August 1, 2015 Jhonny Gonzalez vs Kazuki Hashimoto at Auditorio del Bicentenario, Morelia, Michoacán de Ocampo, Mexico for the
vacant WBC Continental Americas super featherweight title
Float Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A Bee : Gonzalez Vs. Hashimoto
The first day of August saw a huge event in the world of Boxing. The stakes : The vacant WBC Americanos Featherweight Championship. The challengers – the #6 ranked, fast jabbing Jhonny Gonzalez, and Japan’s top super featherweight, Kazuki Hashimoto.
Though the event did make much vibes on the global scale, it created quite a buzz in Mexico. The Auditoria del Bicentanario in Morelia was jam packed, not a single seat vacant. Playboy Mexico was one of the official sponsors, and the Playmates, in their trademark seductive bunny outfits, sure helped turn the heat up! The announcer took his place and gave a bi-lingual introduction to the contenders.
In the red corner, weighing in at 129 lbs, with a seven knock out win record, was the foreigner, Kazuki Hashimoto. Unsurprisingly, there was a mix of applause and hisses. In the Blue corner’s was the night’s favourite, the people’s champion, weighing in at 128.5 lbs, with an impressive 45 knock out win record, sporting bright white gloves and white trims, Jhonny Gonzalez.
Gonzalez looked prepped and ready even before the bell while Hashimoto was slightly shaken since he didn’t have the home ground advantage. The sexy Playboy bunnies held up a poster for Round 1, the contenders shook gloves, there was the bell and the heat was on.
For the first minute, both fighters carefully weighed their opponents, both light on their feet, flitting around like dragonflies. Gonzalez landed the first one, a quick right hand jab, but Hashimoto remained unnerved. Jhonny then picked up the pace and decided to play offence, whereas Hashimoto went for a cool defence, which didn’t quite pan out the way he would have liked it. After landing a couple more quick ones, Gonzalez took the lead 10 to 0 after Round 1.
A quick break, some intense words from the coaches in both corners and Round 2 was underway. Hashimoto looked uncertain, a little moving a little gingerly. Gonzalez brought his A-Game. With 14 seconds on the clock, Gonzalez landed the cleanest hit of the game, a blinding left jab. Seeing a clear opening, he quickly followed with a right and a final haymaker that took the Japanese super featherweight off his feet, reeling and breathless. In a stunning effort, Hashimoto was immediately back on his feet, but reeling badly. That was the clincher.
The referee called in a win by knock out with 14 seconds left on the clock. For me personally, the best moment of the night was the moment the fight ended. There was absolutely no bad blood between the contenders. Hashimoto embraced the new champ with a smile and a nod. Jhonny Ganzalez was the new WBC Americanos Featherweight Champion.
The night was slathered with the signature latino heat, the Playboy girls only fuelled the fire, the crowd got their money’s worth and the judges viewed a very technical and clean game with no foul play what so ever.
Over all, it was a perfect night, and a perfect game.
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