winning champions got their first world title fight:
-Kosei Tanaka, 19 years old 5th fight
-Naoya Inoue, 20 years old 6th fight
-Kazuto Ioka, 21 years old 7th fight
-Kenshiro Teraji, 25 years old, 10th fight

Really, of the current notable Japanese champions who are rated highly only Junto Nakatani is the only exception to the rule, but his case he also turned pro a few years earlier than the others at age 17 without graduating high school. However since his first world title bout at age 22 (his 21st match), since then he's gotten his second division at age 25 (which was slowed down due to COVID and such) and then last month got his third weight class at age 26 so he's certainly caught up to the pace.

For the not as notable (yet) group, the Shigeoka brothers got them in their 8th and 10th fights respectively. Even Takuma Inoue fought his first world title for interim-WBC at 23 tears old, 13th fight and won. He then lost the unification against Oubaali, then became official champion at 27 years old, 19th fight. Yuri Akui's first challenge at a title fight was his 22nd fight while already having 2 losses (although one of them was against Nakatani).

[_Rexy_]

Of course there are some slow guys who finally get their chances late, but If you are considered talented enough to be a long term champion, the faster it is. At the least, you should be in the waiting line for a world title by the time you are in double digits. One factor that helps that mindset is that Japan doesn't have the worthless Mayweather style "thou holy zero-ness" worship for being "undefeated" so they don't let prospects marinate and marinate and rot until they are 30 years old. Throw them against a world title if the chance is available, and if the challenge fails then just come back stronger and retry in a few years

For reference, the age and fight the current Japanese multi-belt winning champions got their first world title fight:
-Kosei Tanaka, 19 years old 5th fight
-Naoya Inoue, 20 years old 6th fight
-Kazuto Ioka, 21 years old 7th fight
-Kenshiro Teraji, 25 years old, 10th fight

Really, of the current notable Japanese champions who are rated highly only Junto Nakatani is the only exception to the rule, but his case he also turned pro a few years earlier than the others at age 17 without graduating high school. However since his first world title bout at age 22 (his 21st match), since then he's gotten his second division at age 25 (which was slowed down due to COVID and such) and then last month got his third weight class at age 26 so he's certainly caught up to the pace.

For the not as notable (yet) group, the Shigeoka brothers got them in their 8th and 10th fights respectively. Even Takuma Inoue fought his first world title for interim-WBC at 23 tears old, 13th fight and won. He then lost the unification against Oubaali, then became official champion at 27 years old, 19th fight. Yuri Akui's first challenge at a title fight was his 22nd fight while already having 2 losses (although one of them was against Nakatani).

Of course theres slow guys, I once predicted Andy Justice was going to be big, but after each big performance he kinda regresses to so/so one lol. I'm sure you noticed. Best performance of his career against Jin Sasaki then...nothing big

Always love these posts though bro. When I finally get down to Nippon, you and I are going for noodles lol. \

Shigeoka Bros fighting this weekend too, right?