WBA Minimumweight champion Ryo Mayazaki (18-0-3, 10) may have been fortunate to claim the belt on New Years Eve when he over-came the always exciting to watch Kompayak Porpramook though he appears to have an "easy" first defense. The challenger, this coming week to Miyazaki's title is Mexican 22 year old Carlos Velarde (23-2-1, 13), a relatively unknown opponent who has a solid looking record but nothing of any real quality on it.
Miyazaki, a stablemate of Kazuto Ioka was almost gift wrapped the title when Ioka made his move up to Light Flyweight, though as mentioned was pushed unexpectedly hard by Porpramook. This would, I think be fair to say, show the level of difference between Miyazaki and Ioka. Ioka is one of the genuine stand out Japanese fighters whilst Miyazaki is a solid fighter but not on the same level as his gym mate.
With an unbeaten record Miyazaki takes an air of confidence with him in to the ring and like most Japanese fighters he's gone the traditional route to the top claiming both a national title and an OPBF belt prior to his world title winning effort.
Although Miyazaki isn't in the same class as an Ioka (or even a Naoya Inoue) in terms of talent he is a solid fighter who has shown good movement, good work rate and a genuine toughness. It takes a good fighter to defeat Pornsawan Porpramook and Suguru Takizawa though we don't quite know just how good he is.
Whilst the champion has at least his signature win over Porpramook it's fair to say the challenger has yet to score any win of real note. In fact the best opponents on his record are Edwin Diaz and Jesus Silvestre and they both defeated Velarde. Lets also be honest neither Diaz or Silvestre are on the same level as Porpramook.
With Velarde having only really fought on the low level Mexican scene it's fair to say that not only is he stepping up but he's also under-prepared for a world title bout. Equally as worrying for the Mexican is that he hasn't been able to show the power needed to make an impact on a fighter like Miyazaki.
With out the power or the skill level to beat the champion I really can't see any way for Velarde to claim what would not only be the biggest victory of his career but also one of the biggest upsets of the year.
Prediction-Miyazaki TKO10
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