September 24, 2001
YOKOHAMA, JAPAN-Japan-based North Korean Masamori Tokuyama (25-2-1, 6 KOs), 115, successfully kept his WBC 115-pound title as he remained more aggressive than the top-ranked Filipino Gerry Penalosa (43-4-2, 28 KOs), 115, and withstood the latter's furious retaliation in the 9th en route to a unanimous decision over 12 heats at Yokohama Arena, Yokohama City.
Some 12,000 spectators were in attendance. Scored: Chuck Hassett (US) and Chuck Williams (US) both 115-113, and John Keane (England) 116-113, all for Tokuyama.
Tokuyama, making his third defense, started punching positively in the first two rounds despite missing plenty against the cautious and stiff Filipino southpaw. Penalosa, ex-champ, dominated the third and 4th with a fewer but more accurate combos, though Tokuyama threw many but missed many.
Penalosa sustained bad gashes on the head and face, streaming blood profusely to prevent him from watching his opponent visibly. It became a very close affair before the 9th, when Penalosa had the champ at bay with persistent body bombardments that almost stopped the champ's footwork. The tide seemed to have turned then and there, but Tokuyama retaliated hard to show his best in the 10th by outpunching the shorter Filipino. Penalosa took the 11th, but the champ was in command in the final canto.
This victory raised Tokuyama's stock since Penalosa was regarded as a very formidable mandatory challenger, who didn't look as sharp as previously probably due to Tokuyama's tricky style.
Unbeaten OPBF welter champ Rev Santillan (14-0-1, 11 KOs), 147, dropped Kenji Go (9-4-1, 7 KOs), 147, with a southpaw left uppercut and stopped him at 2:08 of the 6th session.
Go attempted to mix it up in the close quarter, but Santillan caught the shorter Japanese with more accurate shots and finally floored him twice to prompt the referee David Chung's halt.
Japanese super-welter champ Joya Kawai(13-3, 4 KOs), 154, barely kept his national belt by a very controversial split decision over Nobuhiro Ishida (6-2, 2 KOs), 154, over 10.
It was a terrible decision, as Ishida seemed a close but unanimous victor since he scored more effective punches to the busy but less powerful champ. Scored: 98-95, 97-95 for Kawai and 96-96. Many of the WBC officials witnessed this affair and all thought Ishida had won clearly. This reporter saw it 96-94 for Ishida, a taller and more talented ex-amateur star.
Unbeaten upcoming lefty prospect Eiji Kojima, 115, impressively outpunched WBC #20 ranked super-fly Raul Juarez, 113.25, until he sustained such a nasty cut to go on to be rendered a unanimous technical verdict at 0:47 of the 9th canto. Kojima will have an OPBF title shot against Kazuhiro Ryuko in his next bout in December.
Japan's top minimum contender Satoshi Kogumazaka (16-5-3, 9 KOs), 107, survived a visit to the deck in the 6th, and dropped back WBA #13 ranked ex-WBA interim champ Songkram Porpaoin (21-4-1, 10 KOs), 107, to earn a unanimous decision over 10.
Scored: double 96-94 and 96-93, all for the taller southpaw.
Promoter: Hideo Kanazawa's Kanazawa Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi.
(9-24-01)