PREVIEW OF TOMORROW'S WBC DOUBLEHEADER

June 27, 2004

TOKYO, JAPAN-A WBC doubleheader will take place at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama City, Japan, tomorrow. The weigh-in ceremony was held at the Korakuen Hall this afternoon. WBC superfly champ Masamori Tokuyama and Japanese challenger Katsushige Kawashima both tipped the beam at the 115-pound class limit. WBC minimum ruler Eagle Kyowa, a Thailander living in Japan, and Japanese challenger Satoshi Kogumazawa both scaled in at 104.5 pounds.

The officials were announced as follows:

For the WBC 115-pound title bout: referee Jay Nady (US); judges Jack Woodburn (Canada), Ken Morita and Hisatoshi Miyazaki (both Japan); supervisor Gabriel A. Penagricano (Puerto Rico)

For the WBC 105-pound title bout: referee Nobuaki Uratani (Japan); judges Gary Ritter (US), Masakazu Uchida and Takeaki Kanaya (both Japan); supervisor Major Lee Wonbok (Korea)

Masamori Tokuyama (30-2-1, 8 KOs) (right photo), making his ninth defense, is favored to win this grudge fight against Katsushige Kawashima (25-3, 17 KOs), as the champ scored a unanimous decision over the game challenger in June of the previous year. Tokuyama captured the WBC belt by upsetting previously unbeaten Korean Injoo Cho by a lopsided decision in August 2000. Tokuyama, a North Korean born and living in Japan, kept it eight times by defeating Akihiko Nago (W12), ex-champ Cho (KO5), Gerry Penalosa (W12), Kazuhiro Ryuko (KO9), Erik Lopez (TKO6), Penalosa (W12), Kawashima (W12) and Dimitri Kirilov (W12) to his credit. Tokuyama isn’t a hard-puncher but a clever jabber and excellent counterpuncher. Not so exciting a boxer as he is, Tokuyama, a tall boy as a 115-pounder, always utilize his trademark jab and overhand right by keeping his distance. He is good at the defensive skill, unlike many aggressive but less skillful Japanese fighters, occasionally displaying sly hit-and-grab tactics.

Kawashima, piloted by his manager/promoter ex-WBC and WBA 105-pound champ Hideyuki Ohashi, is an energetically onrushing puncher. Having made his debut in 1997, he won five straight until losing to future OPBF flyweight champ Hiroshi Nakano in the national final of the Novice King 4-round tournaments in December that year. Kawashima then registered 12 wins in a row with nine within the distance before he had an ambitious attempt to move up to the bantam division and have a shot at the OPBF 118-pound belt against Filipino veteran Jess Maca only to be outmaneuvered and outpunched over 12 rounds on December 11, 2000, which was just a day prior to Tokuyama’s first defense over Nago in Osaka. Moving down to his usual 115-pound category, Kawashima impressively swept the last three rounds to pound out an upset decision over world-rated ex-WBA champ Yokthai Sith-Oar to remarkably raise his stock in August 2001. Kawashima, a game and aggressive hard-puncher, then captured the national 115-pound belt by overcoming a grueling give-and-take affair with world-rated Shingo Sasaki in July 2002. When he had his first world title shot against Tokuyama in June 2003, it was said that he badly suffered a back pain due to his overtraining. But he showed such a gallant performance as he lost a close but unanimous verdict (116-112 twice and 116-114) to the more experienced Tokuyama. Kawashima, since then, scored a couple of good victories and his luck seems to be on the upturn now. Therefore, it will be a good competitive rematch. Both are 29 years of age.

Eagle Kyowa (12-0, 5 KOs), the 25-year-old unbeaten Thailander married with a Japanese female boxer living in Tokyo, came to Japan when he was still a simon pure having decked a 5-0, 2 KOs mark in Thailand. His real name is Den Janlaphan. As he was scouted by Kikuji Okuda from Thailand, he began to campaign here under the nom-de-guerre of Eagle Okuda at first. Later he happened to have a managerial problem with Okuda and depart from him, and then changed his ring name to Eagle Akakura and now Eagle Kyowa, being named after his financial sponsor. Eagle, a short but sturdy boxer-puncher, scored an impressive third-round KO win over ex-IBF 105-pound champ Nico Thomas, though already declining, in his second bout in Japan in January 2002. Eagle then defeated then highly world-rated Filipino Noel Tunacao by a lopsided decision in August that year to be newly ranked in the WBC ratings. Following his fine triumphs over a couple of Filipinos, Favio Marfa (TKO8) and Elmer Gejon (W10, currently OPBF top ranked Filipino national champ), Eagle had an ambitious crack at the WBC 105-pound throne against formidable Mexican champ Jose Antonio Aguirre at the Korakuen Hall this January 10. Astoundingly did Eagle dethrone Aguirre by such a one-sided verdict as 120-107, 119-108 and 117-110. No one had expected Eagle’s big victory over the highly regarded champ Aguirre with seven successful defenses, but it happened before the stunned crowd. For Eagle, this is his first defense.

Satoshi Kogumazaka (20-5-3, 9 KOs), 27, is a tricky lefty hard-puncher whose style is a little like Prince Naseem Hamed, as his best weapon is a southpaw right uppercut. Kogumazaka had been fluctuating in his performance when young, occasionally losing to mediocre opponents but fighting to a draw with future world-rated Hiroshi Matsumoto in 1998. He remarkably became strong and determined as he stayed in Korea to do hard training, scoring a couple of impressive victories there since 1999. Though he lost to elusive and clever future national champ Hiroyuki Abe in his first bout after his return from Korea in May 2000, he has scored eight wins straight since. Kogumazawa revenged his previous defeat and captured the Japanese national 105-pound belt by a unanimous decision over Hiroyuki Abe (who is now one of the trainers for Eagle) in February of the previous year. Kogumazaka, 27, now handled by veteran manager Shichiro Kimura (who had cultivated Shoji Oguma to carry him to the world flyweight throne twice), registered three successful defenses of his national belt over Hideaki Shoto, Makoto Suzuki and Hiroshi Matsumoto. Kogumazaka may be a harder hitter than Eagle, but he is usually less accurate in swapping punches with his opponent than Eagle, a good combination puncher with precision. Should his big shot catch the champ, Kogumazaka might have a puncher’s chance. But Eagle has shown a remarkable progress in speed, skill and power, so he is regarded as a prohibitive favorite to retain his newly acquired belt.

This WBC doubleheader is staged by Hideyuki Ohashi's Ohashi Promotions at the Yokohama Arena the capacity of which is 16,000.

(6-27-04)

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