At the very end of 2012 Japanese "nearly man" Kohei Kono (28-7, 11) claimed the biggest victory of his career as he stopped the highly regarded Thai Tepparith Kokietgym for the WBA Super Flyweight title. This coming Monday he'll look to defend that belt for the first time when he faces Venezuelan Liborio Solis (14-3-1, 7) who has, for the past 17 months or so, been the "interim" WBA Super Flyweight champion.
Although Kono's record looks somewhat disappointing for a world champion he's been one of the more unfortunate fighters in recent years. He suffered a debut loss in 2000 and picked up several others early in his career before going on a great run in 2007 that saw him claiming the Japanese and OPBF titles at 115lbs.
Sadly when Kono first stepped up to the world level he came agonisingly close in a split decision loss to Nobuo Nashiro in a fantastic bout. The set back to Nashiro probably deserved a rematch though unfortunately Kono would have to wait 12 months before he got his next chance at a world title, losing that time to Tomas Rojas despite dropping Rojas.
Since the loss to Rojas, Kono has gone 3-2 with losses to Yohei Tobe (over 8 rounds) and the recently deposed WBC Super Flyweight champion Yota Sato as well as the victory over Tepparith.
Aged 32 it's fair to say that Kono will not be wanting to hand his title over with out going through hell and with his genuine toughness as well as his under-rated power he'll happily drag opponents to hell and back. Sure he's not a major puncher but when he has his man hurt he can really take them out with his aggression. In terms of his boxing, he's not got anything that really stands out, but then he's also not got any major weaknesses. Sure he can be out-boxed, Rojas and Sato showed that, though he's very determined and will refuse to admit defeat until the final bell.
The Venezuelan challenger is slightly younger than the champion though is also less experienced, especially against world level competition and more tellingly comes in to this bout with more than a year out of the ring.
Solis, like Kono made his debut back in 2000 and after making a winning start he would move to 3-0-1 before vanishing off the boxing map for over 5 years. Since returning to the ring in 2007 he has won 11 of 13 contests with his only losses coming against Henry Maldonado and Ricardo Nunez.
Despite his relatively impressive run of results in terms of numbers Solis hasn't yet beaten a genuinely proven opponent, in fact his best wins are over Jose Salgado and Rafael Concepcion. Solid opponents though certainly not proven world championship level (Concepcion did however give Nonito Donaire a difficult fight and did defeat AJ Banal).
With Solis lacking the punch needed to discourage Kono and not quite having the skills to get away with spending a year out I can't help but feel that a determined Kono manages to hurt, and then stop Solis in the middle rounds. I might be wrong (I often am!) but I do see him wanting to prove a point.
Prediction-Kono TKO7
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