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
Showing posts with label Liborio Solis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liborio Solis. Show all posts
Sunday, 5 May 2013
Thursday, 27 September 2012
Liborio Solis v Victor Zaleta
WBA "interim" Super Flyweight champion Liborio Solis (14-3-1, 7) looks to make the second defense of his title as he faces Mexican challenger Victor Zaleta (20-2-1, 10) in a bout that really will only interest the hardcore of the hardcore. Sadly it's a bout that tells us everything we need to know about "interim" titles and why they are a waste of time for us, the fans.
Solis won the "interim" title last December by out pointing Mexican Jose Salgado in a split decision and since then he has made a solitary defense, by defeating the completely undeserving Argentinian Santiago Ivan Acosta (who had lost 7 of his previous 8 bouts!).
Prior to winning the "interim" title, Solis' career had been fought in relative obscurity mainly in his native Venezuela where he debuted back in 2000. It was in Venezuela that Solis would record his first 3 professional victories before suffering a technical draw with Jose Ignacio Sanchez. Oddly following this draw Solis' doesn't seem to have fought again for 5 years before resurfacing in 2007.
On his return to the ring, Solis scored 2 more victories at home before suffering his first loss as he traveled to Aruba and was out pointed by Yenifel Vicente. Solis would quickly bounce back and win his next 4 contests and also claim his first professional title (the Venezuelan Super Flyweight title) before suffering back to back losses away from home (SD9 to Henry Maldonado in Nicaragua, and a UD8 loss to Ricardo Nunez in Panama).
Since the loss to Nunez, Solis has been on a run of 5 straight wins with the highlight of those being the victory, in Mexico over Salgado for the title.
In terms of his style, I've seen pretty limited footage, however he's looked a talented fighter in all that I've seen. He's not a big hitter but lands cleanly with a huge variety of punches (on both the outside and inside) and looks a much more skilled all-round fighter than most other Venezuelans who tend to stand out for one reason another as opposed to being particularly rounded.
The challenger, Victor Zaleta, started his own professional career in 2007 and won his first 6 contests. Amazingly in those 6 bouts he defeated two former world champions (Eric Ortiz-former WBC Light Flyweight champion and Jose Antonio Aguirre-former WBO Minimumweight champion).
Zaleta suffered his first professional loss in his 7th bout as he was out pointed by Faustino Cupul in an attempt to claim the NABF Flyweight title however he bounced back quickly and claimed the vacant WBC FECOMBOX Super Flyweight title in his very next bout by stopping Gilberto Keb Baas. Despite having only fought 8 times up to this point Zaleta had defeated 2 "former" champions and one "future" champion, an impressive stat by anyone's standards.
Zaleta would swiftly move his record to 17-1 defending his WBC FECOMBOX title twice (including scoring a second win over Keb Baas) and adding the CABOFE Super Flyweight title to his cabinet before fighting for his first world title. Sadly for Zaleta he came up short against the incredibly talented Argentinian Omar Andres Narvaez in a bout for the WBO Super Flyweight title.
Since losing to Narvaez, Zaleta has won 3 and drawn one, and defended the WBC FECOMBOX Super Flyweight title twice. Worryingly however Zaleta has been downed in 2 of those 4 fights perhaps showing signs of struggling to make the 115lbs Super Flyweight limit and he has also been somewhat lucky not to have picked up another loss with 3 split decisions (including the draw) in those 4 bouts.
Despite an excellent start to his career Zaleta hasn't really fulfilled his early promise, however he is still a very hard working Mexican fighter, not the most skilled but he has a lot of heart and has got genuinely hurtful power (just ask Gilberto Keb Baas who was stopped in eye catching fashion in their first bout). Sadly however in his biggest fight to date he was totally outclassed by Narvaez who was far too good and almost made Zaleta freeze in the ring.
This is a pretty hard fight to call, though with the home advantage I have to go with Solis to retain his title. Whilst he may not hit hard enough to stop Zaleta I think he's probably a bit too skilled for the Mexican who will refuse to go away but will struggle to enforce his style on the bout.
Prediction- Solis UD12
Solis won the "interim" title last December by out pointing Mexican Jose Salgado in a split decision and since then he has made a solitary defense, by defeating the completely undeserving Argentinian Santiago Ivan Acosta (who had lost 7 of his previous 8 bouts!).
Prior to winning the "interim" title, Solis' career had been fought in relative obscurity mainly in his native Venezuela where he debuted back in 2000. It was in Venezuela that Solis would record his first 3 professional victories before suffering a technical draw with Jose Ignacio Sanchez. Oddly following this draw Solis' doesn't seem to have fought again for 5 years before resurfacing in 2007.
On his return to the ring, Solis scored 2 more victories at home before suffering his first loss as he traveled to Aruba and was out pointed by Yenifel Vicente. Solis would quickly bounce back and win his next 4 contests and also claim his first professional title (the Venezuelan Super Flyweight title) before suffering back to back losses away from home (SD9 to Henry Maldonado in Nicaragua, and a UD8 loss to Ricardo Nunez in Panama).
Since the loss to Nunez, Solis has been on a run of 5 straight wins with the highlight of those being the victory, in Mexico over Salgado for the title.
In terms of his style, I've seen pretty limited footage, however he's looked a talented fighter in all that I've seen. He's not a big hitter but lands cleanly with a huge variety of punches (on both the outside and inside) and looks a much more skilled all-round fighter than most other Venezuelans who tend to stand out for one reason another as opposed to being particularly rounded.
The challenger, Victor Zaleta, started his own professional career in 2007 and won his first 6 contests. Amazingly in those 6 bouts he defeated two former world champions (Eric Ortiz-former WBC Light Flyweight champion and Jose Antonio Aguirre-former WBO Minimumweight champion).
Zaleta suffered his first professional loss in his 7th bout as he was out pointed by Faustino Cupul in an attempt to claim the NABF Flyweight title however he bounced back quickly and claimed the vacant WBC FECOMBOX Super Flyweight title in his very next bout by stopping Gilberto Keb Baas. Despite having only fought 8 times up to this point Zaleta had defeated 2 "former" champions and one "future" champion, an impressive stat by anyone's standards.
Zaleta would swiftly move his record to 17-1 defending his WBC FECOMBOX title twice (including scoring a second win over Keb Baas) and adding the CABOFE Super Flyweight title to his cabinet before fighting for his first world title. Sadly for Zaleta he came up short against the incredibly talented Argentinian Omar Andres Narvaez in a bout for the WBO Super Flyweight title.
Since losing to Narvaez, Zaleta has won 3 and drawn one, and defended the WBC FECOMBOX Super Flyweight title twice. Worryingly however Zaleta has been downed in 2 of those 4 fights perhaps showing signs of struggling to make the 115lbs Super Flyweight limit and he has also been somewhat lucky not to have picked up another loss with 3 split decisions (including the draw) in those 4 bouts.
Despite an excellent start to his career Zaleta hasn't really fulfilled his early promise, however he is still a very hard working Mexican fighter, not the most skilled but he has a lot of heart and has got genuinely hurtful power (just ask Gilberto Keb Baas who was stopped in eye catching fashion in their first bout). Sadly however in his biggest fight to date he was totally outclassed by Narvaez who was far too good and almost made Zaleta freeze in the ring.
This is a pretty hard fight to call, though with the home advantage I have to go with Solis to retain his title. Whilst he may not hit hard enough to stop Zaleta I think he's probably a bit too skilled for the Mexican who will refuse to go away but will struggle to enforce his style on the bout.
Prediction- Solis UD12
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