RANDY SUICO vs ICHITARO ISHII

Boxing fans in Japan have seen a lot of exciting title fights this year, from local-rivalry clashes to world title bouts, and they are likely to witness another good one on Saturday when the veteran Filipino, Randy Suico, defends his Orient and Pacific lightweight title against Japan’s Ichitaro Ishii.

Each man is known for being aggressive and crowd-pleasing. Suico is taller and more experienced. He has fought at a much higher level, including a world title defeat against Juan Diaz in Las Vegas.

Ishii, a few years the younger man at 26, has lost only once in the last six years, when he was befuddled and outsmarted by the crafty southpaw Kengo Nagashima. A good left-hooker, Ishii had a career-best win in March when he knocked out Hiroshi Nakamori in two rounds to become the Japanese champion.

Suico has never lost at the Oriental level. His three defeats were all on the road — two in the U.S., one in South Africa. He is a strong, busy fighter who hits heavily, and he has excellent stamina. Suico is perfectly at home in Japan, where he has boxed several times, and he has a Japanese mentor in the knowledgeable Joe Koizumi.

In breaking down this contest, I reviewed Suico’s last fight, a draw with Nihito Arakawa, and I thought that the Filipino looked particularly slow and hittable. Suico’s physical strength and pressure earned him the draw, but Arakawa, a clever southpaw, outboxed him in the early rounds and went toe-to-toe with him in the last two rounds, when each man threw a lot of punches.

It could be that Arakawa’s shifty, southpaw stance was “wrong” for Suico, just as Nagashima’s slick, southpaw style bedevilled Ishii. On Saturday, Suico and Ishii each faces a boxer after his own heart — someone who will stand and fight.

This should be a terrific, all-action fight. When I first started to analyse it I was going to go for Suico, but I have the slightest of suspicions that he could be at the stage of his career where a Japanese fighter might finally be able to beat him. Ishii is the fresher fighter, he seems to be the quicker of the two men and he appears to have the chin that can stand up to Suico’s heavy hits. Pulling the trigger on a pick, I am going to take Ishii to edge out a narrow points victory.