MORE BOXING FIGHTS: https://www.boxingfightsvideos.com
FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/FightsVideos2
FACEBOOK FAN PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/boxingfvideos1/
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/boxingfvideos_/
FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/FightsVideos2
FACEBOOK FAN PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/boxingfvideos1/
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/boxingfvideos_/
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00All right, gentlemen, you received the instructions in the dressing room, know what I expect?
00:08Good, clean fight.
00:09Golpe legales, legal punches here for you, legal punches here for you.
00:15Touch gloves good to both of you.
00:27Junior, the third man in the ring tonight, Christina Poncher, Nico Ali-Walsh here with
00:31you for the first of our four world title fights tonight.
00:35This for the vacant WBO world championship.
00:38Number one contender, Sokichi Iwata in the black trunks with silver gloves.
00:44The number two contender, Jairo Noriega representing Spain, wearing the purple trunks with blue
00:52trim.
00:53You can see Iwata already starting off with a great rhythm.
00:58Normally, when I was watching footage of him, he was a bit of a slow starter.
01:02It doesn't look like he's taking that route this night.
01:05Iwata coming in tonight as a five year pro and he had a really solid amateur career before
01:12turning pro and he got wins against Kosei Tanaka and Tsukuma Inoue as an amateur.
01:18He's only had 14 pro fights, but in those 13 wins, he's has one loss.
01:23Ten of those wins have been by knockout.
01:24In fact, since his only career loss to Jonathan Bomba Gonzalez back in 2022, he has been on
01:30a four fight knockout streak.
01:33Definitely looking to make it five tonight, but we'll have his hands full against Jairo
01:37Noriega, who doesn't know how to lose.
01:39He's 14 and 0 as a pro, not as many knockouts and not as active as Iwata, but a fighter
01:45that's kind of been under the radar.
01:47If you're not, you know, a boxing fanatic sickle, if you will, but he's a darn good
01:53fighter.
01:54He has a very entertaining style.
01:55And as you can see already, he likes to throw punches and flurries, kind of got that bouncy
02:01up and down style.
02:02You'll see him on his toes quite a bit.
02:03You know, when I was watching footage of Noriega, I noticed that he worked better when he was
02:09pressuring his opponent, not when he's working off the back foot.
02:13Iwata's forcing him to work off his back foot right now.
02:15So that may present problems later on.
02:18A quick with the jab upstairs, Noriega trying to work the jab down to the body.
02:30At this kind of level, they're both just feeling each other out.
02:35This round is very important.
02:37We'll see kind of where the fight's going to go just based off this round.
02:42Both of them have a lot of that kind of side to side upper body movement.
02:45Nice hook there from Noriega.
02:46Just taps the shoulders there of Iwata.
02:48I love Iwata's rhythm.
02:51Down to the body with the right hand for Noriega.
02:54And got a good jab in there too through the guard.
03:00That's where he works best, Noriega, when he's the one pressing forward.
03:07Down to the body with the left hand that brings it up top.
03:10That was a good left hook from Noriega.
03:12Absolutely.
03:12And slips under the right hand counter from Iwata.
03:15And then nice combination there.
03:17Fantastic start here for the Spaniards.
03:21Great shot again with the left hand there.
03:26Yeah, the tide has changed at the latter end of this round.
03:28Noriega looks like he's really coming on now.
03:3010 seconds, stop at the bell.
03:33That left hook has found a home early for Noriega
03:36as he tries to shoot it as an uppercut there.
03:41Good.
03:47That round ended very well for Noriega, actually.
03:54I agree, as we take a look at some of the highlights here
03:56with the left hand that did some significant damage
04:01in the first round.
04:02Not damage in terms that you want to be hurt,
04:04but damage in terms of the effectiveness through it.
04:08Anything that lands is doing damage.
04:11Appreciate that, partner.
04:29Down to the Noriega corner now.
04:33Fantastic start for the Spaniard,
04:35who is fighting for the first time out of his native country.
04:39And to fight for the first time away from Spain
04:42and have it be for a world title is really something.
04:45Yeah, it is.
04:46That's tough.
04:47It's a lot of pressure.
04:49But some people wake up to opportunities like that.
04:53Oh, there's no turning down, I'm sure.
04:54When you get that phone call, it's an opportunity
04:57that I'm sure he couldn't pass up, especially
05:00in only his 15th pro fight.
05:02You might see his best performance this fight just
05:05based off of the stakes alone.
05:07This is what everyone wants, this opportunity.
05:10Every boxer wants this opportunity.
05:19Iwata getting countered a bit.
05:20And there's that little up jab you were talking about,
05:23Nico, with the left hand, as Noriega, again,
05:25off to a solid start here in round two so far.
05:28Yeah, Noriega constantly looks for counters,
05:30not just in this fight, but in his previous fights.
05:33He's always looking for counters.
05:34The difference is, now he's remaining
05:37active between those counter shots.
05:39Like, he's probing his jab.
05:42He's finding a good rhythm right now.
05:44Good right hand to the body.
05:45Landed there for Iwata.
05:51And that right hand landed through the guard.
05:53And then he comes with the left hook.
05:54Some of that hand speed on display for this boundary.
05:56Then that up jab again.
05:58That up jab is finding a home every time.
06:00He's going to keep using it until Iwata catches on.
06:04Down to the body with the left.
06:06And back to the jab, as Iwata having a little more success.
06:16Especially when he starts a combination with the jab
06:18or doubling up on the jab.
06:24Iwata's just going to have to keep him.
06:26That mid-range is perfect for Iwata.
06:29Oh, nice body shot with the right hand.
06:31Here we go.
06:32Knocks.
06:34That was a good left hook for Iwata.
06:35Yeah, absolutely was.
06:42Action heating up here in round two.
06:44Under a minute to go.
06:45Iwata's catching him with some sneaky right uppercuts.
06:49Noriega's leaning his head over his front knee.
06:53Especially when he throws that overhand right.
06:55He throws it like such a looping shot
06:57that he's kind of caught a little bit off balance
06:59with his kind of chin hanging over that front foot.
07:04And those overhand rights, when they land,
07:06they do some serious damage.
07:09But again, he's in a compromising position, Noriega,
07:11when he's leaning over like that.
07:14That time Iwata caught the second shot
07:17with the right glove.
07:19He's kind of getting the timing down a bit more,
07:21these Noriega looping shots.
07:34A stern warning for kind of holding down his head
07:36while he shot that right hand there for Iwata.
07:46And I think Raul Calles Jr. gave him a earful
07:49on the way to the corner too as well.
07:54Noriega's really, every shot is with bad intentions
07:57right now and he's finding a home with that overhand right.
08:01Same with Iwata.
08:03That was that sneaky right uppercut I was talking about.
08:05It can land in the body or the head.
08:09That's gonna do damage if Noriega continues
08:11to lean over his front knee like that.
08:33Round three.
08:34I think that round was a little closer
08:36than the first round was.
08:37Yeah, definitely.
08:39Iwata having a little bit more success there.
08:42As we get into round three of the scheduled 12-rounder,
08:44Christina Poncher, Nico Ali-Walsh here with you.
08:46The first of four world title fights tonight
08:49from the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
08:53I don't know if I got it.
08:55I don't know if I got it.
08:57The vacant spot for Iwata.
09:00The vacant light flyweight world title is on the line
09:06and I love when vacant fights are fought for
09:09with the number one versus the number two contender.
09:12Exactly how it should be.
09:14Those are always tough fights.
09:20The difference here that I'm seeing
09:22between Iwata and Noriega is Iwata's starting
09:25all his combinations with a jab.
09:28Noriega seems like he's looking for a big shot
09:31every time he lets his hands go.
09:36Good shot to the body.
09:42Yeah, I mean, Noriega is really not even using his jab
09:47as much to open up these combinations.
09:49He's just coming, like you said,
09:51with these shots with bad intentions, these hooks.
09:54Yeah, exactly.
09:54Bombs away, he's leading with left hooks,
09:56he's leading with the overhand rights.
10:00That's great and all, but when he misses,
10:02that saps his energy.
10:06Especially for a fighter that has not really
10:08been that active.
10:09Nico, he had a fight in March of this year,
10:11but only fought once in 2023, once in 2022,
10:14and then twice back in 2021.
10:17Yeah, you gotta realize this is round three.
10:19We've got 12 rounds, it's gonna be hard to maintain
10:23this kind of output.
10:26For another, you know, nine rounds.
10:30That right hand connected there for Noriega.
10:34Iwata looks to turn up and land that uppercut
10:37with the right hand.
10:38Beautiful shot.
10:41Strong jab there, jab down to the body for Noriega.
10:45Good three-punch combination for the Spaniard.
10:50There's that kind of a jump uppercut.
10:52Those uppercuts are going to land.
10:54Those are gonna land on Noriega.
10:56That left hand just landed for Noriega again.
10:59I mean-
11:00Relentless pressure right now.
11:01Absolutely.
11:04The only question is how long is this going to last?
11:09How long can you maintain that output?
11:12Beautiful shots, uppercuts with the right hands
11:14from Noriega, excuse me, from Iwata.
11:18That was that right uppercut.
11:20That started that.
11:22And Noriega is absolutely unsteady on his legs.
11:28Iwata landed two beautiful shots.
11:3010 seconds to work here in round three.
11:37A solid into the round and a knockdown score
11:40for Iwata.
11:41And another one at the belt.
11:43Over.
11:46That's it, face down, and it's a knockout victory
11:50for Sokichi Iwata.
11:54Wow.
11:56At the belt, Nico.
11:57That was a left hook.
11:59That is started, the right uppercut started that onslaught.
12:05He never recovered from that first knockdown.
12:08He had 10 seconds to work and then got,
12:09I mean, it was like belt knockout.
12:12Wow, let's see the replay on that.
12:18That was beautiful.
12:19I mean, him being, Iwata being calculated,
12:22just waiting for the perfect moment.
12:26Look at that, the right uppercut started it.
12:32Beautiful shot.
12:36I mean, the second one was kind of grazing
12:38on the back of the head.
12:39He never really recovered.
12:40Had about 10 seconds to work.
12:42Scores a knockdown, or a knockout, excuse me, at the belt.
12:46And Sokichi Iwata is now the WBO Light Flyweight
12:52World Champion.
12:53Amazing.
12:54I don't think that shot on the back of the head,
12:56he obviously didn't mean to throw that.
12:58I don't think it was that much of a cutoff point.
13:13And finally, a bit of a smirk there.
13:17You would think your first time winning a world title,
13:19you would be a little bit more.