February 2, 2004
NAGOYA, JAPAN-WBA 130-pound champ Yodsanan 3K Battery Nanthachai (42-2-1, 34 KOs), Thailand, arrived in Nagoya, Japan, this morning prior to his defense against Japanese puncher Ryuhei Sugita (25-1-2, 21 KOs) in Gifu City next Sunday (February 8). Yodsanan, a mighty southpaw, was accompanied by his long-time promoter Songchai Ratanasuban and his big entourage as well. Yodsanan acquired the WBA belt by beating Mongolian ex-WBA ruler Lakva Sim by a unanimous decision in April 2002, and kept it once by demolishing Lamont Pearson in nine grueling rounds in December that year. The Thailander, in the previous year, engaged only in three non-title bouts, stopped all of Tirso Albia, Larry Pelonia and Farid Debourt within the distance, but failed to defend his WBA throne even once due to unsuccessful negotiations with the then WBA super-champ Acelino Freitas. Sugita, a game infighter, lost just once to Filipino lefty Tiger Ari in a quest for the OPBF belt in 2001, but won all others but in a technically drawn bout with the current IBF 135-pound champ Javier Jauregui in February 2002. Sugita boasts of his great durability and stamina despite his lack of finesse. It will be a battle of Yodsanan’s stone hand versus Sugita’s iron chin. The promoter is ex-WBC 122-pound champ Kiyoshi Hatanaka, who turned a manager/promoter after his retirement. The supporting card is a Japanese flyweight elimination bout for the vacant title between ex-OPBF champ Hiroshi Nakano, an unbeaten lefty, and WBC #12 ranked hard-puncher Koji Koyama over ten.
(2-2-04)