March 7, 2004
GIFU, JAPAN-WBC #14 ranked ex-WBC flyweight champ Chatchai Singwangchai Sasakul (44-2, 29 KOs), 117.25, Thailand, exchanged knockdowns with Japanese prospect Sunao Uno (14-4-2, 10 KOs), 117.25, and earned a split decision (96-93, 96-92 and 93-94) over ten frames on Sunday evening in Gifu, Japan.
It was a give-and-take affair, but the 34-year-old veteran displayed his ringcraft and experience to cope with the busily weaving and onrushing opponent. Chatchai, who had dethroned Yuri Arbachakov and yielded his belt to Manny Pacquiao, floored the Japanese with a stinging left jab in the opening canto. But Uno dropped him back with a short combo in the second. The Japanese puncher accelerated his aggression in the fourth, but the ex-champ decked him again with a left uppercut to the chin in the closing seconds of the round. The sixth saw them clinch and drop to the canvas together a la Primo Carnera and Max Baer affair. As they raised themselves, Chatchai began steaming red ribbon badly from a gash over the left eyebrow. Uno, from the sixth round on, turned loose and occasionally pinned the fading Thailander to the ropes with a flurry of punches to clearly dominate the last two sessions.
WBC #24 ranked flyweight Yusuke Morishima (14-3-4, 3 KOs), 115.5, dropped an upset but popular split nod (77-76, 78-74 and 76-77) to unranked Atsushi Kato (7-2, 1 KO), 115, over eight. OPBF #7 feather Isamu Sakashita (17-5, 12 KOs), 125.5, was awarded a technical decision over Thepnimit Sor Chitanana (3-3, 2 KOs), 124.25, due to the winner’s bad bleeding at 0:38 of the eighth round in a scheduled ten.
Promoter: Gifu Yokozeki Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi.
(3-7-04)