This is an excellent fight between two young Japanese Super Lightweights. Both are big punchers and no matter the outcome of this bout will likely have good careers. Hiraoka is a bit more seasoned and technically a little better in my opinion but does give up the raw power advantage. Jin Sasaki doesn’t have much patience and forces his way to knockout victories which led to him being dropped in his last fight. He was able to then stop his opponent but he was on the verge of getting stopped himself, partly due to his reckless style.
Jin Sasaki
Going into this bout I favoured Sasaki to win by knockout because I think in a battle of explosive punchers it’s likely his power would lead him to victory but he badly missed weight for this fight. This in my eyes brings into question how drained he might be from trying to make weight or simply how hard hes actually trained for this fight. I now think Hiraoka will be able to survive an early onslaught before stopping the tiring Sasaki in the latter rounds. The winner of this fight will pick up both the Japanese and WBO Asia Pacific Super lightweight titles.
Emanuel Navarrete successfully made the second defence of his WBO featherweight world title by beating Joet Gonzalez on points after a hard fight. The judges gave in cards of 118-110, 116-112 and 116-112, I thought these cards fairly represented the fight.
Navarrete and Gonzalez got off to a fast start and kept that pace up until the final bell with the two actually throwing more punches in the 12th than any other round. Joet Gonzalez would have flashes of success with right hands but every time he did Navarrete would throw back in three or four punch combinations and simply outworked Gonzalez.
Gonzalez seemed to hurt Navarrete once or twice with shots in the 4th but the champion rebounded well and went to work with his unique combinations. Gonzalez showed tremendous heart to stay in the fight as Navarrete landed huge punches on him throughout and most fighters in his position would have taken a knee or been stopped. Navarrete also showed real grit as Gonzalez brought the fight to him for twelve rounds and stuck around even after Navarrete landed his best punches on him. A lot of fighters would have got discouraged after seeing their opponent take their best punches but Navarrete bit down on his gum shield and went to battle round after round.
At the end of the fight Navarrete had clearly outworked Gonzalez and had also landed the more significant punches. He took a deserved decision while Gonzalez improved his stock in defeat due to the performance he put in. Gonzalez will likely need a fair amount of time off as he took a lot of punches and his face was cut and badly swollen.
I thought the commentary was favorable to Gonzalez as they gave him credit for landing one or two punches a round and regularly said Navarrete was hitting gloves or arms, something Joet Gonzalez’s bruised face would disagree with. It was a competitive fight but not necessarily in rounds won and a 10-2 scoreline is more than acceptable.
Emanuel Navarrete is now 9-0 in title fights with three of those being at featherweight. He’s stated he wants the big fights next and I agree that this should be the next step in his career. At Super Bantamweight he couldn’t get a unification due to promotional politics and also struggled to get good opponents but made up for that by being active, making five title defences in under a year. At Featherweight his competition has got better as he beat former amateur standout Ruben Villa to win the world title and then defended it twice versus top 15 contenders Christopher Diaz and Joet Gonzalez. Looking through the top 15 of the WBO is a grim site as either Navarrete has already beaten them or they wouldn’t be competitive fights in the slightest. Mark Magsayo is ranked number two and would be a fun fight but hes unfortunately going down the WBC route, with a fight between him and the champion Gary Russel Jr happening sometime in the coming months. Mauricio Lara is ranked 8th but sustained a terrible cut in his last fight so won’t be available until the middle of next year, this is unfortunate as a fight between the two would have been an all out war.
Navarrete drops Ruben Villa en-route to winning his second world title
Outside of those two names I don’t believe anybody in the top 15 gives Navarrete a hard fight which means getting a unification fight is important. The unification with the WBC isn’t likely to happen due to a mandatory being called and the WBA has the same problem. The WBA is currently working their way towards only having one champion in the division which means lots of ordered mandatory fights and no unification’s. This leaves the IBF belt which is currently held by Kid Galahad , a skilled technician from the UK who only recently won the title. Galahad is making a defence in November versus Kiko Martinez who seemingly has been around forever. It’s not a terrible first defence but it’s also one I see Galahad winning convincingly which should then open him up to be available for unification’s.
A fight between Navarrete and Galahad would be great and would also be a much needed unification. Unfortunately I’d be a little surprised if the fight happened as commercially I imagine Galahad has about the same value or even less as Navarrete’s last two opponents and so Arum may not want to pay for the fight. With Galahad also making a voluntary defence next it wouldn’t surprise me if the IBF ordered him to fight a mandatory especially as he won a vacant title. The final reason is that Eddie Hearn, his promoter, may not want to risk Galahad in a hard fight in America when he could make big fights in the UK which is something which has been happening with this IBF title for years now. The title has been in British hands since 2015 and only one non-Brit has challenged for the belt since 2017. I do hold some hope that this fight will happen simply due to neither having a vast variety of good opponents to face in the immediate future.
Kid Galahad
If not a fight against Galahad then a move up in weight to super feather could be the next step in Navarrete’s career. Navarrete’s team seemed interested in a fight with Oscar Valdez the WBC super featherweight world champ and were willing to move up in weight early next year to make the fight. This would be a great match up and one that stylistically would be hard for Navarrete as Valdez has the power to make him pay if he falls out of position, something which Navarrete does fairly often though it’s all part of his style. Valdez will likely unify with the winner of Jamel Herring versus Shakur Stevenson but afterwards Navarrete could challenge the winner in a huge fight.
If Navarrete can’t get the big fights next then he can always get back to regularly defending his title, which is still something fight fans want to see due to Navarrete’s exciting style and his willingness to always go for the finish. Navarrete is one of my favorite fighters to watch and is at least in my opinion the best featherweight on the planet, hopefully he can get the big fights to really prove it sooner rather than later.
This should be an interesting fight as it’s a good class of styles between two quality fighters in the light flyweight division. Soto looks to make another defence of his WBO world title while Gonzalez is trying to claim his first world title after falling short in his other attempt.
Soto is a puncher who comes forwards and lets his hands go. He has devastating body shots and is a massive puncher for the weight class. Gonzalez is the opposite and is the boxer of the two who will use his foot work and boxing ability to win fights. Gonzalez has been prone to falling apart in fights hes winning and has seemed particularly vulnerable to body shots in the past.
Jonathan Gonzalez
I think Elwin Soto will lose a few early rounds but will catch up to Gonzalez in the mid rounds and stop him to the body.
This isn’t a great fight but it makes sense as Garcia has been out the ring for a long time and Martin is a fighter who needed a big opportunity. Garcia is one of the best fighters in the sport but has been inactive in recent years. He has a great blend of power and skill. Sandor Martin is a solid boxer who does enough to win but generally relies on his technical skills rather than his power.
Sandor Martin
I think Mikey Garcia might lose the first two rounds but will up the pressure and stop Martin late due to his superior power and skill set.
This is a great fight between two rising fighters in the welterweight division. Santillan is 27-0 but has only reached fringe world level in his last few fights. I thought he lost to Antonio DeMarco more than a year ago but has bounced back with an eight round win recently. Angel Ruiz rebounded back from a knockout loss with a good win over Bobirzhan Mominov.
Santillan is a boxer-puncher with decent skills but is there to be hit and has struggled when stepping up in class. Angel Ruiz is more of a puncher than a boxer and similiarly to Santillan isn’t that hard to hit. Ruiz has a lot of heart and clearly has power which could turn a fight at any point. He’s a little raw but he’s only 24 and only really got experience going rounds in his last fight.
Angel Ruiz
I think this fight will be very competitive especially early on. It’ll really depend on if Ruiz can use his size and power early on to make Santillan respect him or if Santillan can stick to his boxing and win a decision. I personally think Ruiz can catch and stop Santillan but it’s one of those fights I wouldn’t be surprised at any outcome.
This is Navarrete’s second defence of his WBO featherweight world title after winning the title at the end of 2020. He made his first defence versus Christopher Diaz and won in an entertaining fight that ended in the 12th round when Navarrete stopped Diaz.
Joet Gonzalez lost a wide decision to Shakur Stevenson in his first title shot but bounced back with a good win over Miguel Marriagia which earned him a mandatory title shot. Joet Gonzalez is a come forward fighter with solid defence and skills. He’s not great at any one thing but also isn’t bad at any one thing.
Emanuel Navarrete has one of the most unique styles in boxing and is fairly unpredictable. His reach is so long that he lands punches that normally wouldn’t have any chance of landing and is comfortable fighting in a weird rhythm. He has a great left uppercut from range and can both box and brawl when needed. He’s got power and isn’t afraid to let his hands go in five to ten punch combinations.
Joet Gonzalez
I think Emanuel Navarrete’s power will tell over the twelve rounds as he’ll drop Gonzalez once or twice and hurt him in other rounds. Gonzalez will have opportunities to have success but I don’t think he has the power to trouble Navarrete and doesn’t have the technical skills to perform a masterclass and out-box him. When Navarrete is against better competition he normally goes late into the fight so I predict he’ll win a decision after twelve rounds or may potentially get a late stoppage.
This should be a decent fight between two talented fighters near the start of their careers. Martinez was a good amateur who’s made a perfect start to his pro career but hasn’t faced a strong level of opposition yet. Santana had an amateur background himself back in Cuba but not on the level of Martinez. Santana has faced domestic opposition in Russia and Mexico and while he’s won most of his fights he hasn’t exactly shown hes a clear level above his opponents for the most part.
Raiko Santana
I think Lester Martinez will put the pressure on from round one and will get a knockout in round three or four due to being the bigger man with the deeper amateur pedigree and technical skills, Martinez also has a power advantage.
Luis Torres is an exciting lightweight prospect from Mexico. He’s only 19 but is already 12-0 with 8 knockouts. Jose Guevara Palos is a late replacement but is much tougher than his 6-5-1 record suggests.
I think Luis Torres is the bigger puncher and has also had more time to train for this fight while Palos is coming in as a late notice replacement. Palos has generally lost when stepping up and Torres should be a level or two above him.
Torres will win by knockout due to his pressure and power combined with his career momentum.
This is an excellent fight and a very intriguing fight. Efe Ajagba is a massive puncher and a 2016 Olympian while Frank Sanchez was a good Cuban amateur and has good technical skills.
Ajagba can sometimes be accused of shuffling around the ring and using the same two or three punches without much of a backup plan. He’s clearly got fight ending power and even in the land of the giants hes a big one but lacks the boxing skills of Sanchez in my opinion.
Frank Sanchez isn’t as powerful but is one of the more skilled heavyweights in the division right now. I think as long as he can get past Ajagba’s jab he should be able to out-box without to many problems. I’d be surprised if he can’t get past Ajagba’s jab or if Ajagba can use his jab sufficiently over the ten rounds to control Sanchez.
Frank Sanchez
I think Frank Sanchez will likely do enough to win a decision due to his technical boxing but will have to be careful of Ajagba’s power. Ajagba always has the chance to land and knock Sanchez out but I think it’s more likely he loses a decision as he seems very one paced as a fighter to me.
This isn’t a good fight and is hopefully not a sign of things to come for Johnson who is an exciting fighter. Emurlaev recently came back to the sport after a long lay off and hasn’t looked good since coming back. Johnson is a powerful light heavyweight who will either get knocked out or knock his opponents out.
Server Emurlaev
I don’t expect Johnson to struggle here as he’s simply levels above Emurlaev who can compete in the domestic Russian scene but will fall apart quickly when he steps up at this stage of his career. Johnson should win by knockout within five rounds due to his power and explosiveness.
Boxing Fulcrum 