Tripleheader in Japan, Friday April 6th

Check it out:

• Takahiro Aoh vs. Terdsak Jandaeng, 12 rounds for the WBC super featherweight title (3rd defense olf Aoh)

• Shinsuke Yamanaka vs. Vic Darchinyan, 12 rounds for the WBC bantamweight title (1st defense of Yamanaka)

• Hozumi Hasegawa vs. Felipe Carlos Felix, 10 rounds @ featherweight
  

Pretty nice card all around. The championship co-features both look very competitive on paper. The only real question mark is Hasegawa vs. Felix - mainly because "El Principe" himself is such a question mark. (HH's punch resistance at featherweight is another one, though...)

A two-division titlist, the Japanese righty Aoh is no paper champ but isn't the strongest titlist out there either. Solid but not overflowing with talent in any one area. His right jab is quick enough but he's otherwise actually pretty slow of hand for a champion. Thai challenger Jandaeng has failed in his three previous bids at world level (a WBO featherweight eliminator, and two WBO title challenges) - but there's really no shame in having lost decisions to prime Guzman and Luevano, or in getting stopped after gamely battling through several rounds of punishment from a prime beastly featherweight JMM. The switch-hitting body punching specialist (and former Muay Thai kickboxer) is a live underdog in this one and has racked up a long streak of wins in the last four years...ranging from worthless to fairly decent.

Yamanaka had a big 2011. Winning a top three FOTY (on most educated fans' lists) in a Japanese title defense against Ryosuke Iwasa, and then capturing a world title with a knockout of Mexican banger Christian Esquivel. Obviously he's taking a big step up against Vic Darchinyan - but he's catching the awkward dynamite-packing Aussie on the downward slope of his career and at a weight where he hasn't looked particularly effective. This one could be interesting...

Speaking of people looking iffy upon moving up in weight - Hasegawa's featherweight campaign so far is an enigma. He looked fine for the most part taking shots from heavy-handed Juan Carlos Burgos en route to a wide UD win...but then got KTFO by Jhonny Gonzalez (admittedly a massive puncher). Can the undefeated but unknown FCF (who's only stopped ten of eighteen unremarkable opponents, and on whom there is only some training footage available) possibly have what it takes to crack his chin again?


Presumably this will be on TBS in Japan, as most of their big epic cards are. Remember - they're on very early in the morning for those of us in the Western hemisphere...starting usually before the crack of dawn. :good

 

He isn't bad at all. Definitely no scrub, and not champion by accident (although he won a vacant title, and Esquivel maybe isn't the worthiest guy to win one against).

If it were in Armenia or Australia - or even the USA - Vic's fame and reputation would probably guarantee that he stood a good chance of getting the benefit of the doubt in a close affair. In Japan, against a much beloved rising star? I don't know. Vic probably has to either dominate or stop Yamanaka to win.

 

Probably a shot at Arce for the WBO belt, on the Pacquiao-Bradley undercard. :deal

It's down to either him or Rigondeaux.