The first of 5 world title fights this week sees Argentinian Juan Carlos Revecco (29-1, 16) travel to Japan to defend his WBA Flyweight title against Japanese fighter Masayuki Kuroda (21-3-2, 13) in what promises to be an intriguing contest.
The once beaten Revecco is seen as one of the best kept secrets in boxing mainly due to the fact he's spent much of his career fighting in his homeland. Despite this Revecco has faced notable names through his almost 9 year career which has seen him claiming world titles at both Light Flyweight and Flyweight.
In his first notable bout Revecco claimed the previously vacant WBA Light Flyweight title stopping the previously unbeaten Thai Nethra Sasiprapa in the 8th round. The victory over Sasiprapa was followed by an impressive defense over Humberto Pool before Revecco suffered his lone defeat on points, in France, to the talented Brahim Asloum.
Revecco would bounce back well from his solitary defeat and less than 2 years later Revecco would once again claim a world title as he defeated Mexican Francisco Rosas by split decision to pick up the WBA interim Light Flyweight title. Rather than attempt to make a name for himself at the time in what was a hot division, Revecco instead defended his belt twice against limited opponents including (Ronald Barrera and Armando Torres).
In 2011 Revecco moved up to 112lbs and swiftly claimed the interim WBA Flyweight title, a title he defended twice, including and impressive and hard fought defense against Karim Guerfi, before his status was upgraded to being the full WBA Flyweight champion, a title he will defend for the first time against Kuroda.
Although he has been mixing in world level for around 6 years Revecco has unfortunately been over-looked time and time again due to his relatively poor level of opposition. For example defenses against Humberto Pool and Julian Rivera have done little to reaffirm Revecco as a top level fighter, despite this he has shown very solid skills, fantastic speed and hurtful (though not concussive) punching ability. It's due to his level of competition that Boxrec.com rank him at a relatively poor 13 whilst Ring Magazine currently rank him at a much loftier #7.
Whilst Revecco is a settled fighter at Flyweight the first thing to note about Japanese challenger Kuroda is that he's actually stepping up to the Flyweight division having been a career Light Flyweight and the most recent Japanese Light Flyweight champion. It's as a Light Flyweight that Ring Magazine rank him (#6) and Boxrec rank him (#11) though in all honesty his competition hasn't been great at 108lbs.
Aged 26 Kuroda is a fighter reaching his physical, though unlike many 26 years olds in the sport, he's also a hardened veteran having been a professional for almost 8 years and compiling 142 rounds of professional activity. Though admittedly many of those rounds have come at a limited level and his most notable opponents are probably fringe contender Shigetaka Ikehara and former OPBF champion Katsuhiko Iezumi. Not exactly names on the world stage.
Whilst Kuroda certainly hasn't mixed with the level of opponents that Revecco has (despite Revecco having not faced many genuinely top tier opponents) he does have one very notable advantage going in to this fight and that's home field advantage. The Todoroki Arena in Kawasaki has become a home in recent fights for Kuroda who has fought 3 of his last 4 bouts there (including a draw last time out to the brilliantly named Toshimasa Ouchi). When you factor in that Revecco is 2-1 outside of Argentina and 0-1 out side of the American continent, it's a notable advantage for Kuroda.
Sadly footage of Kuroda is limited and the most notable video I've seen is of Kuroda's loss in 2009 to Richard Garcia in which Kuroda looks slow and a bit too green. Since then he has fought 11 times (winning 9 and drawing 2) and is by all accounts an improved fighter. Despite this however a story from Japan was that hot prospect Naoya Inoue really beat him up in Inoue's test fight for a Japanese license, if that's true then Kuroda may be in trouble here.
This isn't an easy pick, Revecco is a very good fighter but traveling from South America to Asia is never an easy task for a fighter. If Revecco was at home, it'd be a no brainer, though the travel, jet lag and change of environment is likely to be a major factor and with that, I feel Kuroda may just eek out a controversial decision.
Interestingly IF Kuroda does win, a bout between the new champion and Inoue (who is currently just 2-0) could well attract a lot of attention with Inoue attempting to tie the long standing record of Saensak Muangsurin.
Prediction-Kuroda by Split Decision
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