OPBF light welterweight title fight, underway and one third of the way over already now. https://boxingraise.com/livestream/ Naito the southpaw champ doing some very slick and stylish work moving laterally and locating the right jab, and up on all three judges' cards 40-36 per open scoring, but Chavez determined and dangerous with his stra right right, coming heartbreakingly close several times.
Jheritz is hilarious.. Stalking with a look of intense concentration, he gets caught by an underhanded left thrown by Naito from outside that lands borderline, maybe just a half-inch below the waistband. Instead of getting mad or retaliating or seeking out supplication from the ref he just, never breaking stride, drops his own fist to his crotch, flips it palm-up, and mimes curling his knuckles inward/toward the ceiling in a quick little double motion synchronized with a double eyebrow raise, az if it say "hey c'mon buddy, keep em up, eh?"
Ritsuke tiring a little but still putting on a clinic. Jheritz still game and forcing him to work hard a full three minutes applying intelligent pressure and timing him with intermittent counters while awash in a flood of right jabs up top and left uppercut downstairs. Chavez having occasional moments of sussess but unable to capitzlie; Naito using timely clinches when he needs to. 80-72
Chavez's unflappable patience and professionalism seems to be fraying at the edges somewhat, getting visibly annoyed now with the negativity of Naito, thrashing his way free of clinches and engaging in some ugly infighting, both grinding their forearms into each other's faces. After they are broke up by the ref Naito is drifting rapidly counterclockwise and swatting up top with right hooks at mid-range, then falling in with clinches again when Chavez manages to close the gap.
What a hectic last two rounds. Naito was really lucky to not get stopped in the last round lol 116-110 Naito
Omg, HUGE twelfth for Chavez... Big rally started as soon as the bell rang, his slow and steady pressure finally busting some pipes as Naito was unable to evade him with his legs turning leaden, Chavez now puncturing the guard with right hand leads straight down the pipe, then hooking around the guard in one fluid motion while continuing to step inside, then halting Naito's retreat off to his left by plugging him with a short looping right on the rib cage. He repeats this pattern to great success, hurting and then dropping Naito, and subsequently chasing him around the ring and 1-2ing him into the ropes. Chavez glances at the ref at one point as though suggesting he could jump in (to he fair he does have Naito in about exactly the same position Calzaghe had Manfredo when he was awarded the KO...) but Naito is able somehow to survive, barely throwing a punch all round except desperate long swatting right hooks from a high guard while running, then falling into clinches Both men can hold their heads up high; Naito for doing several rounds of solid boxing and then surviving that furious onslaught in the championship rounds despite his fatigue, and Chavez for investing some good body work and nearly finishing the job late - tactically and physically he gave it everything he could.
That was some high-level shit for a Tuesday morning, these guys are both more skilled than a lot of PBC headliners. And their styles meshed perfectly.
This content is protected Twitter uses Microsoft translation services, which is sometimes even more unintentionally hilarious than Google's: "In a very complicated lawsuit, Rikki Naito retained the OPBF super lightweight girdle, defeating Jheritz Chavez, via majority judgment (114-112 x 2 and 113-113). The Nippon was knocked down twice by the tough Tagalog challenger." It was a very complicated lawsuit!
What an awesome final few rounds, not sure how Naito got up from that first knockdown, and then to see out the storm in round 12. Really solid bout. Shindo Vs Maruki was fairly solid too, with Maruki coming on strong after being dropped in round 1
Don't suppose there's a way for us non-subscription plebes to see that one? That would be too good to be true, if they made the whole card available (in fact I'm still not convinced BoxingRaise didn't just stream the main event free by mistake earlier )
