February 26, 2002
TOKYO, JAPAN-OPBF #2 ranked Japanese welter champ Teruo Nagase (20-5-2, 12 KOs), 147, again barely kept his national belt as he mixed up with top ranked Yoshinori Takenaka (17-3-1, 15 KOs), 147, persistently kept going forward despite occasionally absorbing his opponent’s overhand rights en route to a majority draw over 10 rounds in Osaka, Japan.
Scored: Kanaya and Asao both 96-96, and Fukuchi 96-94 for the shorter but sturdy champ.
It looked like a battle of stubborn bulls that refused to backpedal each other. They exchanged hot rallies on almost even terms, but Nagase piled up points and withstood Takenaka’s last surge.
Nagase, who acquired the national title on his 4th attempt last March, was barely successful in his first defense over slick-punching Motoki Sasaki last October, and again had a narrow escape in keeping his belt on a well-received draw.
Feather puncher Motokazu Abe (8-0-1, 6 KOs) returned to action after 20 months due to his arm fracture, and chalked up a TKO win over Thailander Rattanasuk Sakdavee (8-8-1, 2 KOs) at 2:55 of the 4th round in a scheduled 8.
The flamboyant Abe made it a rule to celebrate his victory by performing a flying kick of professional boxing by utilizing reaction of the ropes, and he ridiculously suffered an arm fracture when he mistakenly hit the deck after his failure to jump and down properly. This night, in his comeback go, he didn’t do so.
Japanese #2 light fly Ryo Kitano (8-3, 1 KO) scored his first stoppage in his career by halting Thailander Putpet Por Muangsurin (5-3, 1 KO) at 1:01 of the 4th session.
Promoter: Yonekura Promotions.
(2-26-02)