Japan’s Shoot Boxing organisation began two new tournaments on Friday night at Shoot Boxing 2012: “Road To S-Cup, Act.2” in Tokyo. 17-year-old prospect Mizuki Inoue advanced to the finals of the “2012 Girls S-Cup 53.5” tournament by stopping Mina in the first of two semi-final matchups.
In the inaugural “JKS48” grand prix for high-school students, Mio Tsumura improved her shoot boxing record to 5-0 by defeating Yuuki Kira. Tsumura, who celebrated her 17th birthday on Saturday, advances alongside Naoko Otsuka to the tournament semi-final round, which takes place in August.
The bout between Inoue and Mina was almost scrapped on the day of the weigh-ins when Mina was unable to make the contracted 53.5kg weight limit. Shoot Boxing officials initially planned to disqualify Mina and award Inoue with a default victory and a spot in the August tournament final. However, Inoue declined to accept the free victory. When a “glove handicap” was proposed that would have forced Mina to wear larger, weaker gloves for the fight, Inoue refused that as well.
At Inoue’s insistence, the fight ultimately proceeded as planned and Mina began the bout with a two-point penalty for her failure to make weight. It would not matter, as Inoue made sure that the bout never made it to the judges.
Mina punched her way into an early clinch and looked to land knees, but Inoue backed away and began to put together combinations to the head and body. She repeatedly scored with lead left hooks and jabs that kept Mina on the defensive. Inoue ducked under a right hook from Mina and countered with a left-right-left combo before bloodying Mina’s nose with jabs as the round came to an end.
It was more of the same in round two. Inoue overwhelmed Mina with her superior striking technique and continued to batter her with stiff jabs and straight rights. Mina launched a series of lunging hooks late in the round, but Inoue sidestepped and avoided any damage. The doctor was called in to check on Mina’s nose, but he allowed the fight to continue. Inoue landed more jabs and left hooks in the final round and the doctor again took a look at Mina’s damaged nose. Action continued and Inoue landed jab after jab until the referee had finally seen enough and called a stop to the one-sided bout.
With the victory, Inoue improves to 3-1 in her shoot boxing career and now advances to the finals of the inaugural Shoot Boxing “2012 Girls S-Cup 53.5” tournament, which concludes in August at a date to be determined. Her opponent will be decided by the second tournament semi-final bout on June 3rd.
Winner: Mizuki Inoue by TKO (Damaged Nose) at 1:01 of round three. She improves to 3-1-0 (SB) and advances to the finals of the Shoot Boxing “2012 Girls S-Cup 53.5” Grand Prix.
Earlier in the night, two quarterfinal bouts in the Shoot Boxing “JKS48” high-school girls’ tournament were contested. Mio Tsumura, protégé of two-time Girls S-Cup champion Rena Kubota, defeated Yuuki Kira in one quarterfinal. Naoko Otsuka made a successful debut by stopping Ranna in the other.
Full Results:
– Mio Tsumura defeated Yuuki Kira by Unanimous Decision (30-25, 30-25, 30-26). She improves to 5-0-0.
– Naoko Otsuka defeated Ranna by TKO (Punches) at 1:33 of round two. She improves to 1-0-0.
Both Tsumura and Otsuka move on to the JKS48 semi-finals in August. The remaining semi-finalists are expected to be determined on June 3rd. The August event is headlined by the one-night 2012 Girls S-Cup tournament at 48kg, which features competitors from all over the world.
Go Yamamoto contributed to this report.
(Photo Credit: Jewels blog)