September 7, 2003
NAGOYA, JAPAN-WBC #4 ranked OPBF welter champ Hiroshi Watanabe (19-2-2, 13 KOs), 146.5, very barely kept his regional belt as he came off the canvas in the fifth and fought back hard despite absorbing a few but solid counterpunches of Dondon Sultan (8-3-1, 2 KOs), 146.75, Filipino champ, to be awarded a highly controversial decision over twelve heats beneath the WBC 122-pound title bout between Larios and Ishii on Sunday afternoon in Nagoya, Japan.
Official tallies: scoring referee Wansoo Yuh (Korea) 115-114, Takaomi Ito (Japan) 115-113, both for Watanabe, and Dioscoro Ramirez (Philippines) 118-111 for Sultan. Watanabe suffered a hand injury early in the fight, so couldn’t throw as many punches as usual. Sultan, a shorter counterpuncher, connected with a crisp right to have the champ kneel down in the fifth. Since then it became a give-and-take affair, but Sultan seemed to have the upper hand. Frank Quill, the OPBF president in attendance here, was in hot water to see this disputed verdict, and said he might consider recommending their rematch after Watanabe’s obligatory defense against ex-champ and perennial top contender Rev Santillan.
WBC #6 ranked ex-OPBF light-fly champ Tatsuyo Hayashida (15-3-1, 8 KOs), 110, survived a knockdown and scored a fine KO over Filipino Joseph Villasis (15-10-5, 3 KOs), 109, at 1:40 of the fifth round. WBC #17 fly Koji Koyama (14-2-1, 9 KOs), 113.25, landed beautiful right counters to drop Japanese #2 ranked Yusuke Morishima (13-2-4, 3 KOs), 113.75, twice, winning a unanimous decision over ten. Ex-WBC youth 122-pound champ Masanori Sugita (15-0, 11 KOs), 123.25, displayed a one-punch KO by demolishing Filipino Ariel Austria (17-22-7, 7 KOs), 122.75, at 1:40 of the fifth canto.
Promoter: Tenryu Maruki Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi.
(9-7-03)