At the start of 2017 he had 10 rounds and had been a professional for 8 months At the end of the yeah he's been a professional for 20 rounds win, and defended, the OPBF and IBF minimumweight titles and fought 35 rounds ...anyone match that for career progression in 2017? Insane career for the Watanabe gym fighter
I'll admit that I literally DKSA this kid. Never seen him before, and yet the other day I saw he was a massive betting favorite over Chocorroncito and remember thinking "wtf????"
Me and Takahiro had to behave our selves after he beat Miyazaki (not Ryo) in his third bout. We were both creaming our selves....yet even us didn't expect him to be this far along this quickly. Fighter of the Year ...no ...biggest change from 12 months ago...**** yeah
I had the same reaction when he was named the opponent for Jose Argumedo earlier this year, I DKSA him, and hadn't seen him either, so I looked him up on Asianboxing and found a match of his against a Filipino kid, and I was so impressed with him stylistically that I picked him to beat Argumedo without hesitation, then everyone followed suit on Kirk's thread, figuring I was onto something, (that happens a lot) so they switched over to him as well. I picked him to beat Buitrago by stoppage as well, this kid is the truth and one of the most impressive young fighters Japan has produced since Inoue, he's a beast.
Wanheng would toy with him, showing that typical God-gifted Thai slickness that has fellow countryman Niyomtrong terrified and Floyd completely shook.
He would utterly destroy both Wanheng and UD CP Freshmart, I'd pick him without hesitation against them as well.
See, now his 2017 is way more impressive to me than Melindo's. I'm sorry, I'm just very protective of my dude Yaegashi, and I refuse to believe if he wasn't shot to piece he would even lose to Melindo, period - let alone via KO1 blitz. Subtract that and you have beating Hekkie Budler in a close fight - which puts Melindo in the same company as Juanito Rubillar, Evaristo Primero, Gideon Buthelezi, Jesus Silvestre, Simphiwe Khonco, Byron Rojas etc. Not exactly rarefied airs. Look at Kyoguchi, on the other hand, and that is a BEASTLY year by anyone's standards, let alone for a novice!
Imo- Kyoguchi having great year shouldn't mean we ignore WHAT could have have been had Melindo beaten Taguchi
I agree with IB about Melindo, his win over Yaegashi was a fluke, he caught him at the right time, as far as Budler goes, he's awful and mediocre at best, I don't rate that win very highly either, I'd without hesitation pick Taguchi to have beaten both of them as well, with absolute ease. Not to say Melindo doesn't have grit and heart, but he's just not that good, and managed to get lucky a few times.
Melindo hung pretty well with Estrada; and Mendoza was just all wrong for him in terms of styles match-up (in the way that Yaegashi was probably all wrong for Javier, too. Definite triangulation, there, methinks). But, aside from that, everybody else was handled until he was matched with the younger, and quite underrated Taguchi. Dude's a legit factor at 108lbs. That said, Kyoguchi and Higa have both had monstrous years in 2017, along with Ken Shiro. Quite the promising trio, to be certain.
Coulda, woulda, shoulda, but he didn't. IF he'd have beaten Taguchi, yeah that would have been an impressive win, but IMO didn't come close to it. Also I don't really give him all that much credit for the Budler win, who's not very good, so there was no luck there, most decent to average Minimumweights and Light Flyweights beat him.
Budler's the type of guy who runs everyone close and makes their life miserable, in spite of not being great in any one thing. Classic mind over matter boxer, in the mold of someone like Yaegashi (which I think would have been a great little match).
The thing with Melindo was based on the IF. It was like Amagasa vs Rigondeaux and even Inoue vs Narvaez... WAIT UNTIL THE YEAR IS OVER FFS! What's the point in doing this **** before the Year is over?
