How good was Jiro Watanabe?

He used to get mighty steamed when they'd call him "Wannabe" Watanabe. I know that much.

 

Kyokushin karate background I believe, Yakuza-affiliated bad ass.

Often lazy in the ring IMO. I felt Poontarat got the better of their first fight. Sharp offensive beast when on form though.

 

Shotokan.

I've heard somewhere that he was a better karate fighter than he was a boxer, just like your hero Runakaroon.

He was better earlier in his career - just a good well-schooled fighter.
Nice combinations, good movement.

The Chul-Ho Kim fight was slightly controversial, in my opinion.

Watanabe probably would've won if they met on neutral ground.

He could've used his educated feet more in the early rounds though.

 

Being better at Karate is not the same as being better at Muay Thai.

 

Great talent, but often lazy especially after the first half of his title reign.Was a superstar in japan and that obviously got in the way of hard training.:yep

Freakishly massive ***** by japanese standards.

 

He lost to that Thai, Ponarat or something like that......

 

Yeah.....I love his fight with Ballas. Ballas was a very good fighter btw..

 

Oguma was a great passing of the torch fight.

Oguma was past his best, but had aged quite well and you could see he was trying like a bear in what would have been a major domestic showdown at the time, but Watanabe put a great display of combination boxing and countering on the move against him.

Watch how mediocre currently hyped fighters like rigondeaux are at trying that sort of thing and you get an idea of Watanabe's genuine talent.

I need to watch the first Poonterat fight again, as the decision being bad never stuck out in my mind.Watanabe was inconsistent by then and seemed to struggling to let his hands go i remember, but i also remember Poonterat getting figured out over the last third and thinking that was enough for a clear decision win, in what had been a tight tactical fight with not much landing up until then.

The short punches that did poonterat in second time around were beautiful.

 

That's harsh, Vic.

But you've got a point there.