New Non-HW Boxers Rated

[CONN CHRIS]

GENKI OHNAKA

Hometown - Tokuyama, Yamaguchi, Japan

13(6)-4-1

Held the OPBF Strawweight title which he lost to Rodel Mayol in his first defense. Fought once in 2004, TKO'd by Junichiro Kaneda in round 5 after being put on the canvas twice.

[CONN CHRIS]

TAMSANQA SOGCWE

Home - East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa

22(10)-7-1

Sogcwe was not stopped in 30 pro bouts although he was never tested away from South Africa. Held the South African Straw title, losing it to Paul Oulden. Earlier in his career, Sogcwe held the South African and Cape Provincial jr Flyweight belts. He bucked the general trend by moving DOWN to the strawweight division.

[CONN CHRIS]

JOSE FIGUEROA

Hometown - Tijuana, Mexico

5(4)-2-0

Figueroa seems to have a little power but he's only fought Mexican shoe shine boys thus far and two of them gave him a nice polishing. Even his Mexican Strawweight title win came over an 0-7 clubbie. He took the WBE (whatever that is) title against a fighter who was 1-2-0 at the time. A wispy paper champion if ever there was one.

[CONN CHRIS]

SIMPHIWE MFANISO

Born - South Africa

3(1)-3-0

South African club fighter that ran off three wins and got a national title shot with Paul Oulden. Not much to look at besides that loss.

[CONN CHRIS]

ZOLILE NGANTWENI

Born - South Africa

3(1)-7-2

Light-hitting straw that fought for and lost the South African title twice. TKo's to Paul Oulden and Tamsanqa Sogcwe.

[CONN CHRIS]

EDIN CECILIO TEJEDOR

Hometown - Panama City, Panama

5(4)-5-2

Went 5(4)-2-2 as a Straw including a loss for the Panamanian title. Then moved up to jr Fly and dropped three more bouts before calling it quits.

[CONN CHRIS]

NKOSINATHI JOYI

Born - South Africa

11(8)-0-0

Young, hard-hitting South African Strawweight Champion that has yet to be seriously tested. Has averaged two rounds per stoppage victory. An experienced, but mediocre Wele Maqolo took him to the bell in Joyi's last outing.

[CONN CHRIS]

YUICHI HOSONO

Hometown - Tokoyo, Japan

22(12)-4-1

Former Japanese Strawweight Champ. Unlike many at this weight level, Hosono did well stepping up in weight, going 6-2 as a jr Flyweight with his only losses in title fights with Myung-Woo Yuh and Saman Sorjaturong.

[CONN CHRIS]

MAKOTO KANO

Home - Japan

0-5-0

Japanese club fighter that lost a string of four round affairs around the Tokoyo area in the early eighties.

[CONN CHRIS]

SITHEMBELE KIBITI

Hometown - Cape Town, South Africa

15(11)-2-0

South African and All Africa Strawweight Champion. Stopped Steve Msimanga in the second round of a title fight. One of his two losses came at the hands of Bert Batawang when Kibiti stepped up to jr Fly for a chance at the WBA Pan African Belt.

[CONN CHRIS]

LEONARDO RODRIGUEZ

Born - Mexico

0-9-0

Rodriguez served as an on and off strawweight punching bag for seven years. He was even passed-off as an opponent for Omar Soto in a bout for the Mexican Belt. If anyone ever tells you that the Mexican Strawweight Belt isn't legit, don't believe them.

[CONN CHRIS]

OMAR SOTO

Hometown - Hidalgo, Mexico

13(10)-2-1

This Mexican Strawweight Champion has a big punch but no truly impressive wins to-date. His only stoppage loss came at the hands of WBO Latino Flyweight Champ Jose Lopez when Soto tried to step up in weight.

[hamed]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

Thank you for the kind words hamed. I don't known too much about Darchinyan yet, other than he looks like he could be a monster in the flys. What is his weight like? If he is a natural fly and doesn't struggle with it, everyone better look over their shoulder.

If he is the real deal a fight with Wonjongkam would be great. Even though they are at different career stages, they are about the same age. Not sure how keen the IBF and WBC would be on a unification bout. Always fun to see sluggers go at it and see who drops first.

I know nothing about this Vic Vic fellow, let us know if you see something on him.

CONN

Will do CONN CHRIS! Yes, Vic (the IBF champ) will be interesting to follow. I read that Irene was taking it to him in round 10 just before a fireworks display caused them to stop the bout for 10-20 minutes between rounds 10 & 11. By then, Vic apparently recovered & Irene got cold in the night air. It's too bad that fight wasn't on TV, originally it was going to be on TV back in Sept. but one of the many Canes that came ashore in Florida this year postponed their bout.

[shane6969]

Originally Posted by hamed

Conn Chris: Great stuff, as always! I love the data & especially some of the unique names - Lucas could use some of them for his next Star Wars pic!

I see the Aussie Straw you just posted, have you heard of or seen stats of a guy named Vic Vic Patrick (spelling?) - a LW out of Australia? I saw his named mentioned in an article about the new IBF Fly champ, Vic Darchinyan.

Vic Patrick was possibly the best Aussie LW ever. Here is a colour photo of him, and also a set of ratings done by Vistaman.
I saw that Aussie Aboriginal SW Lyall Appo fight in Brisbane around 1991, and he looked a pretty good fighter, I was suprised when he retired. Another Aussie SW that ConnChris might want to do is Jack "The Ripper" Russell who fought for the IBF SW title (I think).

Cheers,

Shane.

[CONN CHRIS]

I thought hamed was talking about a "new" Vic Patrick" that went by "Vic Vic" Thanks for clearing that up. I had the fighter file, but not the picture - Thank you!


Here is what I whipped up on the Ripper. I gave him the benefit of the doubt in a few areas because I was rating him as a straw. He ranged all the way up to Jr. Banatm and fought a ton of title fights (almost every time out).

JACK "The Ripper" RUSSELL
Hometown - Werribee, Victoria, Australia
8(3)-6-1
Russell only dropped one bout as a Strawweight, he defeated Rick Budgen to gain the Australian Strawweight Crown. The Ripper packed a lot title fights into a short career; winning the Australian Jr Flyweight, Australian Flyweight, Australian Jr Bantam, and Asia Pacific Jr Flyweight belts. He also lost a title bid for the IBO Flyweight title to Scotty Olson and to Ratanapol Sor Vorapin for the IBF Strawweight title. Had he been able to stay at strawweight, Russell might have done even better.