February 24, 2004
TOKYO, JAPAN-WBC #14 ranked OPBF and Japanese 154-pound champ Toshiharu Kaneyama (18-3, 16 KOs), 154, kept his national belt, despite his regional belt not at stake, as he had muscular southpaw Yukiharu Shinyashiki (12-8, 8 KOs), 154, down four times and scored a lopsided TKO win at 1:30 of the fifth round on Tuesday night in Tokyo, Japan.
Shinyashiki, a stablemate of Shigeru Nakazato (who is to challenge WBC 122-pound champ Oscar Larios on this coming March 6), showed a furious opening attack, but Kaneyama shook them off and started his retaliation from the second. The champ battered the challenger from Okinawa with his rough-and-tumble rallies and visibly weakened him, finally dropping him twice in the fourth. Kaneyama, in the fatal fifth, followed it up and floored him twice more to prompt the referee’s intervention. The champ changed his nom-de-guerre to Crazy Tiger Kim from this bout, but the crowd took it for a joke. Kaneyama, despite his real power, often eloquently says, “I can knock out De La Hoya.” The new ring name of Crazy Tiger may fit him.
Unbeaten prospect Masaki Miya (12-0, 8 KOs), 123.5, the winner of the annual four-round king tourney in the previous year, was befuddled by the durability of Thai #10 ranked 122-pounder Kongsurinthr Sishsoe-I (7-4, 1 KO), 123, but finally halted him at 0:47 of the eighth round in a semi-final ten. Miya should improve his power punching since his busy combinations didn’t look effective enough.
Promoter: Yonekura Promotions.
(2-24-04)