April 23, 2002
TOKYO, JAPAN-WBC #23 minimum Jaewon Kim (15-1-1, 5 KOs), 105, Korea, maintained the pressure to WBC #4 ranked OPBF champ Hiroshi Nakajima (16-3-1, 3 KOs), 105, all night to captured the regional belt by a majority but popular decision over 12 heats in Tokyo, Japan.
Scored: referee Ukrid Sarasas (Thailand) 117-115, Yongjin Han (Korea) 118-114, and Kazuo Abe (Japan) 115-115.
The Japanese footworker, making his third defense, was overpowered by the determined Kim in earlier rounds. Nakajima shifted his target to Kimfs midsection in the 8th, when he obviously weakened the Korean with persistent body shots. But Kim withstood his body bombardments and retaliated with desperate combos to keep his previous accumulations on points.
Kim, in the 11th, was penalized a point due to his cornerfs negligence of wiping the wet canvas properly to cause Nakajima to slip down time and again. Despite this penalty Kim looked a well-received winner because of his constant aggressiveness.
Japanese #6 super-bantam Shigeyuki Sakaemura (12-2-1, 1 KO), 122, connected with more accurate short punches to #9 ranked flashy hit-and-run stylist Takashi Futamura (10-3, 7 KOs) to earn a split decision over 10. It was a hot give-and-take affair.
Unbeaten southpaw Masa Bakirov (12-0-1, 8 KOs), 147.25, Uzbekistan, made his Japanese debut by dropping Thailander Konphark Looknarong (6-3-2. 2 KOs), 148, four times and finally scored a fine KO at 1:40 of the third round. Bakirov, who had scored 110 stoppages in his 185-35 amateur mark, will belong to a Japanese Kyoei Iwaki gym to campaign here.
Promoter: Watanabe Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi (as for the OPBF mandatory title bout).
(4-23-02)