February 5, 2004
TOKYO, JAPAN-Unheralded Japanese southpaw Jun Toriumi (21-3-1, 8 KOs), 120.75, scored an upset TKO win over WBA #11 ranked ex-WBA flyweight champ Sornpichai Singwangcha (35-4-1, 19 KOs), 126, Thailand, at 1:45 of the ninth round on Thursday night in Tokyo, Japan.
It was an encounter of left-handers, but Sornpichai, in terrible shape, was so slow and sluggish from the outset that Toriumi battered him nearly at will and often brought him to a standstill in later rounds. The Japanese, in the fatal session, kept whipping him with a flurry of punches, and the referee declared a well-received halt. It was a surprising result that the soft-punching Toriumi decked an unexpected stoppage over the ex-champ, who had dethroned Leo Gamez in Thailand in 1999 and yielded his WBA belt to Eric Morel in the US the next year.
Ex-national welter champ Toshiharu Kayama (20-4-1, 12 KOs), 154, floored Korean #4 super-welter Juyoung Lee (5-4-2, 4 KOs), 153.5, with a short right and battered him into submission at 2:30 of the fourth round in a supporting ten. Busy-punching Kenji Toda (17-7-3, 8 KOs), 145.75, was more aggressive than taller jabber Kazuya Nagasako (10-8-2, 2 KOs), winning a unanimous nod (77-76, 79-76 and 79-75) over eight. Bantam Hideki Imanishi stopped Kazuki Banno at 1:58 of the fourth canto in a scheduled eight. Bantam Asahi Takano unanimously decisioned Kohei Kohno over eight.
Promoter: Watanabe Promotions.
(2-5-04)