Masamichi Yabuki vs Rene Calixto

It’s into the lions den for tough Mexican Rene Calixto when he travels to Japan to challenge Masamichi Yabuki for his IBF World Flyweight title. Yabuki is on a six-fight knockout streak, and some of the names on that streak include Thanongsak Simsri, Ronald Chacon, Sivenathi Nontshinga, Angel Lardizabal, and Felix Alvarado. Calixto’s only loss came against the man on the other side of the co-headline event, Willibaldo Garcia up at super-flyweight, when he lost on a split decision. The pair had previously fought to a split-decision draw. The first fight happened in Shizuoka, Japan, and the rematch in Zacatecas, Mexico. Yabuki has a significant power advantage with a close to 95% KO percentage compared to Calixto’s 41.67%. Calixto has never been stopped, and undoubtedly, he’s turning up to take the title away from the Japanese champion, but with home advantage and his KO streak, I think we have to go for Yabuki to stop the Mexican in the late rounds.