Kōsei Tanaka vs. Ryōichi Taguchi & Kento Hatanaka vs. Songsaeng Phoyaem RBR

Round 8

Taguchi working the no-look uppercuts as he leans in and puts up a wall of forearms to deflect what he can, like a riot shield, ramming into Tanaka, winging body shots but getting frozen in place and lit up with straight counters. When they press in close, Taguchi enjoys his greatest moments of success, combining uppercuts with both hands, but Tanaka is able to stuff most of them on the bottoms of his gloves and patiently wait it out, then step halfway outside and comfortably rip Taguchi with left upper-hooks and 1-2s from beyond his reach.

10-9 Tanaka

79-73 Tanaka

 

But you're not explicitly anti-Taguchi?

 

Round 9

Taguchi is putting his head down and curling his spine, launching himself in with big overhead scything punches which Tanaka is able to mostly avoid with a quick backward scuttle, getting at most grazed. Taguchi's nose and mouth are bloodied from Tanaka's jab but he keeps pressing forward. Clinches becoming very frequent now. The ref gives them every opportunity to do some clean work in the clinch, asking to see a little punching and waiting a moment before ordering a separation. Both look extremely tired.

10-9 Tanaka

89-82 Tanaka

 

Round 10

Taguchi is eating a jab, a hook, another jab, and then a 1-2 for every lunging shot he lobs from too far out - to say he's getting the worst of exchanges (despite initiating them) now would be a grotesque understatement. Tanaka is clobbering the head of Taguchi, just batting it around like a cat with a ball of string. Taguchi doing everything he can to gum up the works by raising his arms in the way to run interference, biding time until he can press in and tie up. A few meager slaps by Taguchi but they're feather-dusters at this point. Tanaka seems almost to be showing mercy and not countering him as much as he could, letting Taguchi fall in without more than a couple of glancing blows and then succumbing to his clinches willingly.

10-9 Tanaka

99-91 Tanaka

 

Round 11

Taguchi is throwing punches in bunches - and so is Tanaka, simultaneously, leading to a sloppy opening minute where they both succeed in basically only punching each other in the (constantly moving) arms, or performing accidental fist-bumps. A bit of contact is finally made as Tanaka settles down and picks his spots but Taguchi refuses to be denied the war he started igniting. Big uppercuts inside by Taguchi. Hooks and crosses in reply from Tanaka! Both scoring, but Tanaka with a big edge numerically and in damage. Now with under a minute left they're gassed and pushing in tight in a phone booth, slapping away. Long clinch, Taguchi walking Tanaka into the ropes. Both flurry. Tanaka has a bloody nose as well now.

10-9 Tanaka, closer

109-100 Tanaka