According to Asian boxing, for those who don't know Uchiyama, he was the WBA Super Featherweight champion from 2010 to 2016, he made 11 defenses of his title against good fighters like Takashi Miura, Jorge Solis, Daiki Kaneko, Bryan Vasquez and the man who he won the title, Juan Carlos Salgado. This content is protected This content is protected He a tribute to the KO Dynamite! 内山 高志
Uh.... Corrales was the guy that stepped up. He was just better than people realized he was.... or you can look at it this way... he landed a lucky punch on an old fighter in the twilight of his career, and barely beat him in the rematch.
Actually if you follow the weight class you know his resume was pretty damn good. He beat: Skinny H in just his eighth pro bout, Solis, Miura, Kaneko, unbeaten Salgado, unbeaten Vásquez and unbeaten Jomthong. In between yes there was some filler, some outer-fringe contenders, some guys with padded record empty zeroes, etc but those seven victories alone make his resume beyond reproach as "poor".
As with many fighters who aren't on US TV, good opponents are derided by those that simply don't know any better. Farewell KO Dynamite (well hopefully not, he's great TV Tokyo as media figure head in their boxing broadcasts). The Watanabe gym had a nightmare 2016, with him and Kono losing their titles, but what a 2016 they've had, likely inspired by Uchiyama's success. They've had guys like Kuga and Funai claim Japanese titles, Arakawa claim WBO AP success, Goto claim OPBF title success and Kyoguchi claim OPBF and IBF titles. Hopefully Uchiyama stays around the gym as a mentor to the likes of Kyoguchi and Kuga
Miura and Salgado are good wins. Especially Salgado, Uchiyama beat him when he was undefeated and coming off a TKO victory over Jorge Linares.
Truly one of the best of our generation.In his prime was a top p4p boxer.His style was such a beauty to watch.He will be missed and a future Hall of Famer.
Was the top of the division for a long time. Crazy power. I will definitely revisit his past fights in the near future.
