July 2, 2004
TOKYO, JAPAN-Notorious WBA 105-pound champ Noel Arambulet (20-2-1-1NC, 10 KOs), Venezuela, again failed to make the weight by 300 grams (3/4 pound) and forfeited his belt on the scale at the weigh-in ceremony on Friday afternoon at the Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan. Japanese challenger and ex-WBA champ Yutaka Niida (15-1-3, 8 KOs) scaled in at 104.75, a quarter pound under the limit. Should Niida win tomorrow, he will acquire the throne, and should Arambulet win, the WBA title will become vacant.
At the stipulated weigh-in time, 4 pm, Arambulet scaled in at 105.75 pound, three quarter pound over the limit. Impulsively and irrationally did Arambulet abandon himself in despair and drink water after his first failure in the weigh-in. Having been persuaded, the Venezuelan attempted to make the weight again, and returned to the weigh-in place at 5:55 pm. But he scaled in at the same as previously. What he could reduce with a two-hour exertion was just a quarter pound that he drank inexplicably. Arambulet had made the same mistake here in Tokyo, where he couldn’t make the weight and scaled 106.5, a pound and a half over the limit, before he fought WBA interim champ Joma Gamboa only to lose a split decision in a WBA unification bout in August 2000.
Arambulet, 31, seized the vacant WBA minimum belt by outlegging and outscoring Gamboa in Venezuela in October 1999. After losing the throne to Gamboa in the rematch in Japan, the Venezuelan footworker regained the belt by outmaneuvering defending champ Keitaro Hoshino here in July 2002. He defeated Hoshino again via controversial majority verdict (115-113 twice and 115-115) in December that year. Arambulet then barely kept his belt by a disputed split nod (115-114 twice and 114-116) over previously unbeaten Yutaka Niida in Yokohama in July of the previous year.
Niida, 25, is also a notorious youngster, as he once retired undefeated without making a single defense after he captured the WBA belt by beating defending champ Chana Porpaoin, Thailand, on points here in August 2001. His retirement greatly shocked the Japanese boxing world to cause severe criticism. He abruptly made a comeback in eleven months and directly had an ambitious shot at Arambulet to regain his crown. Niida looked a bit ring rusty only lose such a hairline split verdict and taste his first setback. The flamboyant Japanese, handled by ex-world top rated Orient feather champ Mitsunori Seki, will welcome a good opportunity to return to the reign, but the already dethroned Arambulet has nothing to lose any more. El Verdugo (the executioner), as nicknamed in his native Venezuela, may execute Niida or himself tomorrow.
The WBA officials were announced as follows: referee Mark Nelson (US); judges Jean Luis Legland (France), Guy Jutras (Canada) and Michael Lee (Korea).
This is staged by Kazunori Miyakawa’s Yokohama Hikari Promotions. It will take place at the traditional Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
(7-2-04)