March 16, 2002
NAGOYA, JAPAN-WBA #6 ranked 122-pounder Kozo Ishii (27-3, 20 KOs), 124.75, displayed his furious aggression in swarming over Korean bantam champ Keungchul Park (8-6, 3 KOs), dropping him four times to dismantle him at 2:38 of the 5th round in Nagoya, Japan.
Having failed to win the WBA belt twice both via late-round TKO by Nestor Garza and Yober Ortega despite close proceedings, Ishii scored three wins in a row on his comeback trail. Ishii, a short but powerful hard-puncher, showed his best as he overpowered the sharply counterpunching Korean, connected with solid combinations and floored him twice in the 4th and twice more in the fatal session.
Ishii, maybe the strongest 122-pounder here, is gunning for his third crack at the world throne.
There were four other 10-rounders that witnessed hot action.
Unbeaten Masanori Sugita (11-0, 9 KOs), 123.5, decked Thailandfs Archa Nationman (4-4, 1 KO), 122.5, twice and for the count at 2:33 of the third round.
The 20-year-old prospect will fight Indonesian Anis Dwi in a quest for the vacant WBC Youth super-bantam title here on June 1.
WBC #23 fly Koji Koyama (10-2-1, 6 KOs), 112.25, kept stalking Thailander Win Nationman (4-7, 1 KO), 110.25, all the way and dug a wicked left uppercut to the belly to flatten him at 1:38 of the 7th.
But Koyama had a tough time coping with the tricky switch-hitter who utilized his flexibility like an octopus to continually frustrate the stylish but methodical prospect. Koyama seems to need more experience to utilize his potential power-punching.
Japanese #6 super-fly Yoshinobu Nakamura (13-1-2, 9 KOs), 114.25, showed his favorite non-stop assault in dropping Yodchai Poh Kungphao (5-6, 2 KOs), 113.5, twice en route to a fine KO at 1:45 of the 4th session.
Promoter: Tenyu Maruki Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi.
(3-16-02)