August 21, 2001
TOKYO, JAPAN-How many roads must a man walk down? How many fights more must Lakva Sim must wait for his turn to have a shot at the WBA 130-pound title against Joel Casamayol?
WBA #1 ranked 130-pounder Lakva Sim (15-2-1, 12 KOs), Mongolia, 130, displayed his power punching in overpowering Japanese Tetsuya Shinozaki (13-9-7, 6 KOs), 130, to win a nearly lopsided decision over 10.
Scored: 99-92, 98-93 and 98-95, all for the 30-year-old Mongolian dynamite. Sim almost stunned Shinozaki with furious combinations in the 6th, but the Japanese showed his incredible durability to withstand his assault. Sim was welcomed by Japanese fight fans, as he was very well-known for his annihilation of Takanori Hatakeyama to win the WBA 130-pound throne in 1999. Sim was as powerful as he used to be, but Shinozaki showed his trade-mark iron jaw despite Sim’s continual aggression.
Ex-Japanese welter champ Toshiharu Kayama (17-2-1, 10 KOs), 151 3/4, dropped Thailander Nopparatnoy Vor Warapin (18-14, 7 KOs), 154, with an overhand right in the opening canto, and pummeled him into submission at 0:30 into the third session.
WBC #2 ranked OPBF minimum champ Hiroshi Nakajima (16-2-1, 3 KOs), 108, was surprisingly held to a majority draw (97-97, 96-96, and 96-95) by Thailand’s Puna Eminent (9-5-1, 3 KOs), 108, over 10. This reporter scored 96-94 for Nakajima, who didn’t look as sharp as previously probably due to his overtraining, but he seemed to dominate the affair even by a slight margin.
Promoter: Watanabe Promotions.
(8-21-01)