In Kobe earlier today we saw former WBA Super Bantamweight champion Shun Kubo (14-2, 9) [久保隼] pick up his latest win, as he out pointed domestic foe Takashi Igarashi (13-5, 5) [五十嵐嵩視]. Sadly however the bout never really caught fire. In fact it never came close to catching fire and was very much a public sparring session, rather than a fight.
From the opening stages neither man looked particularly comfortable and both looked ultra cautious. Kubo seemed to dictate the space of the bout in the first round, but neither man showed much in terms of hunger or ambition. That sadly proved to be the case for much of the bout, with both men trying to play it safe, too sae.
Every so often we would see Igarashi mount a rush, charging at Kubo, who saw it off, and got back to dictating behind his reach, essentially fencing with his lead hand and tagging Igarashi with good singles at range, but there was little intensity in the out put from either.
Thankfully in round 5 we finally saw Kubo showing something more, showing some hunger. He landed a number of solid single shots, and solid 2-punch combinations. Sadly though they were glimpses of skills, before he got back to range. Even when he seemed to shake Igarashi their was no urgency to impress. As for Igarashi he had moments, but also failed to have the urgency needed to to turn moments into anything more.
By round 7 it was some what tricky to care. The bout had smouldered, and smouldered, and never come to light. Thankfully Igarashi, knowing he had to do something more, did finally let his shots go in round 8, but it was too little, too late, and Kubo was never in any danger.
After 8, rather tedious, slow paced and forgettable rounds, we went to the scorecards which had Kubo winning 79-73, twice, and 78-74.
Sadly, given this was streamed world wide, neither man impressed. At all. Whilst there is some defense to that, such as Kubo being out of the ring since May 2019 and Igarashi being out of the ring for almost 2 years, it doesn't make it any better for fans who sat through a turgid 8 rounder here.
