January 8, 2001
TOKYO, JAPAN-Unbeaten Yutaka Niida(right photo), 104 3/4, captured the Japanese minimum title as he caught the WBC #5 ranked defending champ Makoto Suzuki(left photo), 104 1/2, dropped him three times and finally stopped him at 2:53 of the 9th session.
It was an unexpectedly lopsided affair, as scored double 78-72 and 79-72, all in favor of the very sharp counterpuncher Niida, who raised his ledger to 13-0-2, 7 KOs. Suzuki, making his 4th defense, fell to 12-6-2, 7 KOs.
Suzuki, a shorter but sturdy puncher, attempted to come close to the less experienced challenger, but Niida exploded a Ricardo Lopez left uppercut to the willing mixer, flooring him in the 4th and 5th.
Though Suzuki, 28, aggressively fought back to win a point in the 6th, Niida displayed another counter to drop the champ again in the 8th. The fatal 9th saw Niida landed a beautiful left hook to have the champ so rubbery-legged that he easily followed up to prompted the referee Yuji Fukuchi to save the loser from further punishment.
The 22-year-old Niida, the OPBF top contender, may have a bright future to acquire a world throne, if he steadily improves as shown in this impressive performance. The newly crowned national 105-pound champ is a stablemate of the WBA light kingpin Takanori Hatakeyama. His manager is ex-Orient feather champ and then world top contender Mitsunori Seki.
Fleet-footed Masatomi Suzuki, 129, withstood heavy shots of Yoshio Hattori, 128 1/2, and utilized his hand speed in outpunching him to earn a close but unanimous verdict (98-95, 97-95 and 98-96) over 10. Both were unranked by the JBC, but this fight is worth being Fight of the Month. Suzuki is 9-5-2, 3 KOs, and Hattori 13-6, 10 KOs.
Promoter: Kyo Noguchifs Noguchi Promotions.
(1-8-2001)