Yabuki stops Nontshinga to become 2-time world champion!
For the second time in his career heavy handed Japanese Light Flyweight Masamichi Yabuki (17-4, 16) [佐藤政道] gets to call himself a world champion, after surgically breaking down tough South African Sivenathi Nontshinga (13-2, 10) to claim the IBF Light Flyweight title.
The fight was anticipated to be a war. Both men are known for being highly skilled fighters, but ones who can become a bit wild, a bit frustrated and a bit willing to fight on desire, and emotion, just as much as skills. Surprisingly however we really never saw that emotion from either, in what was, essentially a technically solid fight, where one guy just seemed to have more than the other, and chipped away at him.
From the off Yabuki fought behind his stiff, ram rod jab. The early battle of jabs was entertaining, but seemed as if one had brought a pistol to the fight and the other a shot gun, with Yabuki’s jabs getting through the high guard of Nontshinga and being really telling, whilst Nontshinga’s jabs really didn’t seem to have much of an effect. In round 2 we saw Nontshinga really feel the power of Yabuki, early on but recover well, showing his power of recovery as again saw what was mostly a battle of strong jabs. In round 3 we saw both men have a single eye catching solid moment, for the South African it was a body shot, whilst Yabuki landed a nasty left uppercutt followed by a short burst of shots.
As the rounds went on the jab of Yabuki continued to be the telling shots, as Nontshinga began to be broken down round by round, shaking off some good right hands but feeling some body shots, which began to force his guard down. As the guard began to drop Yabuki managed to find a hole for his right hands up top, rocking Nontshinga late in rounds 4 and 5, taking the play away from Nontshinga who had had moments with his own jab. Nontshinga ended round 6 in trouble as Yabuki unloaded with both hands and it seemed that those shots left an impression on Nontshinga who seemed to be cautious of Yabuki’s power.
Yabuki’s finally had a major breakthrough at the end of round 8 as a right hand hurt Nontshinga, who turned away and took a knee. He was in agony, but beat the count just before the bell went, giving him an extra minute to recover. Had it been earlier in the round the bout likely would have been stopped as soon as the action resumed, as he was in real trouble. The knockdown secured Yabuki a 10-8 round, but didn’t finish the bout off, that would come a round later,
Nontshinga tried to show he still had fight left in him, but within seconds he was made to pay for his ambition, being rocked. A follow up dropped Nontshinga, who was bleeding from the left eye. He beat the count again, showed his heart and determination, but the fight had been beaten out of him, as he was again rocked, and dropped and the referee stepped in, bringing a close to the action, to give Yabuki his second world title win.
The fight was anticipated to be a war. Both men are known for being highly skilled fighters, but ones who can become a bit wild, a bit frustrated and a bit willing to fight on desire, and emotion, just as much as skills. Surprisingly however we really never saw that emotion from either, in what was, essentially a technically solid fight, where one guy just seemed to have more than the other, and chipped away at him.
From the off Yabuki fought behind his stiff, ram rod jab. The early battle of jabs was entertaining, but seemed as if one had brought a pistol to the fight and the other a shot gun, with Yabuki’s jabs getting through the high guard of Nontshinga and being really telling, whilst Nontshinga’s jabs really didn’t seem to have much of an effect. In round 2 we saw Nontshinga really feel the power of Yabuki, early on but recover well, showing his power of recovery as again saw what was mostly a battle of strong jabs. In round 3 we saw both men have a single eye catching solid moment, for the South African it was a body shot, whilst Yabuki landed a nasty left uppercutt followed by a short burst of shots.
As the rounds went on the jab of Yabuki continued to be the telling shots, as Nontshinga began to be broken down round by round, shaking off some good right hands but feeling some body shots, which began to force his guard down. As the guard began to drop Yabuki managed to find a hole for his right hands up top, rocking Nontshinga late in rounds 4 and 5, taking the play away from Nontshinga who had had moments with his own jab. Nontshinga ended round 6 in trouble as Yabuki unloaded with both hands and it seemed that those shots left an impression on Nontshinga who seemed to be cautious of Yabuki’s power.
Yabuki’s finally had a major breakthrough at the end of round 8 as a right hand hurt Nontshinga, who turned away and took a knee. He was in agony, but beat the count just before the bell went, giving him an extra minute to recover. Had it been earlier in the round the bout likely would have been stopped as soon as the action resumed, as he was in real trouble. The knockdown secured Yabuki a 10-8 round, but didn’t finish the bout off, that would come a round later,
Nontshinga tried to show he still had fight left in him, but within seconds he was made to pay for his ambition, being rocked. A follow up dropped Nontshinga, who was bleeding from the left eye. He beat the count again, showed his heart and determination, but the fight had been beaten out of him, as he was again rocked, and dropped and the referee stepped in, bringing a close to the action, to give Yabuki his second world title win.