Kobayashi was a lanky Fly, but humongous at the weight. Straight up, no head movement, porous defence, he was extremely vulnerable if he couldn't smash his man out of there. I imagine early career sparkage by Jiro Watanabe convinced him to ply his trade at Flyweight. He briefly held the WBC title, pretty much the lineal crown. This was a time where journeymen/contenders were grabbing the belt on a seemingly bi-monthly basis. Battering awkward Thai Facomrom Vibonchai into submission, who pushed Miguel Canto hard over 15 for the Flyweight title. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_DSVT6x_dY[/ame] Beating Frank Cedeno, a top notch journeyman really, who had beaten Charlie Magri for the title. Kobayashi just bombs him into the ground. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG0ExerHLfg[/ame] Vic posted another fight (I think he was wearing yellow shorts) but I can't find it now :think Losing his title to the always dangerous contender Gabriel Bernal. Vicious K.O. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRxvHKCibqE[/ame] I also have a very fun fight with Kazuo Katsuma. It seems that they were building Koji towards a rematch with Watanabe for the Super Fly title, as Katsuma got the next shot after beating Kobayashi in an exciting war of attrition. I'm uploading that at the mo', will update thread tomorrow. Katsuma is like a poor Harada impersonator, but only with a C-class sloppy version of Masahiko's beast mode. Kobayashi seems to me a real bully of a fighter. If he couldn't impose his size and power on his man he capitulated. Badly.
I haven't seen the fight with Vibonchai before Flea, Cheers. Limited fighter, but as you say big and hard hitting.Katsuma was horribly slaughtered by Watanabe, i guess Jiro had too much pride to possibly be shown up by another Japanese fighter, even at a time when he was basically going through the motions and on his way out of the sport.
Yep, he was hopelessly outclassed against Jiro. A very sharp showing from Watanabe there, in one of his best shows of ring generalship whilst actually putting in some effort. He can be a very frustrating fighter to watch. Vibonchai fell to bits there. Against a bigger guy all of his advantages were snatched away from him. I felt he did well against Canto, when he was well out of his depth. Do you have Israel Conteras Vs Ray Minus, lora? How about that Berkrek fight, come across it yet? I'm finally sorting out backing up some DVDs that I've had to for a while, hence the uploads.
Top man, I felt stupid when I realised it had been taken off and I hadn't grabbed it while it was on there atsch The Katsuma fight will be up in the morning, but I think you've seen it already Vic :good
nah not come across it Flea.Most of my stuff is still in disarray and a lot is unlabelled or titled by the broadcast channel and date.It's a disgrace really. I've never seen Contreras' fight with Minus, which doesn't mean i don't potentially have it on the end of a tape or dvd somewhere that i missed. not a fight i've specifically checked to see if it's out there though.
