By Paul Lam: Reigning WBA Super Featherweight Champion, Takashi Uchiyama (23-0-1, 19 KOs) makes his traditional New Year’s Eve title defence in his home city of Tokyo, Japan next week against WBA number 6, Oliver Flores (27-1-2, 17 KOs).
Uchiyama is universally recognized as the top super featherweight in the world and is a longstanding belt-holder in that division. Flores, fighting out of Leon, Nicaragua, will be making his first appearance in a world title bout. He has an impressive record with just a single loss in thirty fights, but will be taking a significant step up in class on 31st December.
Japan has a proud boxing history, particularly in the lower weight divisions where today it can boast no fewer than nine reigning world champions. Uchiyama may well be the best out of them.
Since capturing the WBA title by knocking out Juan Carlos Salgado in the final round of their 2010 bout, he has defended it ten times against solid opposition. In his career to date, he is undefeated in twenty-four fights with the lone blemish on his record being a third round technical draw against Michael Farenas in 2012. His accomplishments have landed him in the pound-for-pound debate from time to time, yet he lacks recognition amongst mainstream boxing fans and is virtually unknown in the United States.
Neither, it must be said, is Uchiyama the most accomplished boxer. His speed is average and his defence is leaky at times. What he does possess, as his nickname ‘KO Dynamite’ indicates, is explosive fight-ending power in both hands. This has produced a variety of highlight reel knockouts; the left hook which knocked out Jorge Solis cold, the body shot which left Jaider Parra rolling around the deck as if he’d been tasered and, in his last title defence, the right cross that caused Jomthong Chuwatana to perform a marionette’s dance before collapsing flat on his back to be at one with the canvas. Uchiyama comfortably carries his power to the later rounds when most fighters would be flagging; his title-winning stoppage of Salgado came with only 12 seconds left in the fight. He can knock you out with a single punch, but he can also beat you into submission through an accumulation of punishment. Therefore, what opponents find themselves facing on the night is not the world’s greatest boxer but a relentless and constantly dangerous beast. Herein lies the challenge for them. If you want to box Uchiyama, you had better be prepared to fight the perfect fight for a full twelve rounds. One mistake and you could be waving goodbye to your consciousness. In practice, it’s a near-impossible task.
Flores at the age of twenty-four is the younger man by twelve years and has actually had more professional fights, having entered the paid ranks at the age of only fifteen, though against significantly lower quality opposition. For many boxers from South and Central America, this early start to a professional career is not unusual. It can be a tough and brutal apprenticeship as pubescent boys – sometimes with no amateur experience at all – can find themselves competing against battle-hardened, grown men. One of the super featherweight division’s toughest customers, Orlando Salido, lost six of his first fifteen fights in such circumstances, five of them by knockout. To be thrown into the meat grinder in this manner and emerge intact with the kind of winning record that Flores has built up demonstrates considerable physical and mental fortitude. He will need an abundance of both on 31st December.
It is interesting to note that in spite of the inflated rating given to him by the WBA, Flores has not actually fought at the super featherweight limit since 2012. That was also the last time he faced a remotely decent opponent in Miguel Berchelt, losing by second round knockout. The rest of his record is made up of unspectacular, to put it kindly, opposition. His last two opponents had a combined 38 losses between them. In the fight before last, he won a competitive rough-and-tumble affair against journeyman Moises Castro, who he had previously decisioned twice, with two judges having it as close as 77-75. With a 57% KO percentage, Flores can punch a little, but he’s going to be clearly outgunned against Uchiyama whose KO percentage stands at an intimidating 79%. Uchiyama is a hittable fighter and has been dropped hard in the past by Takashi Miura and Daiki Kaneko. Both are however heavy-handed, double-tough sluggers who weren’t afraid to take punches to land their own. Furthermore, in both cases, Uchiyama was able to recover and pound out the win. Standing in the line of fire against Uchiyama is a crazy strategy, but ironically it is probably Flores’ only realistic path to the most unlikely of victories.
Prediction: At thirty-six years of age, Uchiyama isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. In his last fight against Chuwatana, the finish was as devastating as we’ve ever seen from him. That had figured to be a competitive fight. This, emphatically, does not. As mentioned, boxing Uchiyama is conceivable but easier said than done, and Flores is not even the better boxer by a long stretch. Expect him to be motivated and game for his first title shot, but ultimately outgunned and outclassed. Uchiyama will win by brutal early to mid-rounds KO/TKO.
Hopefully, the next time we see Uchiyama in the ring after this fight it will be against someone who can provide him with a legitimate challenge. He has still never fought outside of Japan during his professional career. Like many of Japan’s best boxers, he makes a comfortable living from fighting at home, but this limits his opportunities to test him to face the cream of the talent available at 130 lbs. At certain points in Uchiyama’s career, showdowns with Adrien Broner or Mikey Garcia would have been compelling contests, but these never materialized and both men subsequently left 130 lbs for good. Although Uchiyama has looked sharp in his last few fights, thirty-six years is still old in boxing, particularly for a lower weight division fighter. In order to secure his place in the pound-for-pound rankings and, by extension, his boxing legacy, Miura needs to seek the most meaningful fights possible while he still can. A unification fight against Francisco Vargas who dethroned former Uchiyama victim Miura in the leading candidate for 2015’s ‘Fight of the Year’ would be an absolute barnburner, as would a rematch with Miura, one of the biggest domestic fights to be made in Japan. Any one of the other title holders at 130 lbs would also make a worthy opponent, as would contenders such as Nicholas Walters, Orlando Salido and Yuriorkis Gamboa should he return to the division. I would favour Uchiyama against all of these opponents though it certainly wouldn’t be easy as it will be for him on New Year’s Eve.
Comments are closed.