Khalid Yafai vs Sho Ishida

A four-inch advantage in height was not enough to prevent the challenger from being repeatedly caught to the body. Sho Ishida arrived in Cardiff unbeaten, but left with his first defeat after Khalid Yafai retained the WBA world super flyweight championship by unanimous decision over twelve rounds at the Principality Stadium on 28 October 2017. The Birmingham champion’s stronger punching and more purposeful attacks proved decisive against an opponent who found occasional success at long range but could not maintain control of the contest.

The Matchroom promotion formed part of the programme headed by Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight title defence against Carlos Takam. Yafai, 28, was making his second defence, having won the vacant championship against Luis Concepcion in Manchester the previous December and outpointed Suguru Muranaka in Birmingham in May. He entered with twenty-two victories and no defeats. Ishida, 25, had won all twenty-four of his professional contests, thirteen inside the distance, but this mandatory challenge was his first appearance outside Japan. His greater height and reach offered a clear means of keeping the champion at a distance. Translating those advantages into sustained scoring proved another matter.

Yafai made the more assured start. Ishida was cautious, while the champion found openings for his jab and directed right hands towards the body. The left hook became an effective weapon, delivered both upstairs and downstairs. Although Ishida avoided many clean head punches during the opening half, he conceded the initiative. Yafai’s pressure gave the challenger little opportunity to establish a comfortable rhythm behind his longer reach. There was no early breakthrough, but the champion was doing the more substantial work.

Ishida began to settle in the fifth, making better use of his jab from outside. In the sixth, he landed a heavy right to Yafai’s head, providing evidence that the champion could not advance without taking something in return. The seventh was competitive: Ishida connected with a useful left, but Yafai answered late in the round with a body punch that visibly troubled him. The champion regained firmer command in the eighth, again finding the body and driving Ishida backwards towards the ropes. The challenger’s improved middle-round work had brought him into the exchanges without overturning the overall pattern.

Yafai increased his effort over the closing rounds, putting greater force into his attacks as Ishida fell further behind. The Japanese boxer continued to answer and remained on his feet through the final bell, but his successes were too intermittent to threaten the championship. Referee Howard Foster oversaw a contest ultimately decided by the champion’s more effective aggression. The announced scores were 118–110 and 116–112 twice, all for Yafai. The victory advanced his record to twenty-three wins without defeat; Ishida’s became twenty-four wins and one loss.

The champion was less satisfied with his performance than the clear verdict might suggest. “A bit sluggish,” was his assessment afterwards, and he reported soreness in his hands. Nevertheless, he had completed another successful defence against an unbeaten mandatory challenger. Ishida had shown enough defensive ability and resilience to last the distance, but Yafai’s body punching and command of the exchanges had settled the result.

I have no argument with Yafai getting the decision. He did the more effective work, particularly downstairs, but this was a solid defence rather than a performance to frighten the division’s best. After beating Luis Concepcion and Suguru Muranaka, he needed to show he could impose himself on a taller opponent. He managed that, without making it look easy.

Ishida had the reach to cause problems, but spent too much of the early fight hesitating. A long jab only earns its keep when you use it consistently. Yafai’s left hook to head and body kept interrupting him, and that body shot late in the seventh was the sort of answer I like: get caught, keep your composure, put something worthwhile back.

Ishida deserves credit for staying competitive and lasting the distance. Still, I wanted more ambition from an unbeaten challenger. Yafai admitted he felt sluggish, which was fair. Comfortable winner, useful work completed, but the talk of Roman Gonzalez demanded another level of performance.