Tada to defend WBO title in October, Nagai scores upset
Yeterday we reported that a planned bout between Etsuko Tada (20-3-3, 7) [多田悦子], the WBO female Minimumweight champion, and Sana Hazuki (8-5-1, 2) [葉月さな] had to be cancelled at the 11th hour due to the WBO stepping in at the request of a Korean promoter. Today the two women took part in a spar at the EDION Arena Osaka, before Tada spoke about her future.
Tada explained that whilst she did only take part in a spar today, she did have fun, and it seemed clear that she wanted to keep the juices flowing before her next bout. We now know that that next bout is being arranged to take place in South Korea, in October, against Vietnamese fighter Thi Thu Nhi Nguyen (4-0, 1), who is the mandatory challenger for Tada and the WBO female Minimumweight title.
If she beats Nguyen, Tada revealed she wants to face Senseia Estrada in the future, with that bout potentially in her sights for 2022. As for Hazuki she revealed that she'd love to face Tada in a fight, rather than a spar, in the future.
Whilst the Tada Vs Hazuki bout was cancelled, the show went ahead with a different title fight. That was an OPBF female Light Flyweight title bout between Yumi Narita (6-4-3, 1) [成田 佑美] and Kaoru Iga (4-2-1) [伊賀 薫].
On paper it seemed like Iga would be the favourite on paper, though it was Narita who pretty much dominated the bout. She relied on her experience, jab, work rate and fighting spirit to take an early lead and never look back. Iga was landing good punches through out the contest, but Narita pressed the action, dictated the tempo and in the end ran out the clear winner as she claimed the title.
After 8 rounds the scores were 79-73 to Narita, twice, and 78-74.
For Narita this leaves her in a strange position. She's now the Japanese national champion at 105lbs and the OPBF champion at 108lbs. As for Iga this is going to be a real learning experience for her, and it will be interesting to see how she bounces back from such a wide loss.
Tada explained that whilst she did only take part in a spar today, she did have fun, and it seemed clear that she wanted to keep the juices flowing before her next bout. We now know that that next bout is being arranged to take place in South Korea, in October, against Vietnamese fighter Thi Thu Nhi Nguyen (4-0, 1), who is the mandatory challenger for Tada and the WBO female Minimumweight title.
If she beats Nguyen, Tada revealed she wants to face Senseia Estrada in the future, with that bout potentially in her sights for 2022. As for Hazuki she revealed that she'd love to face Tada in a fight, rather than a spar, in the future.
Whilst the Tada Vs Hazuki bout was cancelled, the show went ahead with a different title fight. That was an OPBF female Light Flyweight title bout between Yumi Narita (6-4-3, 1) [成田 佑美] and Kaoru Iga (4-2-1) [伊賀 薫].
On paper it seemed like Iga would be the favourite on paper, though it was Narita who pretty much dominated the bout. She relied on her experience, jab, work rate and fighting spirit to take an early lead and never look back. Iga was landing good punches through out the contest, but Narita pressed the action, dictated the tempo and in the end ran out the clear winner as she claimed the title.
After 8 rounds the scores were 79-73 to Narita, twice, and 78-74.
For Narita this leaves her in a strange position. She's now the Japanese national champion at 105lbs and the OPBF champion at 108lbs. As for Iga this is going to be a real learning experience for her, and it will be interesting to see how she bounces back from such a wide loss.