A quick snapshot at the week that was.
Biggest Upset: Roger Gutierrez +600 over Rene Alvarado
Notable New Champions:
- RIZIN Bantamweight Champion: Kyoji Horiguchi
- RIZIN Women’s Super Atomweight Champion: Ayaka Hamasaki
- WBA Regular World Junior Lightweight Champion: Roger Gutierrez
- Interim WBC World Lightweight Champion: Ryan Garcia
A Few Storylines Going Forward:
- Another Stallion in the Stable: Solomon Dacres, one of the UK’s best amateur heavyweights has turned pro and, naturally, as UK heavyweights do, signed with Matchroom, at the age of 27. He’s sparred with the best of the best, and Matchroom adds another name to a growing UK heavyweight scene.
- Ending 2020 With a Bang: New Year’s Eve has always been an enormous night for Japanese fighting, steeped in tradition for decades, and 2020 was no exception, as the two best Japanese boxers squared off in a massive matchup, as Kazuto Ioka, the only Japanese boxer to hold world title gold in four divisions defended his WBO World Junior Bantamweight title against undefeated hotshot Kosei Tanaka, attempting to become the fastest boxer in history to win world title gold in four weight classes. In a bout that lived up to the hype, Iowa thwarted the young challenger’s charge, countering with his left hook until Tanaka could take no more, winning via knockout in the eighth round.
- Light Heavyweight Styles Bended?: Just announced this week, but at UFC 259, UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is moving up to 205 to battle Jan Blachowicz for the UFC light heavyweight championship.
- Starting 20201 Off Right: After a terrific final boxing card of 2020 in Tokyo, 2021 started off the right way with its first major card, as the Alvarado brothers put their titles on the line and Ryan Garcia faced his toughest test in bouncing back off the canvas against Luke Campbell.
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