Made official this past week, for October fourteenth in Tokyo. WBO super flyweight title at stake, first defense of Tanaka. With a two inch height advantage but giving up half an inch of reach, the currently undefeated South African southpaw challenger is ranked #5 by the WBO.
Good fight. I understand that Cafu has benefited from a gift or two in the past iirc. I don't know a lot about Cafu but the little I do know leads me to believe he isn't anywhere near the same caliber of fighter as Tanaka. Tanaka has, for his part, improved a lot since his loss to Ioka and is more of a thinking fighter than he used to be. Tanaka's power hasn't carried up fully from 112 but I do expect him to stop Cafu late.
Finally got around watching Tanaka vs Cafu in full. That was beautifully fought with some skills and nice exchanges. Tanaka got dropped but managed to get back while Cafu showed that, although inexperienced, he belonged in the ring with the champ. I thought Tanaka did enough to retain his belt and outworked Cafu even after he got dropped but it was still a close, hard fought battle. I would love to see a rematch. Tanaka still needs to work on tightening up his defense. As quick and athletic as he is his defense still falls short. Reminds me of Meldrick Taylor at times.
