TAKEFUMI SAKATA vs DENKAOSAN KAOVICHIT

Japan’s Takefumi Sakata wins his fights on pressure and punch-volume but at 28 he just might be wearing out a little. Although the scores were wide, the WBA flyweight champion had a tough time against the less-experienced Hiroyuki Hisataka in July. He was cut badly in that fight and Hisataka finished strongly.

At some stage Sakata is not going to be able to win these attrition-type fights, and it is by no means certain that he will get past Denkaosan Kaovichit, of Thailand, in their championship rematch in Hiroshima next Wednesday.

The two fought to a gruelling draw in November 2007, when Sakata was dropped by a right hand in the first round. By the later rounds Sakata had a bloody nose and was cut over both eyes, but he kept the pressure on Denkaosan, and the Thai had a point deducted for holding in the last round, which cost him the fight.

Some Thai world title challengers are exposed at the higher level but others prove to be capable fighters. Although Denkaosan had been stopped by Eric Morel in California in his only previous bout outside of Thailand — a WBA title challenge in 2002 — he had improved with experience. He showed good counter-punching ability, slamming in some heavy rights to the body, and he looked strong and durable.

The first fight boiled down to Sakata’s higher punch-output and Denkaosan’s harder hitting, and the verdict could have gone either way, meaning that the draw was probably a fair result.

Denkaosan has won five fights since then, easy victories over outclassed opponents. He has been 12 rounds a number of times and he likes to fight at a steady pace, whereas Sakata employs a swarming type of style.

In the first fight, Sakata started slowly, suffering the opening-round knockdown and trailing on points on all three judges’ cards after seven rounds. He will want to get off to a much better start this time. If he doesn’t, he will once again find himself needing a late rush to hang onto the title.

Sakata is the younger man by four years but he has had some tough fights and I think it is starting to show. He is a tenacious, gritty fighter who gives his all, and I believe he will dig down deep and grind out a narrow win on sheer hard work and determination — I’m not sure how much longer he can keep doing it, though.