Chi was robbed!

[Manos de Oro]

It was weird how such experienced guys were getting fed cannon fodder and a poor Thai on his debut! That right hook in the second fight left our man sprawled cold on the canvas. It was all rather surprising, i watch a lot of Boxing from the Far East and more often than not you can rely on solid competetive matches -particularly in Japan- between evenly matched guys (hence why most Japanese contenders or champs usually have 2 or 3 losses on their slate). Last nights matchmaking was puzzling.

It'd be interesting to know what - if any - experience that debutante had. I'd be very surprised if he wasn't from a high-ish level kickboxing background. He just looked so relaxed. Granted, he never once made his opponent pay and eventually got overwhelmed, but he had nowhere near the lateral tension you usually see from a guy making his debut. It was odd.

[steve689]

Parra V Wonjongkam...man that makes my mouth water...Parra V Arce....Arce V Wonjongkam....where is Don King when you need him?? We need these fights!!!

[force10]

Even if he was a good kickboxer, it was still a ridiculous match. When I've seen Muay Thai on TV, and the match is a Thai against a Western fighter, the advantage the Western fighter has is superior boxing skills and punch power, while the Thais go for techniques like elbows, kicks etc.

Take away those things, and you end up with fighters like Kiattorborubol who couldn't compete in a setting where the only weapon he had was punching.

It also seems strange that these novices get thrown straight in to 10-round boxing fights - I thought Muay Thai fights were only 5 or 6 rounds maximum?

[JimmyJamJerusalem]

close enough fight definitely!!! I would have leaned toward Chi, but there can be no arguements with the decision really, especially with the head clash (what a shit rule, but what goes around comes around re: Brodie). Shame though as Chi is a top fighter. I'd love to see hime fight Pacquiao!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[stujones]

Hopefully Koshimoto will face the victor of Soto-V-Leon to clean things up much the same as i hope things get sorted at Flyweight.

Flyweight has the potential to be a shit hot division, we need to get all the top guys in together though! Lorenzo Parra, Ponsaklek Wongjongkam, Vic Darchinyan, Omar Narvaez, Jorge Arce, Brahim Asloum, Irene Pacheco, Hussein Hussein, Koki Kameda (Japanese prospect my mate says is gonna be good) i mean if we can't make decent matchups out of this lot then what hope is there?!?!

Don't forget a Northern Irish fighter named Kelly.

[THEBUTCH]

I had Kashimoto a worthy, but close winner for what it's worth. Looked to me as if the Japanese drew on all of his 13 years experience to out-move Chi and also kept disciplined to stick to his game plan.

[WayoftheCass]

Hopefully Koshimoto will face the victor of Soto-V-Leon to clean things up much the same as i hope things get sorted at Flyweight.

Flyweight has the potential to be a shit hot division, we need to get all the top guys in together though! Lorenzo Parra, Ponsaklek Wongjongkam, Vic Darchinyan, Omar Narvaez, Jorge Arce, Brahim Asloum, Irene Pacheco, Hussein Hussein, Koki Kameda (Japanese prospect my mate says is gonna be good) i mean if we can't make decent matchups out of this lot then what hope is there?!?!

Don't forget a Northern Irish fighter named Kelly.

Damo is tough and i'm a big fan but in his big step up against Pacheco he got destroyed. I mean he won't go down easy but if he has any pretensions to be in amongst that lot he should be burying guys like Jason Booth. Plus he has skin like paper and a puncher like Darchinyan would tear his face apart.
Unless he's offered silly money, not likely at flyweight, he should stay the hell away from the Aussie and defend the belts he's gathered domestically.

[WayoftheCass]

Flyweight has the potential to be a shit hot division, we need to get all the top guys in together though! Lorenzo Parra, Ponsaklek Wongjongkam, Vic Darchinyan, Omar Narvaez, Jorge Arce, Brahim Asloum, Irene Pacheco, Hussein Hussein, Koki Kameda (Japanese prospect my mate says is gonna be good) i mean if we can't make decent matchups out of this lot then what hope is there?!?!

I think you should leave Hussein Hussein out of that picture. Any of those guys would beat the hell out of whatever shell of a fighter Jorge Arce left behind.
In their first fight Hussein showed balls of steel but nearly got killed that night. It was a brutal beating. And in the rematch Arce was on him like a harbour shark. He totally set about him and nearly knocked him out with every blow. Hussein had this look on his face like "I don't belong here." and turned his back on it and walked away. He just could not deal with Arce's powerpunching, swarming style. I think the reason is that Hussein is used to being 'Joe Kickass' in a fight and mentally can't accept that you need to change your style when a guy is more powerful and better at being aggressive than you. In their first fight Hussein tried to out macho Arce and gave a hell of an effort but he got completely slaughtered. The more he stood up to Arce the more the Mexican seemed to respond 'Fine. I'll just beat the shit out of you more.'
Come the rematch Hussein looked confident but when the bell went and Arce fought like it was just the next round of their first fight Hussy Jnr sort of went 'Not again!'
I would be surprised to see Hussein in at world level again. A bad, bad fight for him would be against Vic Darchinyan in a domestic showdown.
But what I wouldn't give to see Arce-Darchinyan. That wouldn't go six rounds. However Arce seems obsessed with getting the once great Rosendo Alvarez in the ring. I can't see Alvarez at this stage living with Arce's style. I'd still watch it though.