DOUBLEHEADER PARTICIPANTS ALL ARRIVE IN JAPAN
DOUBLEHEADER PARTICIPANTS ALL ARRIVE IN JAPANThe WBC flyweight champ Malcolm Tunacao, Philippines, and the WBA minimumweight ruler Noel Arambulet, Venezuela, arrived in Tokyo today (August 13). They will fight with their world thrones at stake on a show promoted by Akihiko Honda of Teiken Promotions at Ryogoku Sumo Arena, Tokyo, on August 20.
The unbeaten southpaw Tunacao, 11-0, 7 KOs, will risk his title against Japanese champ Celes Kobayashi(right photo), 22-4-2, 13 KOs, in an cencounter of lefties. The 22-year-old Filipino captured the WBC belt via upset 7th round TKO over Medgoen Kratingdaeng-Gym in Thailand on May 17. This will be his first defense-against the more experienced boxer-puncher-in his first campaign abroad.
Celes, whose real name is Shoji Kobayashi, won the national title by beating Japan-based Filipino Nolito Suzuki Cabato on points in September, 1998. The durable southpaw, 27, kept it four times with three within the distance, having shown his steady improvement in every fight.
Tunacao is a faster and more talented boxer whose skill is superior to that of the Japanese challenger. If Tunacao takes the leadoff from the outset and maintain his initiative until the end by utilizing his dazzling speed, he will be able to retain his diadem. Kobayashi, however, is a very dangerous body puncher who may try to stop the champ’s footwork with his persistent body bombardments. If Kobayashi’s strategy becomes successful, he will mix it up and catch the less experienced Filipino in later rounds. In this regard, this will be a very competitive fight.
A supporting world title go will be the WBA minimum unification bout between the champ Noel Arambulet, 12-1-1-1NC, 8 KOs, and interim champ Joma Gamboa(left photo), 28-5-1, 20 KOs. It’s their grudge fight as the Venezuelan footworker previously outlegged and outscored the hard-hitting Filipino in an elimination bout in Caracas last October. Arambulet, a year his junior at 26, was once scheduled to defend his WBA belt against Japan’s Satoru Abe in Nagoya last December, but eventually failed to come here due to his bad virus infection. Then, the WBA sanctioned an interim title bout of Abe and a late substitute on just a 10-day notice, Gamboa, who surprisingly flattened the Japanese in the 6th to seize the interim belt. This will be also a competitive match-up of the speedster vs. the hard-puncher.
A week later, on August 27, there will be a very significant world title bout from the internationally political viewpoint. It’s the first world title bout ever staged between a South Korean and a North Korean. The unbeaten WBC super-flyweight champ Injoo Cho, South Korea, will put his title on the line against ex-OPBF titlist Masamori Tokuyama(right photo), a Japan-based North Korean whose real name is Changsoo Hong, in Osaka.
Originally it was to be competed by the Korean champ and the Japanese challenger, but Tokuyama’s financial backers strongly insisted that he should climb up to the ring with his pride as a North Korean although there is no diplomatic relationship between Japan and North Korea. Majority of the crowd will be North Koreans living in Japan.
There have been considerable disputes on various preparations. All Japanese TV companies declined to show it due to their reluctance to be involved in this title bout under our politically complex situation. So, it will not be broadcast by any TV’s in Japan, but shown live only in South Korea. Since the North Korean national anthem is forbidden here, each one North Korean and South Korean singers will sing a song of unification “Our wish is the unification” without any national anthems under the mutual agreement of both parties.
Cho, a Fancy Dan unlike typical Korean infighters, is already 31 years of age, but still remains unbeaten with a 18-0, 7 KOs mark. The lanky footworker outmaneuvered Filipino lefty Gerry Penalosa to seize the WBC 115-pound throne on a very upset decision in Korea in August, 1998. Cho, a defensive speedster, kept his WBC laurels on 5 occasions, beating Joel Luna Zarate (W12), Pone Saengmorokoto (KO8), Keiji Yamaguchi (W12), Penalosa (W12) and Julio Cesar Avila (W12).
Tokuyama, also a speedster, has a very similar style as Cho’s. He failed to win the Japanese flyweight title twice from Nolito Suzuki Cabato, as he drew with the cagey Filipino import and lost to him on a 7th round technical decision. Tokuyama, however, abruptly became a star from oblivion when he decked an unexpected 5th round TKO win over ex-two time world champ Hiroki Ioka and drove him into retirement in December, 1998. Tokuyama became the super-fly champ of the Oriental & Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) by barely outpointing Thailand’s Pone Saengmorakot in Osaka last September. Since then, Tokuyama retained the regional throne twice by whipping Korean champ Kangwoong Lee and dispatching Indonesian boss Jack Shiahara in two.
Tokuyama’s flaw is a bad tendency that he usually slows down in later rounds due to his lack of stamina, though he is always superb and sharp in earlier rounds. Tokuyama’s manager/promoter Hideo Kanazawa, ex-Orient junior middle champ, says that he has strengthened his boy’s resilience on a strenuous training for months. But Cho is an intelligent strategist who may be able to cope with any fight plan Tokuyama will fight on. In earlier rounds it will be a competitive fight by the speedsters, but Cho may show his superior experience and vaunted ringcraft in later rounds.