Was he one of the most underrated southpaws? His 1st round destruction of Kingpetch was quite impressive, and he was said to have been blatantly robbed in the rematch though I haven't seen it personally. He has a very good resume in the Flyweight division as well.
I've also come to realize that I've overrated Kingpetch and underrated this guy. I actually had the two of them confused at one point.
.............Never seen him fight, but Raging B()ll is the guy to ask here. He has a lot of his fights and he is apparently one of his favorites.
Ebihara was very good. Two of his few losses were close decisions to Horacio Accavallo in Argentina. He also stopped Efren Torres in a great fight. My copy of the second Kinpetch fight only shows 11 rounds, so I cannot make a fair decision, but the neutral official scored it for Kingpetch, so it could be the correct decision. Woller
I had him taking the second Accavallo fight by 2 points and I had him 5 points up after watching 11 rounds of the Kingpetch rematch. His KO's of Torres and Kingpetch were fantastic. He had real good power and excellent boxing skills. If he had any weakness it was probably his less than stellar stamina.
Ebihara sure sure surprised Kingpetch with his power in that 1st fight. He didn't last long as champion because Pone was so good in those rematches, like against Fighting Harada earlier. Harada, however, really came into his own as bantamweight those two times against Jofre, and wasn't ready to cope with Kingpetch.
Well, he did destroy Kingpetch in their first fight, and was supposedly robbed in the rematch, so I'd say he was more than ready. I'd say Flyweight was Harada's best weight as a matter of fact, just too small to beat guys like Zarate, Olivares, etc. I also believe Jofre was affected by the weight-draining in his fights with Harada(both of which were very close), as he just didn't seem as strong, active, and overall just not as good as in his fight with Medel, which was his prime.
You could be right - I will have an extra look this week-end. My wife has a night shift in the hospital Sunday. (I am talking Ebihara) Woller
As for the return bout between Ebihara and Kingpetch, he was robbed plain and simple just like Harada was. Thailand is definately one place were you have to KO the home fighter just to get a draw... almost impossible to get a decision there over the home fighter.
Which is why I don't rate a guy like Wonjongkam very highly. Do you feel Ebihara was similar to another Japanese southpaw in Yoko Gushiken?
Not really to be honest. Gushiken was more versatile as he was both an excellent counter-puncher when fighting on the backfoot and an excellent offensive fighter when on the attack with those vicious combinations of his. Hiroyuki on the other hand was more of what I would call a stalking pressure fighter... he would keep pressing forward most of the time while using his jab as a range finder for that potent straight left hand of his. But, he would also at times really take the fight to his opponent like he did in the return against Kingpetch and in the the first Alacran Torres bout which was a war by all accounts with neither man taking a backwards step for 12 rounds. He could box very well mind you, but he did not usually do so in most of his fights. He knew he had the big punch to end matters if he landed his left, and he fought accordingly by being aggressive and looking to take your head off with it in kost of his fights.
Ebihara reminds me of Jimmy McLarnin to an extent. he has that same wide stance from an acute angle, almost side on to the opponent at times. very good footwork too.
Guess I was more referring to the attacking side of Gushiken that I saw with Ebihara in the Kingpetch fight, thanks though.
