Due to the huge scope of boxing, both in terms of history and the wideness of the world we live in, a lot of bouts have gone under the radar despite being real thrillers. In fact many of the best bouts the sport has ever had have been completely ignored by the wider boxing media who have typically gone with the big name fights as opposed to the best fights. And in their end of year awards they seem to prefer to attach their names to the fighters that better known, rather than raise attention to the brilliant fights that many of the public may not have seen.
Whilst in recent times we have seen that change somewhat, with Ring naming Takuma Inoue their prospect of the year for 2015, there have been far too many fights ignored and I’d like to take this opportunity to try bring some attention to a “Closet Classic”.
In 2011 Ring Magazine voted the Victor Ortiz Vs Andre Berto fight as their fight of the year. Dan Rafael of ESPN went a totally different direction, going with Akira Yaegashi Vs Pornsawn Porpramook. Both of those were great fights, and with out a doubt they have left a lasting memory. The truth however is that the Ortiz Vs Berto fight seemed to be 6 rounds of wonderful chaos that then slowed into a relatively poor an hard to remember affair. We all remember the fighters trade the knockdowns but the intensity of the action dropped off and whilst it may sound harsh the end of the fight was less than stellar.
One fight that didn’t last as long but had insane intensity from the first bell was the little known war between Korean Taek Min Kim (13-3, 8) and Sonny Manakane (14-9-3, 8), who traded blows at an incredible pace for the PABA Super Featherweight title on July 16th 2011.
The bout wasn’t showed cased on American TV, it didn’t have the late, great, Emmanuel Steward exclaim “Oh my God!” or Jim Lampley screaming “incredible”. Instead what it had was two men who put everything on the line on SBS in Korea in a small gymnasium that wouldn’t look out of place hosting a local school basketball game. The hall was scarcely half full but those in attendance got an absolute treat.
From the opening bell it was clear the two men were happy to neglect defense, instead of protecting themselves they wanted to do little more than beat up their opponent. Their faces acted like magnets to uppercuts and hooks whilst jabs were rarely thrown. Whilst the skill level certainly wasn’t elite level the action was insane with flurries that would have worn out the Compubox operators.
The pace of round 1 kept up from round to round with both men taking turns to hit the other in a real life version of rock-em-sock-em robots. Even a knockdown, in round 2 suffered by Manakane, the fight failed to slow down with Kim unloading a huge flurry before the bell eventually came to give some respite to the visitor. The break following the round seemed to totally recharge Manakane’s batteries as he came back in round 3 and forced Kim backwards, unloading shots whilst Kim was on the ropes needing to prove his chin, a chin that has apparently broken the hands of Japanese fighters that he’s sparred with. How Kim managed to remain on his feet for the full 3 minutes was a mystery though also a testament to his toughness, heart and will to win.
The relentless pace continued in round 4 as the two men continued to chip away at each other with hayemakers and inside battling that consisted of huge shot after huge shot. From one edge of the ring to the other the shots just kept coming with neither man willing to slow down or show any sign of being hurt. It was the sadistic and relentless violence that allows boxing’s detractors to view the sport as little more than barbaric, but it’s also the type of action that draws us into the twisted sport.
By the start of round 5 Manakane seemed to realise that pounding the jaw of Kim wasn’t the best idea though his lack of a plan B allowed Kim to bore in and unload eventually breaking the spirit of the Indonesian who had given his all for 4 none stop rounds.
The crowd may have been small, and rather unimpressed by the action they got, and the bout may have lacked international attention at the time however now, more than 4 years later, we can appreciate it in all it’s glory as the first of the “Closet Classics” collection
For those who haven’t seen the fight it’s embedded into this article, and it really is a treat and something that was completely over-looked by many who perhaps didn’t get the chance to see it.
Note-Records given for the fighters as they entered the bout
Scott Graveson covers the Asian boxing scene for www.asianboxing.info
