Hard-hitting Japanese prospect Kozo Ishii, 23-2, 16 KOs, is making his final preparation for a WBA interim super-bantam elimination bout against Venezuelan Yober Ortega, 30-3-1, 20 KOs, in Nagoya, Japan, on November 23. Originally the WBA interim 122-pound champ Antonio Cermeno was supposed to defend his belt against Ishii, but the Venezuelan veteran was arrested by the police for his alleged involvement in a murder case in Caracas. Our negotiator Akihiko Honda, Teiken Promotions, was struggling to materialize this eliminator as slated, since the TV schedule had been already determined and there would be no date for any alternative arena.
The Venezuelan police finally decided that Cermeno would never be allowed to go abroad and fight the contracted defense in Japan, and the WBA headquarters eventually declared to strip Cermeno of his interim belt and sanction the Ishii vs. Ortega eliminator. For Ishii, it was a great problem that the late substitute Ortega was a quite different type of boxer from Cermeno, a lanky outboxer. Ortega is a sturdy southpaw puncher. The local promoter and manager/trainer of Ishii, Takao Maruki, was formerly a crowd-pleaser who previously had an unsuccessful crack at the WBA 130-pound crown against Samuel Serrano in Nagoya, 1978. Maruki employed a couple of Mexican sparring partners to have his pupil accustomed with fighting a puzzling lefty.
It will be a very competitive fight of the hard-punchers who will exchange strong punches toe-to-toe and withstand them until the other yields. Ortega, already 35, has more experience against international top notchers, while Ishii, 23, less skillful but more powerful, has an advantage at his youth, latest activity and home turf as well. It is hard to pick up the winner, but we may see a crowd-pleasing thriller.
For Joma Gamboa, a Filipino hard-puncher managed by a Japanese manager, it was a long road to finally acquire the world throne. He had already failed to win the title three times before his dream finally came true by beating Noel Arambulet, Venezuela, by a split but well-received decision in Tokyo on August 20.
Gamboa, who has a promotional agreement with Akihiko Honda of Teiken Promotions, will put his title on the line against 31-year-old Japanese veteran Keitaro Hoshino in Yokohama, Japan, on December 6. Gamboa, 27, will be a pefight favorite because of his superior power punching that he iced 20 victims out of 29 victories with 8 wins in the first round.
Hoshino, 20-6, 5 KOs, a skillful combination puncher, is known by his good defense that usually neutralizes his opponent’s aggression. Only if Gamboa should miss plenty of strong shots and lose his stamina in later rounds, there might happen an upset. Hoshino, managed and trained by ex-WBA world flyweight champ Susumu Hanagata, lately beat ex-national champ Keisuke Yokoyama and current OPBF minimum ruler Hiroshi Nakajima (in a non-title bout) both by a unanimous decision to prove he is the best 105-pounder here. But if Gamboa, 29-5-1, 20 KOs, explodes and hits Hoshino’s suspect chin, it may end within the distance.
Masamori Tokuyama, 22-2-1, 5 KOs, a Japan-based North Korean, will risk his newly acquired WBC super-flyweight title against only once-beaten southpaw hard-puncher Akihiko Nago, 18-1, 12 KOs, in the champ’s home turf, Osaka, on December 12.
It will be a highly anticipated competitive fight, as Tokuyama is a talented speedster that upset previously unbeaten Korean Injoo Cho on a lopsided decision last August 27, and Nago, managed by ex-WBA junior fly champ Yoko Gushiken, is a one-punch finisher with his vaunted southpaw right hook.
At the last WBC Convention in Mexico in October, the future situation of the mandatory defense was confirmed as follows;
(1) If Tokuyama beats Nago to retain his belt, he will be obliged to fight former champ Cho either in Pyongyang, North Korea or in Seoul, South Korea, in 90 to 120 days after December 12-due to the option agreement. The winner of the rematch between Tokuyama and Cho must meet the WBC top contender Gerry Penalosa, a lefty Filipino ex-champ, in 90 to 120 days thereafter.
(2) If Nago defeats Tokuyama to become the new WBC champ, he will square off against Penalosa first in the mandatory defense, and then the winner will face ex-champ Cho in Seoul.
In Mexico, Cho’s promoter Kusung Lee, Penalosa’s manager Rodrigo Salud, and Tokuyama’s representative yours truly finally reached an aforementioned agreement to solve the muddy situation.
The OPBF super-welter champ Kookyul Song’s previous defense resulted in a highly controversial stoppage over Japanese Seiji Takechi in Sakaide, Japan, as a Korean referee saw that Takechi’s cut was produced by a legal punch and declared a TKO win for Song at the end of the 10th round on July 23. However, it was revealed with a presentation of a videotape to the OPBF headquarters that the gash was opened by an accidental butt in the closing seconds of the 10th. Takechi’s manager Yamamoto demanded the verdict to be reversed to his boy’s triumph. Nasty exchanges of words between the Japanese and Korean parties went on afterward, but there came a fantastic arbitration by the OPBF president Frank Quill, who proposed that Song would be the full champ, while Takechi the interim champ, and ordered them to fight in a unification title bout. Both parties went to accept that.
On November 23, in the same Sakaide City, Song, 21-2-1, 16 KOs, and Takechi, 8-3-1, 2 KOs, will square off again for the unified OPBF title. We hope that we will see this complex situation settled clearly.