Rodriguez harassed and brutalized Takayama and only one of the best engines in the sport kept him in the battle?
The likely Fight of the Year was fought in Mexico last night as hometown hero and the world?s #5 flyweight Francisco ?Chihuas? Rodriguez (now 15-2) defeated #2 flyweight Katsunari ?Lightning? Takayama (now 27-6) by the narrowest of margins in a stone-cold thriller. Scores of 115-112, 116-111 and the ludicrous 119-108 handed in by American John Madfis failed to reflect the heart-fueled nip-and-tuck displayed by both men.
Both men flew to ring-center at bell, Takayama literally running to his mark and letting fly, Rodriguez momentarily disturbed by the direct savagery of Takayama?s attack. Soon, the Japanese settled into his circling rhythm, moving around the Mexican and forcing him to move also, before foraging attacks initiated with swiftness and surety began to generate the exchanges that would decide the fight. Even in the first, Rodriguez successfully scored with his equalizer, a searing left-hook to the body, but in the second he landed it with notable success in a round that went to Takayama by only a sliver. A left-hook to the head stumbled Takayama noticeably in the final twenty seconds. This punch shook up more than the Japanese, it also shook his fight plan which called for domination in the early rounds by virtue of the fact that Rodriguez was bound to shake starch from him with that power-punching body attack ? the third took on a symbolic significance worth more than the value of the points it represented.
I wrote in previewing this fight that Rodriguez?s mission was to ?carve out a style advantage where one does not exist? but that ?he was willing to take a risk to make that happen? using unsound footwork to keep the pressure on an opponent whose lack of punching power made him a target for an old-fashioned walk-through. This, Rodriguez did, keeping his hands high but stepping in, making himself available for Takayama?s powderpuff punches, which are many and varied but without steam. The Japanese was moving always to his left, away from Rodriguez?s hook, but with the right angle this ceases to matter; the Mexican stepped inside Takayama?s reach, fearlessly, and as Takayama stepped away Rodriguez drove a left uppercut from his boots and detonated it on his opponent?s chin. Takayama was shaped to punch; shaped to negate the hook. The uppercut sent him tumbling onto his backside and although he was up at one, signalling to his corner that he was well, it undid his domination of round one and his shading of round two in one fell swoop. In terms of momentum it was an enormous punch.
Takayama boxed out the remaining two minutes like the knockdown had never happened; Rodriguez tried to bring some finishing pressure, but he was forced to move too quickly to remain balanced against his fleet-footed opponent and returned to his strategy of shoveling pain into Takayama?s midriff when he came inside.
But it was the Japanese who took the fourth with a display of speed and heart as impressive as can be seen in the ring, surging forwards into his opponent?s harder punches to deliver the volume necessary to bring him the round. Both men were throwing a huge number of punches and although both would draw warnings throughout for pulling the head down, or leaning, there was not a clinch to be seen.
How can it be that Wladimir Klitschko and Floyd Mayweather draw millions of viewers and make millions of dollars with their dry, defensive styles and two flat-out warlords like Rodriguez and Takayama go so shamefully unappreciated? It must be assumed that size really does matter.
Despite stiffening resistance from Rodriguez, and a quite astonishing and violent rally in the final seconds, I thought Takayama flurried his way to the fifth, re-establishing the two-point lead that the third round knockdown had cost him. The sixth was an incredible display by both men, Rodriguez taking the early exchanges with superb positioning, keeping his right foot outside Takayama?s left, forcing him to run the gauntlet by moving to his left across the Rodriguez offense, or to his right, chancing the Mexican?s deadly left-hook. It looked for the first time like Takayama might crumble, strategically if not physically, but he warred his way back into the round, and by the end of it he had, incredibly, driven Rodriguez to the ropes. The round, like the fight, was balanced on a knife?s edge, and going into the seventh I had Takayama but a point ahead.
Rodriguez seemed to want to rest in that frame, ceding the round without suffering any significant damage, underlining Takayama?s shortage of power once more. If he was a hitter of merit, Takayama might be unbeatable, but it is not so, so he jabs, he moves, he comes inside and plants his feet. Rodriguez remained unimpressed in the eighth, landing several hard hooks, sending Takayama on the run, but it was the Mexican who gassed and Takayama came crashing back at him ? Rodriguez bursts from the ropes and they trade ring center, Rodriguez?s momentum bringing him an edge in astonishing exchanges; when the referee separated them at bell each went to his corner reluctantly.
In the ninth the terrible truth of the dichotomy Takayama likely knew he would have to confront at some point revealed itself in all its sweat-drenched horror. If he ran, Rodriguez generated momentum, bulldozed him, forced him into toe-to-toe shoot-outs unlike the early exchanges he himself initiated with speed of foot; stand and fight and he would have to do so surviving an opponent that hit much harder than he did. Tactically adrift, a dominant Rodriguez pointed to him, then ring-center before him, a demand for battle. Takayama declined, moving from foot to foot, throwing straight-right hands. Rodriguez ate them up, moved in. It was a tipping point and for Takayama, it was a painful one. His shucking, his quick changes of direction, they were disorientating to the uninitiated, but Gonzalez has been initiated, by Roman Gonzalez, acclimatized now to Takayama?s punches, ready to swallow them whole. For the first time he was able to get the pressure on without being out-landed.
Cut above the left eye, Takayama looked miserable at the opening of the tenth, but he went straight back to work. Now almost matched for volume, his job was to make Rodriguez miss and then pay, but Rodriguez?s lack of respect for his power made that job almost impossible. Rodriguez harassed and brutalized him and only one of the best engines in the sport kept him in the battle. For the first time, Rodriguez led on my card.
Takayama, unbowed, rushed Rodriguez at the beginning of the eleventh, cornered him, and scored what might have been a knockdown, landing a high right hand as Rodriguez extended his lead-leg and appeared to slip. The point was arguable, and the referee probably cannot be criticized for ruling against a knockdown, nor, in light of the circumstances, for letting the punch Takayama landed upon Rodriguez as he lay with his back to a ringpost go unpunished. Whatever the truth of those chaotic opening moments, Takayama was able to outfight his man in scintillating exchanges that made the fight all-square on my card.
I have never seen so many punches thrown through eleven rounds, in any fight, at any weight, ever, and a quiet twelfth would have been reasoned ? we got pandemonium, violence, heart, guts, savage war. It started messily, Takayama slipping and Rodriguez returning the illegal punch Takayama had landed in the previous round. By this stage though, these two just seemed impervious to one-another?s machinations, and the referee, again, issued only a warming. It?s strange to say it, because these were both serious fouls, but it just didn?t seem to matter ? it didn?t matter to the fighters, either who spent the final minutes trying to murder one-another. Rodriguez?s power and solidity gave the impression of his superiority, as Takayama was twice troubled for balance by body-checks and punches. It was as glorious and terrible a final minute as I have seen in a fight.
It was also a fight nobody deserved to lose, but rules are rules. 114-113 in favor of Rodriguez is how I saw it in a fight that was clearly the best of the year so far and will be extremely difficult to beat in the coming five months.
What a shame so few will see it.
Next for Rodriguez could be Hekkie Budler, the divisional #1 going in but likely overhauled by Rodriguez last night. A fight between these two would establish a new lineage in the smallest of divisions and would also likely be another thriller. For Takayama, it is very possible his time at 105 lbs. is over, although reportedly poor preparation hampered by the illness of his trainer and by a cut sustained in sparring might persuade him to give it one last go with a better camp ? after all, nobody who has seen this slugfest will object to seeing a rematch. The only question is, is it fair to ask these men to give that much for so little in return?
