KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- On May 25 Japanese WBO junior lightweight champion Masayuki Ito will defend his title on ESPN. Challenging him for that title will be former marine Jamel Herring. Why a fight between a champion from Japan and challenger from Ohio is taking place in Florida is anyone's guess but at least the weather should be nice. For Ito this bout marks the second time he will defend his title while for Herring this will be the first title shot of his career.
Ito (25-1-1, 13 KOs) likes to play matador behind a constant jab and busy footwork. Following that jab he throws an awkward looking right hand, although when he gets inside he does a nice job of throwing uppercuts with the right hand. Ito is at his best when he's actually letting his power punches go and throwing his left hook upstairs and to the body. What makes Ito so difficult to beat is that he can find success from the outside with his jab and right hand or from the pocket with his left hook and uppercut. He fights intelligently for the type of fighter he is, moving inside when needed and sticking and moving from the outside the rest of the time. That style suits him well because while he has enough power to get his opponent's respect, he doesn't have enough to just throw caution to the wind and stand and trade for 12 rounds.
Saturday's title fight marks the second time Ito has come stateside. His first trip to the U.S. came in 2018 when he took on Christopher Diaz for a vacant WBO junior lightweight title. In that fight Ito dropped Diaz and boxed his way to a unanimous decision victory. He followed that victory up by defending his title against Evgeny Chuprakov the same year and in both fights Ito handed his opponent their first career loss. Now if Ito wants to keep that title and keep defending it he will need to beat Herring.
At 33 years old the time is now for Herring (19-2, 10 KOs) to win his first world title. If he loses this fight he might have to wait a while before he gets another shot. Standing at 5-feet, 10-inches, Herring is very tall for the junior lightweight division and fights out of the southpaw stance. The contender has a crisp jab he follows with a sharp straight left hand. Herring also does a nice job of mixing up his attack with a quick left hook and the occasional uppercut. While the former marine has the ability to fight well from the inside and the outside he has a bad habit of walking straight in at times without using his jab to get there.
Herring's career has come along slowly for a fighter who turned pro later in life. He spent the first few years of his career fighting opponents no one has heard of and then stepped up to face limited veterans. His most notable opponents to date are Denis Shafikov, who dropped Herring in the fourth and stopped him in the 10th, Art Hovhannisyan, who Herring stopped in the third round, and Adeilson Dos Santos, who Herring beat but who is best known for losing to prospects and contenders like Michael Conlon and Jessie Magdaleno. It's tough to say that Herring really deserves a title shot when he has no marquee wins on his resume and his most recent fight was only scheduled for eight rounds. However, Ito's resume isn't all that impressive either.
If the names Ito and Herring don't get your blood flowing, how even this fight is should do the trick. Sure, Ito and Herring both lack wins over elite opponents and neither is exactly the most skilled or heaviest hitting but they match up very well against each other. They both fight well from the outside and in the pocket and in many ways they actually resemble each other in the way they fight, outside of the fact that Herring is a southpaw. Look for both fighters to show each other a lot of respect early but as the rounds go by the action should heat up.
PREDICTION: There isn't much that separates Masayuki Ito and Jamel Herring. They seem like fighters who could fight each other 10 times and each go 5-5. Herring is a little shorter and more accurate with his punches though and that slight difference will be the difference in this fight as Herring comes away with the majority decision victory.
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| Ito catching Lorenzo Villanueva with a sharp jab |
Saturday's title fight marks the second time Ito has come stateside. His first trip to the U.S. came in 2018 when he took on Christopher Diaz for a vacant WBO junior lightweight title. In that fight Ito dropped Diaz and boxed his way to a unanimous decision victory. He followed that victory up by defending his title against Evgeny Chuprakov the same year and in both fights Ito handed his opponent their first career loss. Now if Ito wants to keep that title and keep defending it he will need to beat Herring.
At 33 years old the time is now for Herring (19-2, 10 KOs) to win his first world title. If he loses this fight he might have to wait a while before he gets another shot. Standing at 5-feet, 10-inches, Herring is very tall for the junior lightweight division and fights out of the southpaw stance. The contender has a crisp jab he follows with a sharp straight left hand. Herring also does a nice job of mixing up his attack with a quick left hook and the occasional uppercut. While the former marine has the ability to fight well from the inside and the outside he has a bad habit of walking straight in at times without using his jab to get there.
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| Herring having his hand raised in victory |
If the names Ito and Herring don't get your blood flowing, how even this fight is should do the trick. Sure, Ito and Herring both lack wins over elite opponents and neither is exactly the most skilled or heaviest hitting but they match up very well against each other. They both fight well from the outside and in the pocket and in many ways they actually resemble each other in the way they fight, outside of the fact that Herring is a southpaw. Look for both fighters to show each other a lot of respect early but as the rounds go by the action should heat up.
PREDICTION: There isn't much that separates Masayuki Ito and Jamel Herring. They seem like fighters who could fight each other 10 times and each go 5-5. Herring is a little shorter and more accurate with his punches though and that slight difference will be the difference in this fight as Herring comes away with the majority decision victory.
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