Earlier today the East Japan Boxing Association announced their award winners for the month of May, with 3 winners being named for the monthly awards.
The MVP for the month was named as Jin Sasaki (17-1-1, 16) [佐々木 尽] who successfully unified the WBO Asia Pacific and OPBF Welterweight titles on May 16th when he stopped Filipino fighter Joe Noynay (23-3-2, 11) in 5 rounds. The bout wasn’t the best showing from Sasaki, but it was still a destructive one, when he turned it on, and one that showed he is among the most fan friendly fighters on the planet, even when he does seem to be somewhat frustrating to watch at times.
The Fight Spirit award was won by Japanese Light Flyweight champion Toshiki Kawamitsu (10-1, 6) [川満俊輝] who retained his title, by stopping mandatory challenger Kosuke Ando (13-5, 6) [安藤教祐] in 6 rounds on May 4th. The bout, Kawamitsu’s first defense of the title, saw him showing off his exciting style, and although Ando put up a very game effort, he couldn’t handle the aggression of Kawamitsu, who is surely moving towards a regional title bout.
The Newcomer Award was won by Takara Kawaguchi (8-0-1, 5) [川口高良] following his second round TKO win over Ryuji Ikeda (15-10-5, 10) [池田竜司] on May 27th.
