November 23, 2000
November 23, 2000
NAGOYA, JAPAN-Cagey Venezuelan southpaw Yober Ortega(right photo), 120 3/4, withstood furious attacks of Japanese puncher Kozo Ishii(below photo), 121 1/2, in earlier rounds, dropped him with a smashing left in the 10th and finally halted him at 1:45 of the 11th round at the Rainbow Hall.
There was no rainbow for Ishii in later rounds, although he almost dominated the first half of the give-and-take affair. Scored after the 10th: Hector Hernandez (Mexico) and Chalerm Prayadsab (Thailand) 97-94 and 96-93 respectively for Ortega (31-3-1, 21 KOs), and Duane Ford (US) 95-94 for Ishii (23-3, 16 KOs).
They started fireworks from the outset as Ishii positively applied pressure on the 35-year-old Venezuelan and scored with solid left hooks to the face in the first round. Ortega took the second, shaking him up with sharp combinations. But Ishii was in command in three sessions from the third, as he gamely mixed it up and connected with strong left hooks followed by good right shots, repeatedly staggering him. Despite losing points, Ortega patiently landed body shots to Ishii, which gradually paid off.
Ishii, 23, became visibly slowing down from the 7th round onward probably because of his too high pace in the earlier rounds. The 10th saw Ortega land a picture-perfect southpaw left, sending him on the seat of trunks to the deck. Ishii momentarily raised himself and barely lasted the crisis as he often grabbed the aggressor. In the fatal 11th, Ishii desperately tried to retaliate with strong combinations, but Ortega fought back and battered him with accurate combos to the face. The rubbery-legged Japanese became so groggy that he turned his back to the Venezuelan veteran. Referee Armando Garcia, US, made a good stoppage to save the game but exhausted Ishii from further punishment.
Takao Maruki, the promoter/manager of Ishii, disclosed after his defeat that Ishii couldn’t do good training in the last two weeks because of his sudden lumbago. The new interim champ Ortega said, “Ishii hit very hard and had a tremendously strong heart, but I expected him to be tired in later rounds and I thought I would be able to catch him then.” The scenario was just what he had expected. The newly crowned interim champ Ortega will be obliged to fight the full WBA champ Clarence Bone Adams upon his recovery from the hand injury.
Promoter: Takao Maruki’s Tenyu Maruki Promotions in association with Akihiko Honda’s Teiken Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi.
ORTEGA |
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| DUANE FORD (US) | 9 | - | 9 | 9 | 9 | - | - | 9 | 9 | - | 94 |
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| CHALERM PRAYADSAB (THAILAND) | 9 | - | - | 9 | 9 | - | - | 9 | - | - | 96 |
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| HECTOR HERNANDEZ (MEXICO) | 9 | - | 9 | - | 9 | - | - | - | - | - | 97 |
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JUDGE |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | TOTAL | ||
| HECTOR HERNANDEZ (MEXICO) | - | 9 | - | - | - | 9 | 9 | 9 | - | 8 | 94 |
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| CHALERM PRAYADSAB (THAILAND) | - | 9 | 9 | - | - | 9 | 9 | - | 9 | 8 | 93 |
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| DUANE FORD (US) | - | 9 | - | - | - | 9 | 9 | - | - | 8 | 95 |
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ISHII |
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REFEREE: ARMANDO GARCIA (US)
WBA SUPERVISOR: SHIGERU KOJIMA (JAPAN)