September 21, 2003
TOKYO, JAPAN-WBA #8 ranked Japanese 130-pound champ Nobuhito Honmo (22-4-2, 5 KOs), a slick-punching jabber, 130, kept his national belt on a fourth-round technical draw with Tsuyoshi Nakamura (20-3-2, 10 KOs; previously fighting as Kinzo Nakamura), 130, as the challenger sustained such a nasty cut that the ring physician didn’t allow him to continue fighting on Saturday night in Tokyo, Japan.
Honmo, making his third defense, kept outjabbing the challenger from Nagoya in the first two rounds, but Nakamura came out fighting to land good uppercuts to win a point in the third session. Nakamura cried as he wasn’t able to go on due to the doctor’s decision.
Unbeaten bright prospect Jorge Linares (6-0, 4 KOs), 125, a Venezuelan handled by influential impresario Akihiko Honda, displayed a fine KO victory as he dropped previously undefeated Korean #5 122-pounder Joungkeun Woo (5-1, no KO), 122.5, with a devastating left-right combination twice at 2:12 of the second round. Unranked Akinori Suzuki (8-3-2, 2 KOs), 135, scored an upset TKO win over Japanese #8 light and ex-national high school champ Takashi Ijichi (5-4-1, 3 KOs), 135, at 2:57 of the sixth round. The unheralded winner had Ijichi a bloody mess and caught him with a flurry of punches in the fatal session. Japanese #9 130-pounder Daigo Kaneko (9-3-4, 4 KOs), 130, was awarded a technical decision over Makoto Ogasawara (7-7-2, 2 KOs), 130, because of the former’s bad gash at 2:22 of the ninth round.
Promoter: Kadoebi Jewel Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi (as for the Linares vs. Woo bout).
(9-21-03)