High Visibility: Rendall Munroe vs Toshiaki Nishioka Preview & Prediction
The man in the fluorescent green jacket shoots for the green belt this weekend as Leicester bin man Rendall Munroe locks horns with the top rated super bantamweight in the world, Toshiaki Nishioka in Tokyo.
Boxing is still the sport to consult for remarkable stories and Munroe’s is very definitely that. For the end of his own personal rainbow to touch down in such an extraordinary location merely adds another layer to his tale, as he bids to fulfil a dream thousands of miles away from the humdrum streets he regularly plies his trade.
Munroe is the European super bantamweight boss, a busy fisted lefty and a slow burner who tends to move through the gears gradually before coming on like a steam train. Sporting a record of 21-1 (9), he is unbeaten in eleven bouts dating back to 2006 and is ranked seventh at the weight by Ring Magazine.
Nishioka inherited his alphabet belt from the fantastic Israel Vazquez, after the Mexican warlord had it upgraded and then snatched away entirely due to a prolonged injury absence. A nimble southpaw known as the “Speed King”, he wields a deadly left hand, one which has helped rid him of 23 foes in a career reading 36-4-3. Since invading super bantamweight he remains unbeaten, a run which has lasted more than six years and thirteen bouts and has allowed him to emerge as the number one man at the weight.
In terms of height and reach it would appear to be a wash between the pair, although, Munroe looks to be a bigger man physically, an advantage he is going to need to put to smart use in order to come up trumps here. At 30, Rendall is the younger man by four years, yet in terms of fighting age he’s even sprightlier again. Nishioka began punching for money some eight years previous to his challenger’s maiden voyage, tucking away an additional and invaluable 100 rounds of pro experience in the process.
If we take away a couple of early reverses, which really matter not a jot in the grand scheme of things, the only man to have blemished Nishioka’s record was the rock hard Thai, Veeraphol Sahaprom (responsible for the remaining two defeats and the pair of draws). Down at bantamweight and over the space of four years Nishioka took four cracks at Sahaprom’s alphabet title, yet came up a smidgen short each time. The final disappointment brought about a rise in weight which reignited what had appeared to be a floundering career, and he’s never looked back since.
Munroe has tasted defeat only once. In his eleventh pro outing he fell short on the cards against the classy boxing Andy Morris for the British featherweight title. Rendall quickly regrouped by heading in the same direction as Nishioka. After dropping down to super bantamweight, he snatched an English title against Londoner, Mark Callaghan.
In his very next fight he was thrown in with the heavily favoured Kiko Martinez for the Spaniard’s European title and, thanks to a late surge, he pulled off the upset win via majority decision. After five successful defences (including a more comfortable win over Martinez second time around) he was handed a title elimination match against Mexican Victor Terrazas. After some nifty work on promoter Frank Maloney’s part (ensuring Terrazas was successfully imported amid the volcanic ash crisis) Munroe appeared to be blowing the biggest break of his career in giving away the opening four rounds.
Finally hitting full stride in the fifth, Munroe overwhelmed Terrazas, backing him to the ropes before working him over with short, chopping combinations. A body shot terminated matters in the ninth to gloss over Munroe’s shoddy start, yet one feels he’ll need to get into his groove a lot sooner in the Sumo Arena (Kokugikan) to stand any chance of victory.
Nishioka looks a shrewd operator, a hunter with one objective- to land his dynamite left hand. Always busy with his right he’ll use it to block, feint and parry without necessarily jabbing, permanently measuring his man all the while for his pay-off punch.
He’s on a hot streak with it too, offing his last four opponents inside schedule. After a rather bruising encounter against Genaro Garcia at the beginning of 2009, Nishioka managed to force a final round stoppage with left uppercuts. He followed that by almost belting Jhonny Gonzalez clean out of the ring with a sweeping left hook, before dusting off his pet punch once more to wrap up the year against Ivan Hernandez, forcing him to quit on his stool with a busted jaw at the end of round three.
In his single outing this year, he took the unbeaten Filipino Balweg Bangoyan apart in five rounds. After Bangoyan swang a body shot in the fifth, Nishioka held him off cannily with his right and with his eyes locked on his opponent’s chin, he zeroed in with a crunching straight left. Although the young challenger made it to his feet he was quickly polished off. It was a hugely impressive demolition.
He can be troubled though. He was dropped in the opening round against Gonzalez after being caught squared up with a straight right, although, it should be noted that he never really looked in serious danger of being stopped. He was forced to give ground against Garcia for long spells in their encounter whilst the pressure fighting Veeraphol dragged him through the wars in every one of their meetings.
Munroe must get out of the blocks here. He needs to land plenty of lead left hands and most importantly, he needs to press Nishioka, taking away the leverage the Japanese willl require in order to put some kick behind his counter lefts. Recklessly rushing into his man won’t do it though you feel, and Munroe has been guilty in the past of keeping his head static when advancing. If he can get himself in Nishioka’s face, crowd him against the ropes and get off with short, multi-punch combos inside, then he can find success, yet I can’t stress enough the importance of a good opening.
Punchers have a way of dealing with those who take a while to get going, namely by taking them out of the argument before it’s even begun. Not only could a lax opening cost Munroe dearly on the scorecards, it could very well cost him the fight.Whilst pretty evenly matched physically, Nishioka is the schemer of the pair. Munroe tends to box to orders (from the canny Jason Shinfield) and can frustrate at times when his tactics require readjustment. One feels of the two, his opponent is the more naturally intuitive fighter and probably has more ways to win as a result.
There’s also the climate. From personal experience Tokyo can be an extremely humid place at this time of the year, which is something to consider for those expecting Munroe to outwork his man down the stretch.
Despite the daunting task facing him, I feel that if Munroe can find his best form then he has every chance of pulling off a famous victory. If he can avoid being cold-cocked with the left, he can win more sessions than the home fighter due to his greater punch output, hunger and drive. Although he’s boxing away from home, a Japanese fight crowd is about the least hostile he could have hoped for; respect is very much the order of the day for visiting prizefighters.
Nishioka will be dangerous until the end and there’ll be a constant menace to his punching throughout. Munroe is a grafter though, a true working man who, regardless of how well his big chance plays out this weekend, fully intends to return to his bin round when he lands back in Blighty. It’s a story that deserves a good ending, a most welcome antidote to the greed and over-remuneration which blights England’s media drenched national sport.
Munroe paid tribute to the late Alan Rudkin on his passing last month, explaining that the brilliant scouser’s memorable bid to dethrone the great Fighting Harada in 1965 would be in his thoughts in Tokyo. Victory this weekend would be a tribute like no other.
Nishioka is the heavy betting favourite, which is no surprise when one considers his pedigree. He can be backed at around 4/9 with Munroe great value at 5/2. I like Munroe to triumph on points and he can be found at a really rather terrific 13/2.
The fight is televised live on Sky Sports on Sunday from 10am.
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