January 17, 2004
TOKYO, JAPAN-Elongated ex-Japanese 135-pound and 140-pound champ Tadashi Yuba (23-2-2, 16 KOs), 147.25, utilized his footwork to avert an opening attack of Korean welter champ Sokkeun Nah (7-3-2, 5 KOs), 147.75, and landed a well-timed countering southpaw left to the button, stopping him at 1:29 of the second round in a scheduled ten on Saturday night in Tokyo, Japan.
Yuba, currently ranked atop in the national welter ratings, forfeited his 140-pound belt via upset stoppage by Motoki Sasaki (who was eventually dethroned by Shingo Eguchi in his first defense) last year, and moved up to the 147-pound division to aim to win his third belt in as many classes. The national champ is Shuichi Kobayashi, who has been inactive due to his retinal ailment, and the interim ruler is Hiroyuki Maeda. The winner in the national welter unification bout this spring will have to face this 6’1” hard-hitting lefty Yuba. The fistic map in our 147-pound division will be very interesting.
Japanese #4 ranked 105-pounder Teruo Misawa (13-1-3, 6 KOs), 105, was awarded a technical decision (59-57 twice and 58-57) over #8 Hideaki Shoto (12-7-2, 5 KOs), 105, at 2:10 of the sixth session in a scheduled ten. Shoto, from Osaka, came out fighting from the outset, but Misawa retaliated with busier and more accurate combinations to earn a hairline nod. The winner suffered such a nasty laceration due to an accidental butt that the JBC physician declared him unfit to go on.
Promoter: Teiken Promotions.
(1-17-04)