April 3, 2004
TOKYO, JAPAN-Rugged southpaw Norio Kimura (22-5-2, 9 KOs), 140, captured the Japanese national 140-pound belt as he took the initiative from the outset, dropped WBC #29 ranked defending champ Shingo Eguchi (16-2, 12 KOs), 140, with a barrage of punches in the fourth and withstood the champfs furious retaliation in the seventh en route to a comfortable unanimous decision (97-93 twice and 98-92) over ten heats on Saturday night in Tokyo, Japan.
Kimura, despite his huge lead on points, was badly rocked by Eguchifs big right to become rubbery-legged in the seventh, but the challenger changed his strategy to a hit-and-run in the next round and managed to regain his pace afterward. The 26-yedar-old muscular lefty thus took his second national title following his previous 135-pound belt.
Philippine #10 light-fly Rey Orais (11-10, 2 KOs), 108, turned the tide with his last surge and surprisingly scored a come-from-behind KO over Japanese #2 ranked prospect Makoto Miyagi (14-3-1, 7 KOs), 108.5, at 2:23 of the eighth and final session.
Japanese #8 middle and ex-national high school champ Ryo Kawai (6-1-1, 3 KOs), 169.5, fought to a split draw (78-76 for him, 76-77 and 77-77) with OPBF #5 ranked ex-Korean 154-pound champ Byungchul Oh (11-7-2. 3 KOs), 162.5, over eight. This reporter saw it 78-75 for Oh, evaluating his jabs and light but accurate combos.
Up-and-coming Naoki Matsuda (19-7-3, 8 KOs), 122, eked out a split duke (78-76, 78-75 and 76-77) over Zaragoza Uema (8-2, 2 KOs), 122, from Okinawa, over a lousy eight.
Promoter: Ohashi Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi (as for the Miyagi vs. Orais upset game).
(4-3-04)