Tanaka vs. Sigqibo

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

Tanaka vs. Sigqibo
Kosei Tanaka, DEC
Tanaka All The Way !

Hatanaka vs. Asami
Kento Hatanaka, TKO, R5
Tanaka All The Way !

Kosei Tanaka wins by DECISION  But Sigqibo will put a good fight, but he mite win, the only problem is that he's fighting in japan so he has to get use to where he is fighting, i hope that doesn't affect his performance.


Kento Hatanaka wins by TKO Round 3 easily an easy win here

Kosei Tanaka vs Yanga Sigqibo is a very simple fight to call due to the difference in the dynamics of both participants. Tanaka while defensively not extraordinarily potent, is improving. SInce his move to Ismael Salas, he has developed a mini parry with his lead left hand. If utilized, that may be a vital weapon in this fight to help create angles to approach Sigqibo on the inside, who himself applies a very safety first style of fighting. Tanaka has also become more physical, juxtaposed to the squeaky clean speedster light flyweight he was a few years ago, now he has been forced to employ more physical infighting tactics due to his relatively short arms.

How this fight goes is truly relative to Tanaka's improvements on the frontfoot. If he makes it a physical affair in close proximity, and forces Sigqibo to contest with his extremely bizarre and explosive combination punching, his only counter-attack will be to clinch. Sigqibo for reference has even struggled with/been sequentially overwhelmed by more crude single punchers like Jerald Paclar who would often throw telegraphed hooks to Sigqibo's midsection. If Sigqibo picks up his feet more, whilst he may sacrifice his volume and be in position to punch less being a low volume potshotter, he may neutralize Tanaka's offense and be able to land long straight right hands. I expect him to utilize those tactics early in the fight, but for Tanaka to start framing Yanga's lead hand and long guard and progressively work his way into his preferred range, not too dissimilar to the Lomachenko vs Ortiz fight recently. Once Tanaka finds the body with relative frequency, I struggle to see Sigqibo being able to get into his preferred range enough to make hard, clean contact with his shots as much as he'd like. And I see conditioning, speed, and to an extent Kosei's extraordinarily vast offensive tactical versatility juxtaposed to Yanga to be the biggest difference maker in this fight.

Kosei Tanaka by UD, 116-112

Matsuda vs. Ka****ani
Mihiro Matsuda, DEC
Majority draw.

Yamada vs. Inuzuka
Yuta Yamada, DEC
Majority draw.