By Ted Sares:
The Setting: On April 29, 2005, Frenchman (but Iranian-born) Mayhar Monshipour, 26-2-2, met Japan’s Shigeru Nakazato in the nourish city of Marseille. At stake was the WBA super bantamweight crown. This one promised to be a clash of two in-coming brawlers who never take a step backward. It turned out to be far more.
Nakazato, 24-7-1, was challenging for the world title for the third time, while the heavy handed Monshipour was making his fourth defense of the title. The Japanese fighter had lost two bouts by UD to tough Oscar Larios, both held in Japan..
The Fight
The first round was something that had to be seen to be believed. Reviewing the footage, I counted over 250 punches being thrown, most of which seemed to find their mark. Nakazato threw quadruple and quintuple hooks, something I have not seen very often. No jabs were thrown and there were no clinches.
In the second stanza, The Champion unleashed an all-out assault on Nakazato hitting him with hooks, uppercuts and straight shots, but again neither fighter threw a jab. This was trench warfare pure and simple. Both took heay punishment but at the end of the round, Nakazato seemed the more tired.
In the third, Monshipour sustained a cut requiring a look from the doctor. When the fight resumed, he attacked with crunching shots that had evil intention written all over them. Nakazato was staggered at the end of the round, another in which well over 200 punches had been thrown. .
The fourth round featured Monshipour connecting with a number of jarring uppercuts, but then midway into the round, Nakazato caught him with a volley of rattling lefts and rights backing him up and hurting him with malefic straight punches. Somehow, Monshipour, whose face was bloodied over the right eye, shook them off and came back to stagger Nakazato. He uncorked a tremendous number of blows during the last 30 seconds that all but put the warrior from Okinawa on the canvas.
Both guys were doing a convincing imitation of Henry Armstrong as the punch volume went over the top. I have never seen so many punches thrown in four rounds of any fight in my entire life. But what is even more remarkable, I have never seen so many hit their mark. I was witnessing something very special. Neither guy had quit in his DNA, but when the bell rang, both slowly walked back to their corner.
The fifth round was more of the same and featured more bruising uppercuts and some punishing hooks to the body and head combinations from The Frenchman who was still throwing triple hooks of his own. However, the Japanese kept coming back and landed several decent hits on Monshipour and keeping matters in doubt with the non-stop warfare. Still, Monshipour was now dictating the pace.
In the sixth and last stanza, Monshipour positioned Nakazato for the end by throwing the first jabs of the fight (and they were stiff and punishing ones) followed by some picture perfect hooks to the body. Sensing the end, he went for the kill with a series of jarring right crosses the last of which floored the valiant Nakazato with 23 seconds left. Referee Raul Caiz wisely stopped the fight as Nakazato just made it up at the count of 10. Judges Philippe Verbeke and Chalerm Prayadsab had it 49-46, and Ruben Garcia had it 49-45--all for the Champion.
The Aftermath
After stopping Julio Zarate just two months later, Monshipour would lose his belt in 2006 to Somsak Sithchatchwal in the Ring Magazine fight of the Year after which he announced his retirement. However, the 33-year-old has revealed to 'L'Equipe' in May of this year that he has started training again with a view to compete in four fights over the next two years. He explained, "…today I miss the adrenaline of the ring. I was looking for things outside of boxing. I haven't found them, so I've come back."
Shigeru Nakazato has not fought since.
But on April 29, 2005, both men took it to the edge. Thankfully, both came back.
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