Toshiyuki Igarashi

Many fight fans believe that "Ring Magazine" and "Linear" champions are the real champions in our sport, however if you asked your average boxing fan who the current Flyweight champion was they'd be unlikely to know. That's because it's obscure Japanese fighter Toshiyuki Igarashi (16-1-1, 10) who claimed not only the Ring and Linear titles but also the WBC Flyweight titles just a few months ago.

Igarashi earned his titles by narrowly out pointing tough Filipino Sonny Boy Jaro in July after Jaro had himself scored one of the upsets of the year stopping Thai legend Pongsaklek Wonjongkam. This passing of the torch has frustrated many fans who knew what Wonjongkam was about, however with Igarashi we have a bit of an unknown leading a division that is packed with premier level talent.

Despite being a relative unknown Igarashi has actually been around for years, in fact for those with great memories they may well remember him from the 2004 Athens Olympics. Sadly at the Olympics Igarashi was disappointing and lost in his opening bout to Ethiopian Endelkachew Kabede (who himself lost to eventual Bronze medal winner Zou Shiming). Igarashi would also fight on the world stage at the 2005 World Championships in Mianyang where he was widely out pointed by Vincenzo Picardi.

Less than a year after the World Amateur Championships in Mianyang, Igarashi made his professional debut and defeated South Korean Yun-Woo Kim in 2 rounds. Igarashi would soon add a second victory to his record by stopping a second Korean, this time Jae-Sung Myung, in 6 rounds.

After a successful start to his career Igarashi became more active in 2007 fighting 4 times in the year. After scoring 3 successive victories to start the year Igarashi suffered his first set back as he could only manage a draw with the experienced Naoto Saito in a bout at Light Flyweight. Despite only drawing to Saito it appears that it was a learning experience more than a real set back as Igarashi realised that fighting at Light Flyweight didn't appear to suit him.

Following his draw to Saito, Igarashi moved permanently to Flyweight and swiftly captured the interim Japanese Flyweight title by winning a split decision over Tomoya Kaneshiro. Sadly for Igarashi he would fail in his attempt to claim the full version of the Japanese title at the end of 2008 as he suffered his professional loss, being clearly beaten by Tomonobu Shimizu (who would later go on to claim the WBA World Super Flyweight title).

Since losing to Shimizu, Igarashi has been on a 9 fight winning streak which has seen him not only earning the Japanese Flyweight title (thanks to a stoppage again Takayasu Kobayashi) but also the WBC, Ring and Linear titles thanks to his aforementioned victory over Jaro. It's fair to say that his victory over Jaro has been clearly the biggest victory of his career and the one that actually put him on the boxing map. As well as being a solid victory it was also a hugely entertaining bout with both men rocking each other.

Despite his victory over Jaro boxing fans still don't know much about Igarashi who has got solid power (even if he couldn't stop Jaro). The southpaw is a talented fighter who knows how to use his legs effectively to maintain distance and let his long punches go. He has a solid jab which can force opponents to think twice about cutting the distance and he also has a very powerful straight right hand (which is more than happy to throw when he's comfortable. As well his well schooled skills he also seems to be very durable and took plenty of hard, hurtful shots from Jaro with out too much of a panic.

Whilst he is talented there is plenty of questions to be asked about Igarashi. Not only does he lack real professional experience with just 118 professionals rounds but it's also fair to question how he'd cope with a genuinely top tier fighter for example divisional rivals Brian Viloria, Hernan Marquez or Moruti Mthalane. Igarashi has also shown that he'd rather box at distance so what someone like Mthalane with good timing and defense could do to him would be interesting.

Igarashi will make the first defense of his titles this coming weekend when he faces obscure Argentinian Nestor Daniel Narvaes (19-0-2-1, 9). Whilst not much is really known about Igarashi even less is known about his challenger who has yet to face anyone of any real quality, in fact it may well be fair to say that Narvaes is amongst the very worst challenger for a "Linear" title in quite some time.