Thanks man. As an ignorant gaijin trying to document this stuff from afar, I felt it was appropriate.

Mega Megu HL

I can chime in my thoughts. Japanese boxing is…usually kind of shitty. The opposition just isn’t there to really build a fighter to be world class. You can see that by looking at Naito’s record and seeing how once he was past the very early stages of his career he was fighting guys with losing records, 2 fights, 3 fights, no fights (according to boxrec…I’m sure they had other fights but they weren’t “legit” enough for boxrec to record). He got his first shot at Pongsaklek Wonjongkam (one of the best flyweights in the world for a very long time and probably the #1 guy for a few years, currently #3 in Ring Mag’s rankings) in his 22nd fight after fighting cans for a while and was knocked out in 34 seconds which is a record for a flyweight title bout…and considering how light the guys are…is pretty amazing. The KO broke a record that had stood for like 75 years.

He rebounded by beating some guys that had no business facing a world title challenger (featuring 0-2, 0-0, 0-2 records in three of his next 4 fights). After 8 wins he got another shot at Wonjongkam losing by technical decision. Naito won 3 more fights and then won a close decision over Wonjongkam to claim the WBC title. The champ was 30 years old and it should be noted that at the lighter weights guys fade out really young usually and Wonjongkam has gotten very slow and gassed much more than he used to. Naito fought him a fourth time two fights later and it went to a draw which is amazing because it was in Japan and Naito should have won at least 10 rounds (and honestly probably all 12). SO like most flyweights (and Asian boxers for that matter) he has a career built on beating up guys who have no business fighting him…but he does have legitimate skills and is the legitimate number 2 guy in the world given Wonjongkam’s decline. Naito does behind Nonito Donaire (ranked #1) who would crush him in my mind.

This fight is a joke though and I’ll let Brickhaus over at BLH explain why:

Zhong is 12-1-1, has never fought outside of China, and lost his only fight with someone who had a winning (13-6) record.

I realize it’s a good thing if we can popularize professional boxing in China, but the WBC should be ashamed of themselves for sanctioning this mess. Frankly, China just isn’t ready. They didn’t even have a legitimate amateur boxing program until Beijing earned the right to host the Olympics, and none of their better amateurs has turned pro. Not that long ago, I remember seeing ads put out by the Chinese government offering to have pretty much anyone who knew a jab from a hook to move out to China to be a professional boxing trainer. Jumping the gun and having someone who is obviously a lamb for slaughter fighting for a belt isn’t the right way to do this.

Naito’s a really good fighter but has stayed regional. Unless Zhong is a huge puncher or some sort of phenom it’s likely Naito beats the crap out of him. I’d put him #2 in the world behind Nonito Donaire at 112 pounds — that’s the general feeling and it’s legit. He’s 34 and probably on the wrong side of the hill, but think of this like the Japan-China games in the World Baseball Classic. China just does not have the athletes yet.

Did you have to kiss the ring?

I know it’s just a silly grappling match but… I’m stoked.

No, you’re totally right, I’ll change it to “ex-dominatrix.” :)

From checking out her blog, her main interest these days is hanging out with her pet parrot.