July 11, 2003
TOKYO, JAPAN-Venezuelan footworker Noel Arambulet (20-2-1-1NC, 10 KOs) will put his WBA 105-pound belt on the line against unbeaten ex-champ Yutaka Niida (14-0-3, 7 KOs), Japan, tomorrow at the Pacifico Yokohama, Yokohama City, Japan.
The official weigh-in finished in Tokyo this afternoon with the champ scaling at the 105-pound class limit and the challenger at 114.5. The WBA officials are as follows: referee Aramando Garcia (US), judges Rodolfo Maldonado (Panama), Henk Meijers (Holland), and Wansoo Yuh (Korea).
The 29-year-old Arambulet, making his second defense, recaptured the throne by outscoring Japan’s Keitaro Hoshino in Yokohama in July of the previous year, and defeated him again by a split verdict in Osaka last December. He fully displayed his shifty mobility and light but quick hands before the Japanese audience.
Niida, 24, was an enfant terrible because this capricious kid astoundingly and abruptly renounced the WBA belt without making even a single defense after dethroning veteran Thailander Chana Porpaoin by a hairline nod in Yokohama in August 2001. The unbeaten ex-champ stayed in the boxing fraternity here and served as a trainer of his junior boys at Yokohama Hikari Gym. Then, he again abruptly made up his mind to make a castigated return to the ring warfare. Niida, a fast hard-puncher, was once rumored to have a tune-up go prior to his crack at the world title, but he finally decided to have a direct shot at the throne against such a crafty champ as Arambulet.
Arambulet, however, is said to have had a severe weight problem, though he barely passed the weigh-in. The Venezuelan had forfeited his belt due to his failure to make the weight before facing the interim champ Joma Gamboa here in Japan in 2000. Then, Arambulet lost a split duke to Gamboa, who then yielded his bet to Hoshino. If Arambulet’s condition should not be perfect, Niida might have a puncher’s chance. His youth may be an important factor, since he has been an unpredictable genius who often betrayed our experts’ opinions. If Niida should make a good start and take an initiative with his faster and more powerful punches, he will overcome his ring rust for 23 months and stun the crowd as well as Armbulet. Niida is handled by Mitsunori Seki, ex-Orient feather champ ranked atop for many years who failed to win the world throne, losing Pone Kingpetch, Sugar Ramos, Vicente Saldivar (twice) and Howard Winstone. Seki seems confident in his prospect’s re-coronation tomorrow.