Window of Opportunity for Magramo-Nakatani Still Open (But For How Long?)
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 15 Oct 2020
The window of opportunity remains open for the oft postponed fight between Filipino Geimel Magramo (24-1-0, 24) and undefeated Japanese Junto Nakatani (20-0-0, 16) with the vacant WBO world flyweight crown on the line.
This was confirmed no less by Nakatani himself in a recent courtesy visit to Mayor Kentaro Motomura of his hometown Sagamihara City in Kanagawa Prefecture.
Nakatani intimated to Mayor Motomura that he was still waiting and readying for his indefinitely postponed world title fight with Magramo while ruing earlier missed opportunities due to the postponements to bring the crown to the city where he lived before turning pro.
The local mayor symphatized with Nakatani while saying that Magramo was also on the "same difficult situation". He wished both fighters well and shared Nakatani's sentiment for the fight to push through before the year ends.
The fight between Magramo and Nakatani as mandated by the WBO to fill the vacancy left with Kosei Tanaka's move up to the super flyweights was supposedly scheduled last April in Tokyo but was postponed due to the Covid pandemic.
When boxing was resumed in Japan, it was set for July and then August and finally postponed indefinitely by the Japan Boxing Commission pending relaxation of travel restrictions by both the Japanese and Filipino immigration authorities in line with the anti pandemic protocols.
The plan for Nakatani seems to be to try and secure the bout with Magramo with the hope of having it held within the next couple of months.
But it is still very unclear on when or even if the bout will take place given the current travel restrictions in Japan and the ongoing situation in the Philippines which now has the highest Covid cases in Southeast Asia.
Japan has been very strict in allowing visitors to enter and even its own citizens to travel outside as it tries to stabilize the situation in the country heading to its hosting of the also postponed 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics next year.
Given these, while the window of opportunity for the Nakatani-Magramo fight remains open for now, it could also close anytime as the year winds down with Nakatani settling for a replacement title foe, possibly a fellow Japanese.
WBA rated Ryota Yamauchi looms as a possible rival after he won the vacant WBO regional title and also got ranked by the organization last August.
Boxing usually picks up in Japan as the Christmas and New Year holidays approaches and organizers would not want to pass up on the opportunity to recover from past losses due to the pandemic lockdown.
Next month, Japan will be hosting its first world boxing title fight post-Covid lockdown with WBA light flyweight champion Hiroto Kyugochi defending against Thai challenger Thanomsak Simsri in Osaka on Nov. 3, 2020.
Curiously Simsri comes from Thailand which unlike the Philippines has a comparatively more success in containing Covid-19 disease.
On New Year's Eve, Kosei Tanaka will challenge Kazuto Ioka for his WBO super flyweight title. The undercards are still being put together and some observers said Nakatani could feature in one of them. Against whom is anybody's guess.
The window of opportunity could fast closing on Magramo if he would not be able to gain entry to Japan ASAP.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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