Introducing Hasegawa Hozumi (videos & GIFs)

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The bantamweight world champion, Hasegawa Hozumi is pretty damn popular in Japan and producing some stunning performances lately in the professional ring. Yet the fighter who's now appearing on certain experts top10 lists, is pretty much unknown outside of his home country. Hozumi obviously fights in front of his packed crowds for a fat paycheck rather than traveling abroad to put the WBC BW belt on the line he picked up in 2005, beating Thai legend Veeraphol Sahaprom. But with the BW and SBW division getting extra attention in the US (Agbeko, Montiel, Darchinyan, Morel, Penalosa, Mares, Perez, Poonsawat, Nishioka, Vazquez, Marquez, Caballero, Lopez and Rigondeaux all having appearences on TV recently or in the near future with Donaire possibly joining the mix), it's time to introduce Hasegawa, quite possibly the best of the bunch.

The sooner US networks realise the possible excitement Hozumi could bring the better for their shows and ratings, because Hasegawa is the complete package for quality TV entertainment: very good skills, great handspeed, quick, slick style, two handed knockout power, combination punching and the willingness to go for the KO. At 29, with 10 successful world title defenses and only 2 losses at the very young start of his career, now it's time to do bigger things, meaning a unification or fighting one of the SBW champs. Now the biggest problem is that Japanese boxing only recognizes the WBA and WBC titles, so if we are talking unification or a higher class champ, the following beltholders are in the mix: Moreno, Cermeno, Poonsawat and Nishioka. Obviously, Hozumi fighting any of them would be awesome. My bet is on the Nishioka fight in 6 months. If not the Japanese superfight, it'd be an excellent idea to step out of the comfort zone and make a name for himself in the US. He's awesome to watch.

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A few knockout GIFs, shall we?

Vs. Gerardo Martinez, 2005

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vs. Veeraphol Sahaprom, 2006

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vs. Cristian Faccio, 2008

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Vs. Vusi Malinga, 2008

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vs. Nestor Rocha, 2009

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vs. Alvero Perez, 2009

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KOs of the last 18 months on YT:

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