Kal Yafai vs Suguru Muranaka - This is why I love boxing

[tonymaccaroni]

Haven't seen any threads on this but what a fight! I mean Yafai won every round pretty much, but there were no losers in that fight.

I loved Murunakas attitude form his ring walk, to the last bell. For a small guy who had moved up a weight I thought he had showed the heart of a warrior. Fighting outside his home country for the first time he never looked intimidated, phased or prepared to lose. He gave it everything, and what a chin!

Even though Yafai was bigger, stronger and just plain better, he found away to keep himself in the fight and give Yafai a real tough nights work. He was hit flush so many times and didn't even blink, just straight back 'in the pocket' as the commentators described it. For once they got an opponent for a British fight card who was worth his salt. I thought his knockdown was a slip as well.

And likewise, he brought the best out of Yafai. Yafai had to show his skill, craft, stamina and strength to keep up with the little guy, and he did a fantastic job of nullifying, countering and showing his excellent speed and combination punching. I almost felt sorry for Yafai as he boxed superbly, yet it was Muranakas heart and chin that people were amazed at and talking about, even Yafai and his brother.

Yafai will have learnt so much in this fight about himself and what he is capable of. This is how boxing should be. Stop wheeling out bums and inexperienced amateurs to fight our best prospects. Lets have some more challengers like Murunaka who fight with honor and pride despite their clear shortcomings and disadvantages. He came to win and gave it everything in a foreign land where no one gave him a chance and he brought the best out of one of our up and coming classiest operators.

As I said there were no losers in this fight.

[Cutman Scabbers]

Haven't seen any threads on this but what a fight! I mean Yafai won every round pretty much, but there were no losers in that fight.

I loved Murunakas attitude form his ring walk, to the last bell. For a small guy who had moved up a weight I thought he had showed the heart of a warrior. Fighting outside his home country for the first time he never looked intimidated, phased or prepared to lose. He gave it everything, and what a chin!

Even though Yafai was bigger, stronger and just plain better, he found away to keep himself in the fight and give Yafai a real tough nights work. He was hit flush so many times and didn't even blink, just straight back 'in the pocket' as the commentators described it. For once they got an opponent for a British fight card who was worth his salt. I thought his knockdown was a slip as well.

And likewise, he brought the best out of Yafai. Yafai had to show his skill, craft, stamina and strength to keep up with the little guy, and he did a fantastic job of nullifying, countering and showing his excellent speed and combination punching. I almost felt sorry for Yafai as he boxed superbly, yet it was Muranakas heart and chin that people were amazed at and talking about, even Yafai and his brother.

Yafai will have learnt so much in this fight about himself and what he is capable of. This is how boxing should be. Stop wheeling out bums and inexperienced amateurs to fight our best prospects. Lets have some more challengers like Murunaka who fight with honor and pride despite their clear shortcomings and disadvantages. He came to win and gave it everything in a foreign land where no one gave him a chance and he brought the best out of one of our up and coming classiest operators.

As I said there were no losers in this fight.

[Boxing Prospect]

A shame Muranaka outgrew the Flyweight division, his bouts with Kogawa and Kuroda were brilliant, and a bout with Higa would have been a lot of fun...he put in a great effort and congrats to him for proving how good he was. Hopefully a fight against the likes of Conlan, Edwards, Tso, Carmona, Cuadras follow.

[tonymaccaroni]

A shame Muranaka outgrew the Flyweight division, his bouts with Kogawa and Kuroda were brilliant, and a bout with Higa would have been a lot of fun...he put in a great effort and congrats to him for proving how good he was. Hopefully a fight against the likes of Conlan, Edwards, Tso, Carmona, Cuadras follow.

Yup he really increased his stock at least in the UK, thats for sure. He could pose some of our prospects an challenging nights work and see what they are made of.

[gilgamesh]

I don't mind fantastic displays of heart and courage like that, but fights generally get me more excited when both fighters are forced to display their heart because they're evenly matched and they're both doing damage to each other. This was one fighter showing tremendous bravery while standing up to his opponent who had basically every physical advantage over him. Entertaining, but not very dramatic due to the one sided nature of it.

[tonymaccaroni]

I don't mind fantastic displays of heart and courage like that, but fights generally get me more excited when both fighters are forced to display their heart because they're evenly matched and they're both doing damage to each other. This was one fighter showing tremendous bravery while standing up to his opponent who had basically every physical advantage over him. Entertaining, but not very dramatic due to the one sided nature of it.

Obviously this is not a fight that will go down in the record books or that excited anyone. Thats not what I am saying. I am saying it was a good test for Yafai and brought the best out of him. I wouldn't even say Murunaka was particularly brave, he is just a tough bastard and had an iron chin.

On most British cards it looks like they find opponents at the local pub. Or worse they find good opponents who actually win and then get stitched up on a judges decision.

This just made a change for me and was a British fight card I actually enjoyed watching, whether or not the fighters were evenly matched or not, but yeah obviously any fan would prefer to watch an even match up between two similar ability fighters.

[philly]

Great fight that was shown in the states by AWE