The WBA minimum champ Keitaro Hoshino, Japan, will risk his newly crowned title against top ranked Thailander Chana Porpaoin, ex-champ who had scored 8 defenses, in Yokohama on April 16.
You will be able to see this title bout from anywhere in the world since the TV Tokyo will make an experimental broadcast by internet: http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp
The bout will start at about 9 pm to be telecast live in Japan, but the internet broadcast will commence at 1 am on April 17, Japanese time (at 12:00, noon, on April 16-EST).
Hoshino dethroned Filipino hard-puncher Joma Gamboa via close decision there last December, and will make his first defense against the Thai veteran campaigner who boasts of a couple of wins over Japanese boys, Hideyuki Ohashi from whom Chana captured the WBA 108-pound belt in 1993 and Keisuke Yokoyama, ex-Japanese champ, over whom he scored a lopsided decision in 1999-in as many bouts here in Japan.
It is a sort of Battle of Ages, as Chana is 35 years old and Hoshino 31. The defending champ Hoshino, 22-6, 5 KOs, is a skillful boxer with a tight guard, while Chana, 43-1, 16 KOs, is a slick-hitting counterpuncher, though neither is a hard-puncher. It will become a technical contest with Hoshino to be favored to win a hard-fought decision due to his superior stamina.
Another feature of this title bout is that Rick Roberts Yoshimura, a formerly Japan-based computer engineer serving in the US army who held Takanori Hatakeyama to a split draw last March, will return here and serve as MC (ring announcer) to introduce Hoshino and Chana. We appreciate Rickfs beautiful jabbing last time and hope to do so his beautiful voice this time.
The WBA lightweight champ Takanori Hatakeyama, 24-1-3, 19 KOs, will put his title on the line against French ex-champ Julian Lorcy at Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, on July 1.
Hatakeyama, making his third defense, captured the WBA belt by demolishing Venezuelan Gilberto Serrano last year, and finished compatriot Hiroyuki Sakamoto and barely kept his throne via split draw with Rick Yoshimura Roberts. It may be a tough fight for Hatakeyama, as Lorcy, 47-2-2, 34 KOs, is a skillful and busy-punching veteran, but his youth and power will prevail in keeping his belt even if it becomes a grueling battle, hopefully.
Fast-rising Osamu Sato, 22-1-1, 12 KOs, will have an ambitious shot at the OPBF 122-pound belt against Korean defending champ Yongin Cho, 11-2, 6 KOs, in Tokyo on April 16.
We may miss this competitive fight, because it will take place in Tokyo on the same day of the world title bout that Keitaro Hoshino will defend his WBA 105-pound title against Chana Porpaoin in Yokohama. It will materialize, as scheduled, based on the TV schedule, but our aficionados would have covered both fights with their own eyes, if they were held on separate dates.
Cho captured the regional title on a controversial TKO over the then reigning champ Shin Yamato in June of the previous year, and the Korean repeated his triumph in a direct rematch sanctioned by the OPBF with Yamato, winning a unanimous verdict last October.
Akihiko Honda of Teiken Promotions, the promoter of the newly crowned WBA flyweight boss Celes Kobayashi, announced that he will make his first defense at Ryogoku Sumo Arena, Tokyo, on July 20. His challenger has yet to be decided, but the champfs manager Yoshinori Takahashi reportedly turned down an offer from compatriot Kazuhiro Ryuko, the current OPBF 115-pound champ, who had previously beaten Kobayashi by an 8-round decision in 1996.
Filipino veteran Jess Maca will defend his OPBF bantam title against upcoming southpaw Masayuki Arinaga in Fukuoka on April 20.
Arinaga, then ranked just #10 by the JBC, surprisingly scored an unexpected KO win over ex-WBA world champ Keiji Yamaguchi, overconfident and careless enough, to zoom up from nowhere last October. The Japanese lefty, 12-1, 7 KOs, is going to make another bold venture in coping with the tricky but strong Filipino, 39-16-6, 17 KOs, who has beaten 7 Japanese in as many competitions here.
Maca is always an early starter, convincingly taking the initiative with his opening attack in early rounds and slowing down in later rounds to retain his lead on points en route to a unanimous victory. He has beaten all 7 Japanese boys by a decision, not scoring even a KO. Arinaga can punch with his southpaw right hook, but it may be hard to catch the fast-moving veteran campaigner.
To make a long story short, we have had a couple of OPBF champions in the same 154-pound category. The full champ Nobuhiro Ishida, formerly an amateur star, and the interim champ Seiji Takechi, a persistent southpaw, will dispute the real diadem in Sakaide on May 13.
Ishida, 6-0, 2 KOs, wrested the OPBF title from Kookyul Song, a veteran Korean, on a 12th round technical decision in Osaka on March 1. The ex-champ Song had a couple of encounters with Takechi, winning once by a very highly controversial TKO (which eventually make Takechi an interim OPBF champ) and keeping his belt on a technical draw in an anticipated rematch.
The Song-Ishida bout had been sanctioned under the condition that the winner should meet the interim champ Takechi, 9-3-2, 2 KOs, on the latterfs home turf, Sakaide.
Fast-rising KO artist Randy Suico, WBC #10 ranked 130-pounder, will appear for the first time in Manila and square off against ex-Thai feather champ Khumphoon Eausamphan on May 5.
Suico, just having turned 21, stunned the Japanese crowd by an impressive third-round KO win over Sangsi Poh Chaiwatana, Thai national champ, on March 3 and boosted his unbeaten credentials to 13-0, 11 KOs.
For Randy, the upcoming fight with Khumphoon will be the third bout in 2001. If Randy beats him without suffering any injury, he may meet veteran compatriot Isagani Pumar in his native Cebu on June 2. The busy-fighting Suico, a 5f8h boxer-puncher and ex-amateur national champ, needs more sophistication but can punch and also take punch.
On the same card, ex-WBA minimum champ Joma Gamboa will take on a Thailander named Pigmy Muangchaiya at the Araneta Coliseum. Gamboa is promised to have a title shot at the winner of the forthcoming WBA title go between Keitaro Hoshino and Chana Porpaoin in Yokohama on April 16.