By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda
Japan’s Seigo Yuri Akui (19-2-1, 11 KOs), 112, wrested the WBA flyweight belt as he kept stalking the previously unbeaten defending champ Artem Dalakian (22-1, 15 KOs), 111.25, Ukraine, from pillar to post, winning a unanimous decision (116-112, 117-111, 119-109) over twelve speedy rounds on Tuesday in Osaka, Japan. Dalakian kept circling to display his fast footwork and versatile upper body mobility rather than throwing punches to the willing mixer. Each had a tough time catching and punching the contestant, but it was Akui that remained more positive and aggressive, throwing more punches to the opponent. It was a question why Dalakian paid too much respect to WBA#1 Akui’s vaunted power punching and failed to be more aggressive to win points enough to defend his belt. The referee was Gullermo Perez (Panama).
Promoter: Teiken Promotions.
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Will have to watch this match again. I fell asleep to be honest. Can’t say I am surprised the Japanese boxer won, The female ESPN announcers felt that Artem did enough to keep the title. However, he was mostly just running around. Did not do enough. Had it been in Europe, perhaps he would have won, like this match with Jiminez, when the then announcers of ESPN thought he had lost.
Would be torture to watch this again-had it 119-109. Constant running and holding shouldn’t be rewarded.
I’m glad Dalakian lost. His style really is terrible to watch. The Japanese guy was outboxed, but at least he was trying to engage. Nobody likes runners.
totally agree with you. From listening to the ladies on ESPN giving there analysis, they had Dalakian winning the fight. I just watched it again, Dalakian’s style put me to sleep, and I had the Japanese boxer winning 116-112. I gave Dalakian the 2nd, 6th, and 9th and 10 rounds. they felt he was dictating the pace. But the truth for me was he seemed liked a guy who had a fight the following week and wanted to make sure he does not get injured. For me he seemed like a man who was not trying to win the fight. Had it been in Ukraine, he probably would have gotten away with this. the Japanese boxer is probably now the worst of all their world champions and probably won’t have a long reign, but at least he seemed to be trying to win.