March 9, 2002
March 9, 2002
TOKYO, JAPAN-Unbeaten Venezuelan hard-puncher Alexander Munoz (22-0, 22 KOs), 115, impressively dethroned defending champ Celes Shoji Kobayashi(right photo) (24-5-3, 14 KOs), 115, Japan, as he displayed devastating power in dropping him five times en route to a fine TKO victory at 1:31 of the 8th round at Bodokan (Martial Arts Hall) in Tokyo.
Munoz, 23, sent the champ, 29, to the deck in the second, 6th, 7th and the fatal 8th (twice) to show his awesome power.
Scored after the 7th: Guy Jutras (Canada) 69-62, Derek Milham (Australia) 69-62, and Jose Laurino (Uruguay) 68-62, all for the Venezuelan KO artist.
Munoz started a furious attack in the opening canto by battering the champ even on his guard with all his power for full three minutes. Kobayashi covered himself up well and sometimes retaliated with his southpaw lefts to the breadbasket in the second, when Munoz caught him with a vicious left hook to have him kneel down for a mandatory 8 count.
Kobayashi was in command in the third as he often connected with southpaw lefts to the face of the aggressive Venezuelan. They fought on nearly even terms in the 4th with Munoz roughly attacking and Kobayashi coming back with effective combos to the belly.
Munoz regained his pace by shaking up the champ with a left uppercut to the chin and maintaining his aggressiveness in the 5th. In the 6th, Munoz floored him again with a right-left-right combination but Kobayashi desperately fought back to survive the crisis.
The fatal 8th saw Munoz force him to the ropes to drop the champ by a left hook and once more by a wicked right. Referee Stanley Christodoulou declared a halt to stop the massacre. The dethroned champ stayed prone on the canvas for some minutes.
The newly crowned champ, who looked like a young Wilfredo Gomez, celebrated his triumph and dedicated his coronation to the aficionados of his mother country. Munoz avenged the losses of his senior compatriots Leo Gamez and Jesus Kiki Rojas by Kobayashi by banging out the Japanese southpaw to the punch.
WBC #12 ranked Masakazu Satake (15-2-4, 8 KOs), 138, kept his OPBF 140-pound title by posting a unanimous decision over WBA #12 ranked lightie Rick Yoshimura Roberts (38-6-2, 20 KOs), 137.5, over 12 rounds.
Scored: referee Morita 117-115, judges Uchida and Abe 119-112 and 120-112 respectively, all for the fast-moving lefty Satake.
They showed a very lousy fight in the first half to be severely jeered by the crowd, though Satake was slightly leading on points. But Satake, 24 and 13 years his junior, started fireworks by battering the lanky veteran with a fusillade of punches in the 8th.
The Japanese, making his 6th defense, swept the last three rounds to confirm his victory over the still popular US military computer engineer who had registered 22 defenses of the Japanese 135-pound title before moving to Florida.
Upcoming Eiichi Sugama (23-2, 19 KOs), 125, kept his national feather title as he was awarded a unanimous technical decision over Haruhiko Okuda (21-3-2, 15 KOs), 126, due to the latterfs bad bleeding at 2:58 of the 9th round.
Scored at the stoppage: 88-84, 89-84 and 87-86, all for Sugama who controlled the proceedings by connecting with more accurate shots to the onrushing Okuda, who suffered nasty cuts on both eyebrows.
Rugged puncher Takehiro Shimada (11-3, 7 KOs), 135, captured the Japanese lightweight belt by eking out a hairline but unanimous decision over lefty defending champ Norio Kimura (17-5-2, 5 KOs), 135, over 10. It was a terribly lousy contest.
Scored: Asao 97-95, Fukuchi 96-95 and Abe 96-94, all for the body puncher.
Promoter: Akihiko Hondafs Teiken Promotions.
WBA supervisor: Renzo Bagnariol (Nicaragua).
The WBA president Gilberto Mendoza came to Tokyo just to witness this mandatory title bout during his brief two-day visit.
(3-9-02)