Japanese Scene: Champion Carnival 2010

The Boxing Bulletin welcomes Sidney Boquiren of RingwalkNippon to our writing team.  Sidney will be covering the Japanese boxing scene for us and he leads off today with a story on Japan's annual boxing event, the Champion Carnival.  This year's carnival has match-ups featuring a number of promising fighters including Ryol Li Lee, Go Onaga, Ryo Miyazaki and Yoshihiro Kamegai.

Showtime's Super Six Super Middleweight tournament has garnered much acclaim for bringing together some of the best pugilists in the division and matching them together in competitive and compelling fights. While the exposure and fanfare that the Super Six has garnered is much deserved, tournament-style competitions are hardly new to professional boxing.

The popular Prizefighter series in the UK has had 9 tournaments since its inception in April 2008, and of course there was Don King's Middleweight tournament in 2001 that saw Bernard Hopkins upset Felix Trinidad and become the undisputed champion of the division.

Japan has had a tournament ANNUALLY since 1986 that takes boxers with A-class licenses, typically fighters that are ranked by the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC), and crowns a winner after two to three single-elimination bouts (see below for an explanation of the A-class license).

As of 2008, the winner of the tournament, now known as "The Strongest Korakuen: tournament to challenge for the Japanese title," is given priority to a title bout with the Japanese champion in the similarly annual Champion Carnival. The 2010 edition of the carnival begins today (Japanese Standard Time - Saturday, February 6).

The Champion Carnival actually has a history longer than the A-class tournament, extending back to 1977 when the inaugural event was held in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the JBC. Today's version of the carnival matches the national champion with a high-ranking contender - usually the winner of the Korakuen tournament, a fighter with a world ranking, or the highest possible JBC rated pugilist available. In effect, the champion is forced to defend his title against formidable competition.

Granted, the Korakuen tournament and Champion Carnival system is not flawless. The tournament did not take place in 1995 and 2003 (for reasons I have not been able to track yet). If a high ranked contender wants to avoid putting his rating at risk, he might simply choose not to participate in the tournament. A champion could vacate his title before the carnival if he has plans beyond the national level and would rather forego another domestic bout, or if he plainly does not want to face the new challenger.

You also will not see Japan's elite boxers in either event, as participation of a fighter with a respectable world ranking is rare. The wikipedia entry for the Champion Carnival highlights former two-weight world champion Takanori Hatakeyama's inclusion in the 1998 event as a rare exception. Hatakeyama was already a former OPBF champion and world title challenger before he met (and defeated) Koji Arizawa for the Japanese title.

What you can see in these events are future world champions and contenders in the making. Two-time Super Flyweight title holder Masamori Tokuyama, two-time WBA Minimumweight champion Yutaka Niida, former WBC Super Flyweight champ Katsushige Kawashima, and current WBA Super Flyweight belt holder Nobuo Nashiro all made their first attempt at a national title during the Carnival.

This year's edition features several fresh faces that could have an impact on the world level in the near future.

Ryol Li Lee, a technical boxer with decent defensive skills and heavy hands, was one of Ring Magazine's top ten Featherweights until Juan Manuel Lopez decided to move up in weight recently.

Super Flyweight Go Onaga, a slick southpaw who is quick and shows great handspeed, looked spectacular in his last fight on the Salgado/Uchiyama WBA Super Featherweight title fight undercard.

The 108lb champion, Ryo Miyazaki, is an exciting undefeated boxer-puncher who trains with phenom Kazuto Ioka at Ioka Gym.

Junior Welterweight Yoshihiro Kamegai, fighting out of Japanese powerhouse Teiken Gym, is a former amateur champion and also sports a perfect pro record, knocking out 12 of his 14 opponents in the process.

As Andre Ward has succeeded in establishing a place near the top of the 168lb division and gaining the respect of boxing media and enthusiasts through his performance in the Super Six, the Korakuen tournament and Champion Carnival combine to provide a system with which a Japanese boxer can achieve similar results domestically. Success in the carnival obviously culminates in winning (or defending) the national title, but may also factor into attaining a world ranking or better positioning for the regional OPBF crown, and clearly brings a good deal of publicity to build up a fan following.

This year's carnival starts with the Featherweight and Super Featherweight bouts later today, and is scheduled to end in May with the Minimumweight and Super Flyweight title matches. Results of the carnival will be posted here. Let's hope that this year's event will be a launch pad to more visible and significant fights for a few exciting prospects.

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This year's match-ups are as follows:
(champion, if present, listed first; record + world/JBC ranking also shown)

Minimumweight

May 1
Akira Yaegashi (12-2, 7KO; WBA#12, WBC#14)
vs.
Kosuke Takeichi (10-1-1, 4KO; JBC#1)

Light Flyweight

February 21
Ryo Miyazaki (10-0-2, 5KO; WBA#11, WBC#10)
vs.
Suguru Takizawa (19-1, 8KO; JBC#1)

Flyweight

February 8
Tomonobu Shimizu (15-3-1, 6KO; WBC#6)
vs.
Takayasu Kobayashi (15-2-2, 2KO; WBA#10)

Super Flyweight (interim title, champion is currently out with injury)

May 1
Go Onaga (15-0-1, 11KO; WBC#13)
vs.
Yota Sato (17-2-1, 9KO; JBC#1)

Bantamweight (title vacant)

March 3
Mikio Yasuda (15-4-2, 12KO; WBC#10)
vs.
Takuro Kodama (21-6-5, 15KO; JBC#1)

Super Bantamweight

April 12
Masaaki Serie (15-4, 6KO)
vs.
Kyohei Tamakoshi (25-5-6, 10KO; JBC#1)

Featherweight (title vacant)

February 6
Ryol Li Lee (14-1-1, 8KO; WBA#14)
vs.
Kazunori Takayama (17-5-4, 4KO; JBC#1)

Super Featherweight

February 6
Takashi Miura (17-1-2, 14KO; WBA#12, WBC#12)
vs.
Seiichi Okada (10-0, 6KO; JBC#1)

Lightweight

April 22
Akihiro Kondo (13-1, 6KO; WBA#8)
vs.
Nihito Arakawa (16-1-1, 11KO; JBC#1)

Super Lightweight

April 12
Yosukezan Onodera (20-1-1, 8KO; WBA#15)
vs.
Yoshihiro Kamegai (14-0, 12KO; JBC#1)

Welterweight

April 3
Daisuke Nakagawa (15-2-1, 11KO)
vs.
Yo Inoue (15-1-1, 10KO; JBC#1)

Super Welterweight

March 25
Akio Shibata (13-5-1, 7KO)
vs.
Charlie Ohta (12-1-1, 9KO; JBC#1)

Middleweight

February 20
Tetsuya Suzuki (23-8, 15KO)
vs.
Norifumi Suzuki (16-2-1, 14KO; JBC#1)

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(Note: Pro boxer licenses in Japan are issued by the JBC. A boxer must attain an A-class license in order to compete in bouts that are 8 or more rounds. One requirement for the A-class license is that the fighter must have at least 2 wins in fights that were scheduled for 6 rounds.)

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Check out Sidney's blog: RingwalkNippon