May 19, 2000
SEOUL, KOREA-The official weigh-in for tomorrow’s WBC super-flyweight title bout has been over. The defending champ Masamori Tokuyama, a North Korean born and residing in Japan, tipped the beam at 114.75 , while South Korean ex-champ Cho scaled in at the 115-pound class limit. The title bout takes place at the Sheraton Walkerhill Hotel here at 2:10 pm, being telecast both in Korea and Japan.
This is a historical rematch with the North and South Koreans squaring off for the world title in Seoul for the very first time in history. Cho, then making his 6th defense, surprisingly lost his crown by an upset decision to the unheralded Tokuyama in Osaka, Japan on August 27 of the previous year. Tokuyama, 23-2-1, 5 KOs, made his first defense by posting a lopsided decision over Japanese lefty Akihiko Nago on December 12.
Cho, 18-1, 7 KOs, was formerly a national amateur representative and succeeded in the paid ranks as he gained the WBC belt via upset victory over Gerry Penalosa in Seoul in 1998. Cho retained the WBC throne, beating Joel Luna Zaratre (W12), Pone Saengmorakot (KO8), Keiji Yamaguchi (W12), Penalosa (W12) and Julio Cesar Avila (W12)-to his credit. But Tokuyama captured his throne by an unexpectedly lopsided decision as tallied-Lou Filipo 119-107, Henry Elespuru 117-109 and Dalby Shirley 116-110.
Cho, 6 years his senior at 32, is an excellent boxer based on his speed on the hand and foot. But Tokuyama, also a typical outboxer as Cho, is good at jabbing and countering. Both have very similar physique with the same height (5’7”) and same reach (67”). The lanky speedsters will exchange fast hands each other to take the initiative, and it will become a technical fight.
The WBC officials are as follows:
Referee Tony Perez (US), judges Chuck Hassett (US), Hubert Minn (US, the son of the legendary Hawaiian judge Herbert) and Noppharat Srichareon (Thailand). The WBC supervisor is Dominador Cepeda (Philippines).
Seoul looks like Casablanca, as many parties handling future opponents against the winner of this title bout have gathered from abroad. The WBC already ordered the winner to face the perennial top contender Gerry Penalosa in his next bout, so his manager Rodrigo Salud is here from Manila. Yoshinori Takahashi, the manager of WBA 115-pound champ Celes Kobayashi, came here to hope for a future unification bout in Japan. The OPBF super-fly champ Kazuhiro Ryuko, a fast-handed southpaw in Tokyo, also arrived here to watch this bout with his own eyes.
This will be a competitive fight hard to difficult to predict. Cho, the ex-champ, reportedly had strenuous training to win back his belt. But it is his first since he forfeited his crown to Tokuyama in Japan last August-without a tune-up bout. Tokuyama sustained a hand injury after his first defense with Nago last December, but is said to have had sufficient preparation to fight in his first game abroad-especially in the ex-champ’s home turf. Tokuyama, whose North Korean name is Changsoo Hong, showed his improvement in jabbing and countering Nago, a highly-touted challenger handled by ex-WBA champ Yoko Gushiken, in his last bout, but Cho, if in good shape, is a much tougher opposition as shown by his victories, if close, over Penalosa, the most dangerous hard-puncher in the 115-pound division.
The capacity of the arena is just 1,000 at the ball room of the hotel, and a half of it will be occupied by North Korean adherents coming from Japan. There came 27 pressmen from Japan to cover this sensational affair. The fight will actually commence at 2:10 pm to be shown live in South Korea, but will be telecast from 3 pm in Japan by TV Osaka for fear of any transmission accident. When the TV program starts in Japan, it will have finished to see the victor of the sensational rematch.