December 14, 2003
TOKYO, JAPAN-A triple-header took place to entertain the well-packed crowd at Korakuen Hall on Monday night in Tokyo, Japan.
Ex-WBA 122-pound champ Osamu Sato (27-2-3, 16 KOs), 126.75, impressively dispatched Korean #3 feather Daekyung Park (7-4-2, 3 KOs), 126.25, at 2:19 of the second round in a scheduled ten. Sato forfeited his WBA belt to Frenchman Salim Medjkoune in October last year, and moved up to the 126-pound division. The handsome and popular Japanese fought a grueling battle to a draw with ex-WBA super-fly champ Yokthai Sith-Oar in his first comebacking bout. Sato sent the Korean to the deck with a vicious body shot in the first, and sank him for the count with a heavy right uppercut to the midsection in the fatal round.
WBA #2 ranked Japanese flyweight champ Takefumi Sakata (22-1-1, 9 KOs), 112, kept his national belt as he had a tough time coping with durable challenger Katsunori Ito (11-6-4, 1 KO), 112, but made him groggy in the last round, winning a unanimous verdict (98-94, 98-93 and 97-96) over ten.
WBC #26 ranked Sasha Baktin, an elongated Japan-based Russian, 117.5, ran his unbeaten mark to 9-0, 5 KOs as he gave a sound boxing lesson to Yasuo Kijima (15-7-2, 5 KOs), 117.5, to win a lopsided nod (99-94, 98-94 and 98-95) and kept his Japanese bantam belt over ten. Sasha, 22, proved too sharp and skillful for the game but limited Japanese challenger.
Promoter: Kyoei Promotions.
(12-14-03)