At a time when boxing scoring is under increasing scrutiny, especially in the UK, Graham Houston, chief executive of IBHOF believes that Japan is the fairest place in the world for away boxers, ahead of Gennadiy Golovkin’s clash with Tokyo’s famous Ryota Murata this weekend.
One thing Gennadiy Golovkin won’t have to worry about when he meets Ryota Murata in Japan on Saturday is a decision back home. Over the years, Japan has become a country where the away team’s boxers can guarantee a place on a level playing field. Saturday’s middleweight title fight will be no exception. If the fight goes on for 12 rounds and Golovkin has done enough to win, he will receive a verdict. You can take it to the bank.
We even witnessed a reverse heist when Murata lost the split to Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam of France in May 2017. It was one of the weirdest decisions of the bunch. recent years. Murata defeated N’Dam in the fourth round. There are several instances, possibly three, in memory, when Murata used his right hand to put N’Dam on the rope, and Puerto Rican referee Luis Pabon may have counted eight based on the ropes preventing N’ Talk don’t go down.
Los Angeles judge Raul Caiz Sr gave Murata the win, 117-110, but judges Hubert Earle from Canada and Gustavo Padilla of Panama gave it 116-111 and 115-112 in favor of N’Dam.
To be fair, there were rounds where N’Dam threw a lot of punches while Murata waited for the perfect opening. But I actually watched this twice, and the closest I could get to it was Murata winning 115-112. N’Dam had all the points in this fight – and this ahead of an undefeated Japanese Olympic gold medalist. (In the rematch, Murata made no mistake, overwhelming N’Dam for seven rounds.)
The guests have made the decision many times in championship matches in Japan, and I don’t want to bore you with long lists. But we have seen spring guests go head to head with Japanese boxing stars, such as – going towards – Pascual Perez’s victory over Japan’s first world champion, Yoshiro Shirai, in a flyweight title match in November 1954.
Argentina’s diminutive Perez (just 4ft 11ins) had drawn a draw with Shirai in a non-title match in Buenos Aires four months earlier. At home, defending champion Shirai is expected to make a splash. Things didn’t turn out that way. Perez was, in all respects, too fast, too light, for a much taller champion. It was a unanimous decision, as the Japanese referee decided for Perez the winner with 3 points.
Another disappointment came in February 1968 when Lionel Rose of Australia won a unanimous 15 round win over the great Fighting Harada to claim the bantamweight title. The scorer and the two line judges are both Japanese.
Rose is only 19 years old but has been playing professionally for 4 years. He overcame the aggressive Harada and dropped him in the ninth round. Boxing illustration reports that for most of the fight, Harada was unable to get past Rose’s flexible left and right hand stabs.
A former flyweight champion, Harada won the bantam title by defeating Eder Jofre, Brazil’s greatest boxer, and he defeated Jofre in a rematch. But Harada weighed in at 126 pounds in his last two bouts before meeting Rose, and it’s clearly going to be tough for him to get down to the bantam limit of 118 pounds. (And this was a period when champions always weighed in on title defense, no matter how grueling the process was.)
“The weight gain seems to have taken some of Harada’s strength away,” Boxing illustration reported. “The finished rose is much fresher.”
But even allowing Harada to lose weight by pressing on, it was a monumental victory for Rose, with contemporary reports suggesting that the crowd watched in stunned silence.
Wayne McCullough of Ireland was another title holder in Japan, winning the bantamweight belt with a split decision against Yasuei Yakushiji in July 1995. The Korean referee gave Yakushiji the win by one point but two referees. The United States made McCullough win with three and eight. respective points.
The battle is covered by Sports sky in the UK, with Ian Darke and Glenn McCrory commenting (from the London studio, I believe). Darke described it as a “mountain mission” and a “very, very high mission” for McCullough as the showdown progressed.
It was a competitive contest, with Glenn McCrory in the ninth round noting the swinging action from side to side: “McCullough had a good mix, and then Yakushiji fought back and He’s on top again.”
Out in the final round, McCrory and Darke each led McCullough by three points. But McCrory added warning that “a lot of rounds were very close”.
The match is fast paced and action packed. McCullough is, as always, busy, hands free, and sometimes he swings beautifully. But Yakushiji was right there, and he had a great 11th round when he kicked a weary McCullough with his right hand.
McCullough suffered a cut to his right eye in the final lap but he boxed and moved, clearly believing he was in the lead. Yakushiji landed with one of his best right-handers in the final match.
At the final bell, each man raised his hands overhead, but McCullough’s body language was more persuasive. The umpires gave Yakushiji the final two sweeps, but McCullough did enough.
Is there anything you might call a “bad” decision in a mind game involving a visitor to Japan? Honestly, I can’t think of anything but, perhaps, Koki Kameda appearing to produce a split decisive win over Venezuela’s Juan Jose Landaeta in an all-men’s match for the division title. The WBA lightweight was vacated in August 2006. The Korean and French judges gave Kameda the win, while Gustavo Padilla of Panama considered 115-112 in favor of Landaeta. (I had that 114-113 to support Landaeta.)
The two most decisive rounds of the fight were round 1 and round 11. Landaeta beat Kameda with a right hook at the end of the first round. Kameda stood and the bell rang after referee Stanley Christodoulou completed the mandatory eight count. In the 11th half, Landaeta staggered Kameda with his free kick.
However, many rounds of competition took place fiercely. Every man scores points for bodybuilding and head. By far the toughest challenge of his career, 19-year-old Kameda showed he can withstand adversity, even performing the “Go on!” gesture with Landaeta in the harsh ninth round.
In the return match six months later, Kameda left no doubt, winning 12 innings uniformly even though he had a point deducted in the final round for a boring header. It seemed to me that Kameda had clearly beaten Landaeta in the rematch. Judges Stanley Christodoulou (South Africa) and Raul Caiz Jr (USA) let Kameda take the lead, 119-108 and 116-111 respectively; UK judge Terry O’Connor has the closest result, 115-113 in favor of Kameda.
Main photo: Lionel Rose (left) beat Fighting Harada (right) in February 1968. Photo: World Boxing Council.
