By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Shifty southpaw Masataka Taniguchi (16-3, 11 KOs), 105, successfully made his initial defense of the WBO 105-pound belt as he halted overweight opposition Kai Ishizawa (10-2, 9 KOs), no less than 110, with his incessant combinations at 2:29 of the eleventh round on Friday in Tokyo, Japan. It was such a lopsided affair that the champ kept battering the slower and sluggish foe upstairs and downstairs all the way.　Prior to the well-received halt, all the tallies were perfectly identical—Katsuhiko Nakamura, Masakazu Murase and Masahiro Muroya 99-91, giving only the third round to Micro Tyson. The referee was Michiaki Someya. All were out of the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC).

Ishizawa wasn’t what he used to be–less aggressive, less powerful and least accurate in catching the elusive champ with precision. The southpaw champ had dethroned Puerto Rican Wilfredo Mendez via one-sided eleventh round stoppage here last December. Taniguchi displayed his technical improvement and looked like a small version of Lomachenko, cleverly hitting without getting hit.

Masataka, three years his senior at 28, was formerly a captain of Ryukoku university’s boxing club before he turned pro from Watanabe Gym in 2016. Mediocre amateur boxer as he was, he made a rapid progress as a professional since he entered Watanabe Gym along with his clubmate and very intimate friend, WBA 108-pound champ Hiroto Kyoguchi, who worked the corner as lately always.

Utilizing his superior speed on hand and foot, Taniguchi finely penetrated Ishizawa’s tight peek-a-boo guard with southpaw lefts, right uppercuts and quick combos to the face and the midsection. Especially from the fourth onward, the champ exclusively aimed at the breadbasket to weaken the slower opponent more effectively. His strategy seemed so successful that Ishizawa became slower and less pugnacious than usual. The ninth and tenth saw Taniguchi keep peppering the fading foe nearly at will, though his powder-puff combinations were fast but light enough.

We were just watching an endurance test of Ishizawa as if it was a punishment of his failure to make weight, heavier five pounds than the class limit. Ref Someya made a good stoppage so that we could leave the Hall about a round earlier to start drinking beer.

After the completion of the contest, the loser bowed to the winner in the ring to apologize for his misconduct as a professional. The champ was such a nice guy that he said to Micro Tyson, “You need not apologize any more, now that our fight was over.” He also said, “I know he can punch. So, I was very cautious not to absorb his power punch. My continual body attack was effective, I realized as the fight went on.”

Even though Taniguchi generously game him a pardon, the JBC will very certainly punish Micro Tyson with an indefinite suspension as the Commission once did to Daigo Higa, then the defending WBC flyweight champ who couldn’t make weight against Nicaraguan challenger Cristofer Rosales by a couple of pounds in 2018. Such a vastly talented hard-puncher as Higa pitifully saw his career derailed since thereafter.

The crestfallen loser gloomily said, “Though I committed a severe disgrace to boxing, I appreciated being allowed to fight in the ring. I had no qualification to fight for the world championship. I wish to apologize to all people concerned, and will deeply consider whether or not to fight on.”

Micro Tyson, what you have to do is not call it quits but move up to the 108-pound or 112-pound category. You can punch. You go on.

Former K-1 fighter Yoshiki Takei (4-0, 4 KOs), 121.75, scored a fine stoppage of more experienced Shingo Kawamura (15-9-4, 8 KOs), 122, with a southpaw right hook at 1:22 of the second round in a semi-windup eight. Hard-hitting youngster Jin Sasaki (12-1, 11 KOs), 121.75, finally caught Marcus Smith (7-2-1, 7 KOs), 146.25, and halted him with the referee’s intervention at 2:49 of the fifth round in a scheduled eight.

Promoter: Ohashi Promotions in association with Watanabe Promotions.

Attendance: 1,495 at the Korakuen Hall (now with nor more regulation to the number of attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

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