Japanese Bantamweight title remains vacant after Sawada and Sadatsune clash
Earlier today at Korakuen Hall fight fans got the latest Dangan card and it was one that was mostly easy to over-look, though did have 2 bouts worthy of attention on it, including a Japanese title bout.
Befoore we talk about that title fight we'll talk about the chief support bout, which was a pretty notable an interesting contest, and a step up in class for an unbeaten prospect.
That chief support contest saw Mikio Sakai (4-0) [酒井 幹生] over-come a game effort by veteran Koshinmaru Saito (24-11-2, 13) [斉藤伸介]. The talented, but very light punching Sakai was made to work for this win. Early on he was bust up around the nose and forced to take the power of Saito, who left him with blood across his face and in a bit of a hole. To his credit however Sakai gritted his teeth and took the fight to Saito, applying constant, intelligent pressure and running up the rounds using his clean sharp shots and youthful movement and speed to pick Saito apart.
Later in the bout Saito began to dig deep, trying to rough up Sakai whilst the bout was seemingly slipping away from the veteran. He tried, and to his credit he really did put in a real shift in the final rounds, but it was too little too late to steal the play away, and over-turn Sakai's momentum.
After 8 rounds the early troubles of Sakai were easily forgotten as a tired Saito just about made it to the final bell, despite being blooded himself as a result of Sakai's consistent clean head shots.
With the bout going the distance we went to the scorecards which all favoured Sakai 77-75 giving him the win, but one he genuinely had to earn.
We then moved on to the main event, and it turned out to be a really unfortunate and disappiinting one as Kyosuke Sawada (14-2-2, 6) [澤田京介] and Ikuro Sadatsune (11-4-4, 4) [定常 育郎] fought for the "cursed", and vacant, Japanese Bantamweight title.
The first round was a messy one at times as both men tried to figure the other out. Both had moments, but the Righty Vs Lefty dynamic made for some ugly moments. The little bit of real quality however came from Sawada who managed to drop Sadatsune with a perfectly timed straight left right hook combination may way through the round. Following the knockdown Sadatsune did seem to remain buzzed for quite some time, but Sawada couldn't see him off before the bell rung to end the round.
Sadly just seconds into round 2 a huge clash of heads left both men a bloodied mess. Both fighters ended up getting inspected by the doctor, and the doctor quickly decided that the bout shouldn't continue.
To begin with it looked like Sadatsune, who went down in the corner, had got the worse of it, but in reality both men were looking like they had done a Ric Flair blade job as claret flowed freely from both fighters.
Due to the cuts the bout was ruled a 2nd round technical draw, leaving the title vacant and both men disappointed.
Befoore we talk about that title fight we'll talk about the chief support bout, which was a pretty notable an interesting contest, and a step up in class for an unbeaten prospect.
That chief support contest saw Mikio Sakai (4-0) [酒井 幹生] over-come a game effort by veteran Koshinmaru Saito (24-11-2, 13) [斉藤伸介]. The talented, but very light punching Sakai was made to work for this win. Early on he was bust up around the nose and forced to take the power of Saito, who left him with blood across his face and in a bit of a hole. To his credit however Sakai gritted his teeth and took the fight to Saito, applying constant, intelligent pressure and running up the rounds using his clean sharp shots and youthful movement and speed to pick Saito apart.
Later in the bout Saito began to dig deep, trying to rough up Sakai whilst the bout was seemingly slipping away from the veteran. He tried, and to his credit he really did put in a real shift in the final rounds, but it was too little too late to steal the play away, and over-turn Sakai's momentum.
After 8 rounds the early troubles of Sakai were easily forgotten as a tired Saito just about made it to the final bell, despite being blooded himself as a result of Sakai's consistent clean head shots.
With the bout going the distance we went to the scorecards which all favoured Sakai 77-75 giving him the win, but one he genuinely had to earn.
We then moved on to the main event, and it turned out to be a really unfortunate and disappiinting one as Kyosuke Sawada (14-2-2, 6) [澤田京介] and Ikuro Sadatsune (11-4-4, 4) [定常 育郎] fought for the "cursed", and vacant, Japanese Bantamweight title.
The first round was a messy one at times as both men tried to figure the other out. Both had moments, but the Righty Vs Lefty dynamic made for some ugly moments. The little bit of real quality however came from Sawada who managed to drop Sadatsune with a perfectly timed straight left right hook combination may way through the round. Following the knockdown Sadatsune did seem to remain buzzed for quite some time, but Sawada couldn't see him off before the bell rung to end the round.
Sadly just seconds into round 2 a huge clash of heads left both men a bloodied mess. Both fighters ended up getting inspected by the doctor, and the doctor quickly decided that the bout shouldn't continue.
To begin with it looked like Sadatsune, who went down in the corner, had got the worse of it, but in reality both men were looking like they had done a Ric Flair blade job as claret flowed freely from both fighters.
Due to the cuts the bout was ruled a 2nd round technical draw, leaving the title vacant and both men disappointed.