Japanese Scene: Courageous Serie Stops Nagai, Tunacao Tops Honda, Plus News & Notes...

Sidney Boquiren recaps the latest boxing action from Japan.  For more Japanese boxing updates, you can follow Sidney on twitter: RingwalkNippon@Twitter

Courageous Serie overcomes torn ligament to defend super bantam title

The second half of 2010 has been rough on boxing fans as anticipated fights have seemingly fallen by the wayside one after the other, either via delay or cancelled outright. Ward/Dirrell, Kessler/Green, and the return of Kelly Pavlik have all been scratched while Froch/Abraham, Lopez/Marquez and other bouts have had to be rescheduled. Certainly some of those examples are understandable. A loss at this juncture for guys like Marquez and Pavlik would be tremendous setbacks, and wanting to come into the ring at peak condition is warranted. Others, like Dirrell and Kessler, could have endangered the future of their careers in the ring had they gone on with the scheduled appearance and worsened their injuries (or at least, that’s what their handlers would like followers of the sport to believe).

Cancellation or postponement could have been the case with Tuesday’s main event at Korakuen Hall as well, as national super bantamweight beltholder Masaaki Serie had partially torn the medial collateral ligament (MCL) of his left knee in sparring just last week. While this type of injury is not as devastating as tearing one’s ACL, the damage was severe enough that the 27-year had difficulty getting up and down a flight of stairs. A 10-round fight, to a rational human being, would be out of the question, as lateral mobility would be greatly reduced and planting on the lead foot would be nearly impossible for the full 30 minutes.

However, the titleholder, who owns the #10 spot in the Ring Magazine ratings, decided he could not withdraw from the fight and proceeded to enter the ring with the bum wheel. Serie had been sparring partners with the man who would attempt to take his crown, former rookie champion Yuta Nagai, and the camaraderie developed from that experience was too important to the beltholder. Feeling it was his duty to go through with the defense as Nagai had put in a full camp and was depending on the opportunity, the champ made his best attempt to mask the injury and the pain that accompanied regular movement.

Serie, trying his best to hide the fact that his knee was severely injured, puts on a performance before taking the ring.

An elaborate entrance, included prancing, stomping and a flashy shadow boxing routine, staged by Serie as he made his way into the ring could not detract observers from the sight of heavy bandaging around the knee. Though he initially tried to come out quickly as the opening gong sounded, he fell back into counter-punching mode as the speedier Nagai began testing the champ’s mobility. Clearly the more powerful of the two combatants, Serie scored with a left hook then a right hand over the challenger’s guard and a right to the body. While the fighters would fall into exchanging at close proximity, which would seem to work to the champ’s advantage, he would need to tie up often, as he was unable to pivot with the lead left leg. Still, Serie finished the period strong, finding home with a left uppercut and overhand right.

In his post-fight interview, the titleholder admitted that by the start of the second, he not only felt that the challenger was well aware of the problem with his knee, but also could not put any power into the injured leg. As a result, Serie would make a tactical decision to focus on attacking from mid-range, a strategy that would pay off as the punch that he could throw repeatedly without depending on the left knee too much was the overhand right. The champ would land that punch so frequently it was uncanny.

From the second round, Serie would repeatedly score with overhand rights. The punch would be the key to victory for the 27-year old.

Though Nagai would attempt to work Serie’s body to weaken him further, he never really could figure out the champ’s awkward body movement, making him an open target for the right. Over and over again, Serie would connect with the overhand bomb.

The third was more of the same with the defending strapholder dominating offensively, scoring with a hard left hook followed by a right in the opening minute. Mixing in jabs, uppercuts, and left hooks, Serie had his opponent frustrated by his inability to produce any momentum.

However, Nagai seemed to have quite a following behind him in the stands, and their cheering may have influenced the judges’ decision for the fourth stanza. As the champ was prone to falling off balance, a couple of punches in that round, in addition to some body contact, gave the impression to fans that Serie had been buzzed by the challenger. Continuing to mainly target the body, Nagai did indeed score with a few blows, but the titleholder was never in any real trouble.

 The make-shift brace of taping on Serie's knee.  The champ will have to sit out three to four weeks to allow the knee to heal.

Looking to prove that he was still dominating the fight, Serie returned to the overhand right in the fifth, tagging the challenger with at least four in a row before switching to a different punch. A couple of lead rights were followed by a clean left hook. Had the champ been at full strength, Nagai certainly would have tasted the canvas by this point as Serie was extremely accurate with his power punches.

Ring Magazine’s #10 super bantamweight posing with fans as his toughest fan watches in the foreground.

Then, after five more right hands met the target, the last one opened a cut over the challenger’s left eye. It would be a blessing to the hobbling champion as the ringside doctor would pronounce at 2:23 of the round that Nagai would not be allowed to continue.

Understandably, an emotional Serie broke down in his corner when the stoppage was made official. Not only had he survived the ordeal without further damaging the knee, but he defended his crown against a respected veteran and friend. With the victory, the champ, who is on the short list of potential challengers for Ryol Li Lee’s WBA trinket, tallied his 13th straight victory, improving to 18-4 with 8KO overall.

Tunacao halts Honda in a battle of southpaw veterans

Former 112lb world champ Malcolm Tunacao continues to enjoy a late career rejuvenation as he successfully defended his regional OPBF bantamweight crown for the second time in Kobe on Tuesday. Squaring off with a faded Hidenobu Honda in a match-up of southpaw veterans, the Japan-based Filipino took command of the contest from the opening gong and finished it in the fifth, when the referee stepped in at the 1:28 mark as Tunacao had the challenger in trouble along the ropes. With the win, the soon-to-be 32-year old improved to 27-2-3, 16KO.

While it is rather hard to see either man become a major factor in the division, the showdown appeared to have the makings of an intriguing chess match as both men are known as technical boxers. Tunacao’s ring moniker is "Eagle Eye," while his counterpart is known domestically as a "defensive master." According to Nikkan Sports, the Filipino was able to find the mark with his jab and right hook from the early rounds and took a lead on the scorecards after four. The right hand was key, it seems, and Tunacao would set up the fight-ending flurry of blows when he rocked Honda with a hook.

The Filipino lefty, a former sparring partner for Hozumi Hasegawa, has had somewhat of a rebirth since joining the former 118lb champ at Shinsei Gym in January of this year. While he looked rusty in squeaking out a split decision in February to win the regional strap, Tunacao was very good in his first defense four months ago. The southpaw made a strong case for contender status by earning a unanimous decision in a rematch with highly rated and undefeated prospect Kohei Oba.

More boxing news & notes...

• Daiki Kameda has confirmed that he will continue to campaign at flyweight for at least one more fight and is planning to make an appearance in the ring before the end of the year. Though the 21-year old has made it very public that it is difficult for him to get down to the 112-pound limit, Kameda will attempt to make the second defense of his WBA strap in an event featuring all three of the brothers in action. With the Panamanian organization holding their convention later this month, Kameda may be forced to take a mandatory defense against interim beltholder Luis Concepcion.
• It was announced last week that two-time world title challenger Hiroyuki Hisataka (19-9-1, 8KO) will get a third shot at a crown as he has been tabbed as the next challenger for WBA super flyweight champ Hugo Cazares. The 25-year old Osaka native fell short in both of his previous attempts, losing to Takefumi Sakata in 2008 by UD and dropping a split decision to Denkaosan Kaovichit in May last year. Hisataka scored an unexpected upset this May by stopping hyped Thai prospect Panomroonglek Kratingdaenggym (now known as Panomroonglek Kaiyarn-Hadaogym) in eight frames. Cazares-Hisataka is being planned for late December and may be a part of a double-header with Omar Nino vs. Kazuto Ioka, should that fight come to fruition.
• Daisuke Naito’s gymmate Takuya Kogawa (17-1, 10KO) claimed the vacant OPBF 115lb title last week with a technical decision over Danilo Pena (22-8-2, 10KO). In an apparently tough contest with action going both ways, Kogawa managed to score a knockdown in the third with a right. Pena would suffer a gash over his right eye after an accidental clash of heads in the following stanza, and the fight would be stopped in the middle of round six as the bleeding worsened. Scores were 59-54, 57-56, and 59-55 all for the local fighter.
• Former interim junior middleweight champion Nobuhiro Ishida told media Wednesday that he will continue his career. The 35-year old lost a split decision to Rigoberto Alvarez last month in a box off for the regular WBA title. As the fight ended with controversy in regards to the scores, and as there seems to be tension between the veteran and his promotional team, Ishida had remained mum on the issue since returning from Mexico.

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