Earlier today fight fans at Korakuen Hall had the latest show under the Lifetime Boxing Fights series of events. The card was a notable one, for the main event or the established fighters on the show, but instead for two very notable, and very highly regarded debutants.
The first of the two notable debutants was Kenshin Yura (1-0, 1) [由良謙神],who easily over-came the over Manachai Phiasui (4-5, 2). Yura pressed the action and dropped his man twice in just 62 seconds to secure the win and kick off his career with a nasty looking KO. Sadly it was hard to take much, if anything, from this bout with Yura being on a completely different planet in terms of ability to the Thai visitor. If anything he looked powerful, strong and sharp, but we’ll have to see him face someone with a bit more about him to get too excited. Despite the easy win Yura obviously has bigger boutsin his future, and he told fans "I'm relieved to have won. I wasn't thinking about defeating my opponent from the start, but I thought I would close the gap if he faltered. First of all, I want to become invincible in Japan. If I get the chance, I'd like to win a title and eventually aim for the world."
The other debutant was Daiya Kira (1-0, 1) [吉良大弥], who faced only slightly more resistance as he beat Khomsan Kaewruean (5-3, 3), who also looked levels below the debuting youngster. Kira looked sharp, picked his shots well, was aggressive, powerful and took out Kaewruean with a spiteful body shot, with the Thai unable to beat the count. Like Yura’s bout this was pretty much a cameo, with Kira needed just 118 seconds to pick up his win. He seems fully aware of the expectation he has on his shoulders, and in his interview he explained "I was able to make my debut with the support of many different teams. I would like to continue to move forward step by step. Ioka Kazuto is a great senior at my gym. I feel I have to surpass him. I am carrying high expectations, so I will do my best to exceed them,"
In the main event of the show Naoki Marooka (8-9, 3) [諸岡直樹] took a hard fought and hotly contested majority decision over Yuki Uchida (8-12, 1) [内田勇気] Marooka started perfectly, dropping Uchida with a left hook in the opening round, but he struggled to build on that success, with Uchida managing to set the tempo from round 3, landing solid shots of his own in some intense back and forth action. To his credit Marooka tried to mic things up a little more, but was willing to hold his own in some head-to-head exchanges, which were thrilling to watch, but very hard to call either way. After 8 rounds Marooka took the decision with scores of 78-74, twice, and 76-76. It’s worth noting this was a rematch of a 2015 bout, which was also won by majority decision by Marooka
There was also a very fun 6 rounder between Korean visitor and Ma Roo Jung (8-5-2, 2) and Yasuomi Soda (7-0-1, 4) [左右田泰臣], with Soda doing enough to earn the win, but having to work hard in a bout that saw both men landing some nasty leather. The shots of Soda seemed to be the more damaging and more consistent, but Jung's toughness showed through as he came back from being shaken several times.
