June 17, 2000
TOKYO, JAPAN-Korean Yongin Cho, 122, captured the super-bantamweight title of the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) as he dropped Japanese defending champ Shin Yamato(right photo), 122, twice in the third round, put on a gory see-saw performance and was finally awarded a TKO win at the end of the 8th round at the Korakuen Hall.
The WBC #10 ranked southpaw Yamato took the initiative in the first round, and dominated the proceedings before he took a roundhouse left hook and knelt down midway in the third. Cho, Korean champ, desperately attempted to finish the champ and floored him again in the same session with the bell sounding to the champ’s rescue.
Yamato, a lanky lefty, dominated the 4th through 7th rounds, but sustained bad gashes on the forehead in the 4th. Cho also began to bleed from a cut over the right optic in the same 4th.
It became a give-and-take affair, though Yamato seemingly took back the pace with more accurate one-two combinations. Cho’s right shot that sent Yamto to the deck was delivered just after the bell to end the 7th round, as the referee Masakazu Uchida waived Yamato’s visit to the deck and duly didn’t count a mandatory eight. (Yamato’s cornermen should have claimed a longer recess after the 7th.)
Yamato, with his face in crimson, gamely fought the 8th with rubbery-legs and absorbed much punishment, so his corner decided to make him retire due to his bad bleeding.
The newly crowned Cho, 10-2, 4 KOs, also suffered a badly deep gash due to their frequent collisions of head. Yamato, a preflight favorite, fell to 16-3-4, 4 KOs.
Scored after the 8th: referee Masakazu Uchida (Japan) 76-75 for Yamato, Suk-kwon Kim (Korea) and Ken Morita (Japan) 77-75 and 76-75 respectively, both for Cho.
Japan’s #6 ranked super-fly Shingo Sasaki, 115 1/4, dominated early rounds and sank Thailand’s Roongchai Muangsurin, 115 1/2, at 1:06 of the 8th round in a scheduled 10.
Sasaki, a non-stop puncher, kept battering the Thailander, who showed his durability and fighting spirit until he became apparently fading in the second half. Sasaki is 11-2-1, 8 KOs. The Thai loser fell to 10-6, 3 KOs.
Teruo Misawa, 104 1/2, effectively whipped previously unbeaten Ichiro Ozeki, 105, to be awarded a majority decision (dual 58-57 and 57-57) over 6.
Ozeki, the son of ex-WBC light fly champ German Torres, was in command in the opening session, but Misawa mixed it up from the second round and dominated the next three sessions. Despite Ozeki’s last surge, Misawa was a close but obvious victor as he socred more effective shots to the fading Ozeki. (German Torres, now residing here with his Japanese wife, have made his sons fight here, working in the corner by himself.)
Promoter: Akihiko Honda’s Teiken Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi.
(6-17-00)