Sho Kimura vs. Kosei Tanaka RBR.

Signs of life from Kimura there, but I still have Tanaka putting on a boxing masterclass a quarter of the way in.

 

Round 4

Tanaka is brutalizing the body with long underhanded rights and still walking Kimura onto a nonstop parade of counter 1-2s on the face. Kimura is proving incredibly resilient, walking through fire and spreading his base wide to start wailing on Tanaka's hips with fat hooks with both hands, and sometimes changing his trajectory last second to convert what appeared to be a left hook aiming for Tanaka's body into a breaking-ball upper-hook banging into the bottom of chin, snapping Tanaka's head back. Tanaka is taking advantage every time Kimura starts to look a bit fatigued, jumping on him with a series of piston combos down the middle, but he can't put Kimura down.

10-9 Tanaka

40-36

 

Round 5

Tanaka is throwing 1-2-3s now, the jab & cross @ the face and the punctuating hook reaching around for Kimura's liver. He repeats this combo a couple of times and then spirals out as Kimura starts thrashing his sides with his own hooks. Kimura is rocked into the ropes by a heavy 1-2. Tanaka scrapes at the guard with light uppercuts, firing while his feet are still propelling him forward so they don't have much leverage, just walking Kimura into the ropes with them as window-dressing. Kimura is ducking and weaving in, pressing his forearms against Tanaka's in order to steady his victim in place and brace himself to push off and dig hard with a double left hook on the rib cage. Tanaka is looping a right into the sides but caught on Kimura's left elbow. 1-2 up top by Kimura, now inside close enough to bash through his challenger's guard with it. Tanaka is flurrying, working uppercuts with both hands as though pantomiming a juggler, everything hitting Kimura's gloves.

10-9 Kimura, extremely close

49-46 Tanaka

 

Round 6

Tanaka is hacking down with the right, more to preserve distance by spiking Kimura in place like a croquet hoop than to seriously hurt him (which seems an impossibly tall order with Kimura, at least tonight for young Kosei). Kimura bides his time, letting Tanaka dictate the range & pace for the first ninety seconds, dancing around jabbing and chopping down with the right, almost everything hitting gloves. Kimura now comes on with a little over a minute left, driving right hands up and strapping across the cheek behind throwaway diversion jabs. Kimura is jabbed and needled into the ropes as Tanaka summons up some 1-2s but Kimura just leans forward, arms up, waits his turn and rallies with body shots.

10-9 Kimura

58-56 Tanaka

 

Round 7

Tanaka is working hooks to either flank, hanging in the pocket to deliver a left, then a right, then fading out beyond Kimura's reach with quick backward steps and resuming a lateral trot. Kimura is marching in but can't find Tanaka, probing with a jab like a huntsman's dog sniffing for a scent, and then getting frustrated and guessing blindly at the distance with big looping rights that are easily dodged by Tanaka with a quick change of direction, a diagonal snap with his legs. Kimura is getting lit up with soft counter flurries on the head. They swap right hands and Tanaka is WOBBLED BADLY, almost brushing the canvas with his glove!! If that had been a knockdown this would be a three-point swing the other way (10-8 Kimura), but alas, sadly for Kimura, there was no contact or at least the ref didn't rule it a KD.

10-9 Tanaka

68-65 Tanaka

 

Round 8

Tanaka is staying on his bike, taking full advantage of his mastery of movement & out-boxing relative to Kimura. Tanaka just sprinkling in 1-2s or shoeshine combos to Kimura's face every now and then in order to build up a huge lead in connects, and sometimes plants his feet to dip to either side and slap a hook at the body, never lingering for long however. Kimura is looking a mess, bloody nose, swollen eye, just plodding in and lunging, hitting nothing but the inside of Tanaka's forearm while getting hit everywhere with everything from long range.

10-9 Tanaka

78-74 Tanaka

 

Round 9

Tanaka is continuing his success from the eighth, using Kimura like a clay pigeon, widening his spiral away from him and letting Kimura just blunder into the danger zone where Tanaka can zing him with the 1-2, time and time again, though just as many are caught on the guard. Kimura is stomping in and seizing every moment he possibly can to deliver a hail-Mary right hand lead, but nothing's getting through. Too much movement from Tanaka, and he's too slippery the few times Kimura is able to maneuver him into a corner to be pinned down there.

10-9 Tanaka

88-83 Tanaka

 

Round 10

Kimura is tired of this BS, and immediately posts up in front of Tanaka, boldly stepping with him to give the younger man zero quarter. Kimura makes it plain that he intends to force Tanaka into a brawl, pushing a right hand as far as he can while scurrying in to keep up with Tanaka's backpedaling, then following up with a double left hook upstairs and some curveball dings on the body. Tanaka is stunned into submission, and shakes it off momentarily to jog clockwise and pop in & out with some flurries, but there has been a noticeable shift in demeanor here. Kimura is now fighting with renewed purpose while Tanaka seems rattled, overreacting to every Kimura jab (a weapon that Sho appears to have just discovered exists in his tool kit) with a blink and partial turn of the head while scrambling to flee. Kimura batters down Tanaka's guard with a right and then reaches in with a double left hook cuffing his ear as Tanaka bends over to his left to roll with it while already on the run. Kimura in hot pursuit.

10-9 Kimura

97-93 Tanaka

 

Round 11

Tanaka is met halfway by Kimura once again but in this session he's ready to retake the reins, and starts answering Kimura blow for blow, gaining the upper hand with a series of rights that back Kimura into the ropes briefly. Tanaka is strapped across the upper jaw by a Kimura right hand after they shove together in a brief sumo match, neither surrendering any ground until they mutually step apart. Kimura is covering up as Tanaka lets a 1-2 fly and takes his own best shot, loading up a right hand off the hip. They grind together again, with Kimura backing up while pawing a double jab into the face and then cracking Tanaka with a right hand. Left hook by Kimura, slow but powerful, grazing the side of Tanaka's face. Tanaka is tired. Kimura is grinning through blood, soaking up slapping combos to his temples and waiting his turn, springing on top of Tanaka with heavy combos, hooking powerfully with both hands.

10-9 Kimura, RAZOR-thin, more landed by Tanaka but the more damaging stuff by Kimura.

106-103 Tanaka

 

Round 12

Tanaka is standing in with Kimura, taking some lumps in the phone booth until their gravitational force sends them drifting apart. Tanaka lines up about TEN unanswered cannonball right hand leads in a row, with the crowd yelling "WHOO" for each one. About half of them are blocked, yet the rest are forcing Kimura to relent an involuntary half a step or so each. Kmiura takes a turn, grinding in, some body shots, some right hands scaling the steppes, unable to quite plant one flush on the chin as Tanaka is able to mirror his movement, edging himself back into range to counter with his 1-2 or at least mitigate the shots.

10-9 Tanaka, SUPER DUPER close

116-112 Tanaka

 

Eh, generally I try shying away from making that kind of proclamation within a few hours (or the day) of seeing a fight, as we're usually a little too 'close' to put it in proper perspective until cooling down some. Remember, people were saying with utmost confidence in the GGG vs. Canelo II RBR that it was the frontrunner for FOTY.

But this was pretty damn good.

 

A rematch would bring Sho's career near to a close, and snip Kosei's shelf life in half.