Muranaka hospitalized; Japan’s bantam title bout cancelled

By Joe Koizumi

Somebody up there doesn’t like the Japanese bantamweight championship bout, which hasn’t taken place since January—with three cancellations. The national 118-pound title bout for the vacant throne of former world challenger Suguru Muranaka and Yuta Saito was scheduled to be held today (Friday), but it was abruptly cancelled yesterday since Muranaka, who reportedly failed to make weight, was hospitalized probably due to dehydration.

Before mentioning Muranaka, we pay our attention to the Japanese bantamweight title go at first. On January 18, defending champ Ryo Akaho, who had often committed an overweight incident, was hospitalized because of dehydration a couple of days before the fight and his defense with the top contender Yusuke Suzuki was therefore called off with Akaho’s belt vacant.On April 12, Akaho’s challenger-to-be #1 Yusuke Suzuki was supposed to dispute the vacant title with #2 Suguru Muranaka, but Suzuki’s sudden injury in training caused a cancellation.

This time, the title bout between #2 Muranaka and #3 Saito has been again called off with the former’s hospitalization.

Back to Muranaka (26-3-1, 8 KOs), a talented boxer-puncher who had an ambitious crack at the WBA 115-pound belt against Khalid Yafai, losing a unanimous nod in Birmingham UK in May of the previous year, he previously had a problematic record of weight-making. When Suguru was the Japanese flyweight champ, he, in his third defense with #1 Tetsuma Hayashi, couldn’t make the 112-pound and scaled in at 114.75, two pounds and three quarter over the limit, in April 2015. But Muranaka, in an overweight bout, unanimously defeated Hayashi on points. The Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) punished him to order a six-month suspension.

In his comeback fight in October 2015, Muranaka committed an overweight case and his fight was cancelled so that the JBC suspended him again. After he returned to ring warfare to score three victories, Suguru was rendered a title shot at Khalid Yafai in UK. Reviewing his notorious weight-failing records, it was so fortunate that he could pass the weigh-in in Birmingham and entered the ring with Yafai as a legitimate challenger in terms of weight-making.

The JBC will announce the next schedule for the leading available contenders including #3 Saito (10-9-3, 7 KOs) to dispute the vacant national belt. “Somebody up there likes me” was the title of Rocky Graziano’s biography, but should somebody write that of Suguru Muranaka, what title will be put on? Somebody up there hates me?