By Joe Koizumi
Photos: Naoki Fukuda

Who expected WBC#2/IBF#4 122-pounder Shingo Wake (26-6-2, 18 KOs), 125.75, to lose to such a mediocre Filipino underdog named Jhunriel Ramonal (16-8-6, 9 KOs), 125.25, today (Friday) in Tokyo, Japan?

Furthermore, Wake, when he was the OPBF ruler, had demolished Ramonal in three one-sided rounds here in 2013.  It was an easy-going safety-first matchmaking that booked Wake against Ramonal, just #8 featherweight by the GAB (Philippine commission) in a rematch, but an unbelievable upset happened before the stunned crowd at the Hall.

Wake, a stylish southpaw with superior hand speed, toyed with Ramonal, battering him at will in the first two rounds.  He made the Filipino a bloody mess in round two, and all at the Hall sensed that Wake would easily bring home the bacon in his tune-up bout prior to his world title shot next year.

Upon a bad accidental headbutt midway in round three, Wake seemingly got stunned and bewildered for a while, and he lost his balance and went down with a light left hook of the Filipino battler.  After the fight resumed, it was Ramonal that swarmed over the still unsteady Japanese pre-fight favorite and very badly decked him with a vicious left hook with a thud.  Hitting the back head to the canvas, it was obvious that Wake was unable to go on and the referee Iida made a well-timed and well-received (even by Wake’s adherents) halt over the flattened world contender. Time was 2:59 of the third round.

Shingo Wake once had an ambitious crack at the vacant IBF 122-pound belt against Jonathan Guzman only to be halted in the eleventh session in Osaka in 2016.  Since then, the hard-punching southpaw scored six victories all within the distance to his credit so that he moved up to #2 in the WBC ratings.  But any future blueprint was destroyed on his comeback trail, and Wake will have to reconstruct his road to redemption, taking time.

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