TOSHIAKI NISHIOKA vs GENARO GARCIA

Japan’s Toshiaki Nishioka is one of those fighters who kept plugging away and finally achieved their dream. Just like Jersey Joe Walcott, Nishioka became a champ at the fifth attempt when he outpointed the strong Thai, Napapol, to become the WBC’s interim champion at 122 pounds. He defends the title against Mexico’s Genaro Garcia on Jan. 3 as part of a world title double-header in Yokohama.

Nishioka has had to overcome adversity. He suffered cuts in his gruelling four-bout series with the Thai, Veeraphol, for the bantam title — two losses on points, two draws. In 2003 he was inactive for 10 months after suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon.

When Nishioka went into the ring against Napapol he was considered a faded fighter, with just eight bouts (all wins) in the past four years. The 32-year-old Nishioka fought a smart, gritty fight against a durable opponent who looked the bigger man. Nishioka suffered a cut over the right eye but he piled up points in the early rounds and withstood heavy pressure down the stretch for a well-deserved win.

Nishioka’s defence against Garcia looks like being a tough one. Garcia, 31, is making his third world title challenge in two years. He was outpointed by Hozumi Hasegawa in Japan and stopped in the seventh by Nicaraguan Luis Perez in bantamweight title bids. Garcia might have been weight-drained in the loss to Perez. He moved up to 122 pounds after the fight and soundly outpointed the once-beaten Miguel Roman in a 12-rounder, knocking down and almost stopping the hometown fighter in the opening round of a thriller in Juarez.

When Garcia fought Hasegawa he suffered two flash knockdowns but otherwise it was a well-contested bout. Two points deducted from Garcia’s score for being dangerous with his head made the scores wider in Hasegawa’s favour.

Garcia was outboxed in most of the rounds by the southpaw Hasegawa, who often made him miss and countered him. He meets another southpaw counter puncher on Jan. 3, but Nishioka is not considered as fast or as talented as Hasegawa.

I think that Nishioka’s sound boxing skills and accurate left-hand hitting will enable him to overcome Garcia’s pressure-fighter style, but I see this as a highly competitive fight that could be close on the cards if, as expected, it goes the full distance.