Corrales vs Uchiyama 2016 Upset of the Year

Corrales vs Uchiyama 2016 Upset of the Year –  On April 27th at Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan, Jezreel Corrales scored a massive upset when he knocked out the undefeated super featherweight champion Takashi Uchiyama in a short but dominating performance.

Heading into the fight Corrales was as high as a 15/1 underdog. The general line of thought was that he did not have the experience or power to deal with the heavy handed 36-year-old veteran.  Right from the opening bell Corrales seemed to not just confuse the champion with his shifty southpaw style but also intimidate him. Uchiyama looked lost in the ring and unsure if he should be on offense or defense.

Corrales was throwing haymakers from the start and was landing them frequently. The champion never got a chance to get any sort of offense mounted while trying to deflect the wild shots from the challenger. The shocking knockout upset happened after three knockdowns in the second round spelled the end of the fight with a new champion crowned.  Watching the fight you can see just how big of an upset was made from Corrales’ team, with their emotion levels through the roof in a display that perhaps suggested even they expected a longer, tougher fight.

Corrales was not known for knockout power heading into the fight, having only a 33% knockout ratio. In his first 14 professional fights he only had two knockouts.  One tool that Corrales employs is an unorthodox southpaw style that is no doubt confounding unless you have traveled quite a bit to get a look at many different styles around the world, which Uchiyama had not done with all of his fights being held inside his native Japan.  Corrales has lots of energy, which he needs to employ his unusual fighting style where if he does not catch you off guard he looks to outlast you with conditioning.

Uchiyama suffered his first professional defeat in what some might call a bit of embarrassing fashion.  He has a big following in Japan, where the people are super loyal to their own, and no doubt will keep his large fan base heading into the highly anticipated rematch.  He wants a second look at the Panamanian enigma and a shot at getting his title belt back to erase the memories of the first encounter.

The rematch is set for New Years Eve 2016 and already Corrales has been installed as the odds-on favorite, a complete shift from the first fight back in April.  It’s rare enough that you get a fighter at such deep odds winning but when you factor in the method in which Jezreel pulled off the victory it is truly the Upset of the Year as almost anyone expecting a knockout would have pegged the undefeated champion nicknamed “KO Dynamite,” with an 80% KO record, to be the man scoring it, not the 33% KO challenger coming from 8,500 miles away.

Corrales vs Uchiyama 2016 Upset of the Year / Check out the accompanying “Corrales vs Uchiyama Upset of the 2016 Year” video at The Boxing Channel.