January 19, 2001
TOKYO, JAPAN-WBC #2 ranked 130-pounder, southpaw Kengo Nagashima, 130, completely utilized his lefty stance, befuddled WBA #7 ranked Kinji Amano, 129.25, all night and pounded out a unanimous decision to win the Japanese super-feather belt over 10 heats in Tokyo.
Scored: 99-94, 99-95 and 98-95, all for the slick-punching Nagashima, 21-1-1, 12 KOs. The dethroned champ Amano fell to 19-6-3, 9 KOs.
It is rare that a highly ranked world contender challenge a national champ, but Nagashima, ex-OPBF ruler, dared to do so for displaying his superior power to the also world-rated compatriot. He will renounce the Japanese belt soon in order to prepare for a WBC elimination bout with #1 ranked Thailander Sirimongkol Singmanassuk provided that Floyd Mayweather renounces the WBC 130-pound throne.
Nagashima, a fleet-footed lefty, made good use of southpaw jabs and hooks to take the initiative from the outset. In sweeping the first three rounds, Nagashima bounced him off with a smashing left and followed up furiously in the third, which was his best round this night.
Amano, who was obviously not good at fighting the lefty opposition, found his range in the 5th and caught Nagashima with a well-timed right and tried to accelerate his attack, though the footworker cleverly moved out of the champfs assault.
Since then, Nagashima became moving more smartly on his policy of hitting without getting hit, piling up points steadily.
The 9th saw Amano sustain a nasty gash on the forehead to be examined by the ring physician, who allowed him to go on until the end. The last session was also comfortably taken by the cleverer southpaw.
It was a significant triumph for Nagashima, who greatly appealed his real power to the crowd and the Nippon TV, indicating that he would be ready for a rumored WBC elimination bout against the Thailander Singamanassuk.
WBA #9 ranked flyweight Trash Masaki Nakanuma (20-2, 8 KOs), 112, sank Thailander Saensak Singmanassuk (6-4-1, 2 KOs), 112, for the count with a vicious body shot at 0:50 of the third round.
Nakanuma had entered the world top ten by upsetting then world rated Panieng Okuda Sasiprabha on points on January 18 of the previous year. He was once decided to have a shot at the WBC 108-pound belt against Yosam Choi in Korea, but it was abruptly cancelled because of the shortage of promoting a voluntary defense under the Korean recession.
Nakanuma, a powerful and pugnacious puncher, will have a shot, on April 20, at the national flyweight title against the winner of national champ and WBC #10 ranked Takefumi Sakata and Mizuo Nakata on January 21. Should the non-stop punching and unbeaten Sakata keeps his title by beating Nakata, we shall be able to see another anticipated encounter of world contenders: Sakata and Nakanuma, which will be a good and sensational ticket-selling card.
Co-promoter: Kokusai Promotions and 18 Koga Promotions.