October 29, 2004
TOKYO, JAPAN-Akihiko Honda of Teiken Promotions, an influential Japanese impresario, presents a sensational show at Ryogoku Sumo Arena in Tokyo tomorrow (Saturday). WBA 105-pound champ Yutaka Niida (16-1-3, 8 KOs), Japan, will square off against WBA interim ruler Juan Landaeta (16-2-1, 14 KOs), Venezuela, in a quest for the unified WBA championship. Also presented are three competitive bouts by all world contenders out of Japan. WBC #5 ranked four-time world challenger Toshiaki Nishioka (23-4-3, 14 KOs) will face WBC #4 ranked 122-pounder and Japanese champ Yoshikane Nakajima (15-5-5, 4 KOs) over ten. WBC #4 ranked OPBF bantam champ Hozumi Hasegawa (16-2, 5 KOs) will meet WBA #6 ranked Jun Toriumi (22-3-1, 9 KOs) in a ten-round encounter of southpaws. Unbeaten WBA #8 ranked 122-pounder Shoji Kimura (17-0, 7 KOs) will cope with WBC #8 hard-puncher Shigeru Nakazato (24-7, 18 KOs) over ten. Honda has promised that the winners will be given world title shots under his promotion next year.
The weigh-in ceremony was held this afternoon at the Korakuen Hall, where Niida and Landaeta both tipped the beam at 104.75. The WBA officials are as follows: referee Rafael Ramos (US); judges Levi Martinez (US), Lahcen Oumghar (Netherland) and Pinit Prayadsab (Thailand); and supervisor Alan Kim (Korea).
The WBA 105-pound situation has been very complex. The then legitimate WBA champ Noel Arambulet was supposed to defend his belt against perennial top contender Chana Porpaoin, Thailand, in Venezuela on January 31, but suffered a sickness to be unable to fight as scheduled. Porpaoin fought a late substitute Juan Landaeta, an elongated lefty, who acquired the interim belt via controversial decision. The WBA sanctioned their rematch in Thailand on May 5, when they battled to a grueling draw with Landaeta keeping the interim title. Arambulet, after his recovery, met ex-WBA champ Yutaka Niida in Tokyo on July 3, when the Venezuelan was shamefully unable to make the weight to forfeit his belt on the scale, and Niida seized the championship by a unanimous verdict. Niida, 26, is a short but fast hard-puncher handled by formerly world top feather contender Mitsunori Seki. He is a capricious enfant terrible who captured the WBA throne by defeating Porpaoin but surprisingly announced to retire without making even a defense. The youngsterfs relinquishment of the belt terribly shocked the Japanese fraternity, but Niida returned to ring warfare after an 11-month layoff and had a crack at Arambuletfs diadem without any tune-up bout in July of the previous year. Niida then lost a hairline verdict to Arambulet, but scored a revenging triumph over the Venezuelan in a rematch to regain the belt this July. Niidafs performance has been fluctuating, but when he showed his best in such a bout as he dethroned Japanese champ Makoto Suzuki by a spectacular ninth-round TKO in January 2001, he looked so superb and special as to impress the crowd. But Niida, in his first defense of the national belt, hit the deck twice at the hand of Daisuke Iida and barely kept it via a sizzling draw in May that year. Niida is an unpredictable boxer-puncher, whose powerful left hook is a key to victory.
Landaeta, a lanky 5f5h southpaw, stands three inches taller than Niida. The Venezuelan hard-hitter, now 26, registered 13 stoppages in his first 14 bouts against only a decision loss to Miguel Barerra, a future world champ from Colombia. Landaeta then dropped a hairline 12-round decision to Noel Arambulet, his compatriot, in a bid for the vacant Fedelatin 105-pound belt in May 2002. Landaeta has been called gfive-round champh in Venezuela as he is tremendously strong and dangerous in first five sessions, but has a bad tendency to lose his stamina and ferocity as well in later rounds. It was clearly shown in his battles with Porpaoin in Venezuela and in Thailand, as he piled up points early but then lost his accumulation on points in later rounds.
Should Landaeta show such an effective early start, he will hurt Niida badly to finish the affair soon and bring back the unified belt to Venezuela. There is a possibility of Landaetafs early stoppage, but should Niida fight so cleverly to make it a long game, the Japanese will batter the less durable opponent into submission at the late stage of the combat. The first five rounds will be a factor to decide the outcome.
Nishioka fought no less than four times against the WBC bantam champ Veeraphol Nakhornluang-Promotion with his title at stake, losing twice and drawing also twice. Nishioka, a hard-punching southpaw handled by Akihiko Honda, previously defeated world-rated Geraldo Martinez by a lopsided decision here and blasted out Evangelio Perez with a first-round blitzkrieg in Las Vegas. Nishioka was such an unfortunate warrior that he had an Achillesf tendon torn during a workout and was forced to be inactive for 15 months after his third encounter with Veeraphol. Since he had a weight problem to make the 118-pound limit, he moved up to the 122-pound category after his fourth and final battle with the Thailander that resulted in a defeat by a unanimous duke this March. Nakajima, a game boxer-puncher, had been regarded as just a club-fighter before he scored an upset victory over then world-rated Junichi Watanabe to capture the national belt in June of the previous year. The unsung hero stunned the audience again by successfully keeping his throne by a tenth-round stoppage over also world-rated Akihiro Kanai last November. Nishioka is a prefight favorite, but Nakajimafs durability and stamina may be factor if he should score an upset triumph again.
Hasegawa is one of the most talented Japanese boxers who impressively wrested the OPBF bantam belt by dropping formidable Filipino Jess Maca en route to an upset unanimous decision in May of the last year. Hasegawa, a Japanese Pernell Whitaker, kept his regional belt twice, decisively beating Sunao Uno on points and stopping Filipino boss Alvin Felicilda in 10 heats. The fast-rising southpaw always shows remarkable reflexes to avert his opponentfs punches and display sharp counterpunches with precision. Toriumi is an upright southpaw stylist, who entered the WBA top ten by upsetting Sornpichai Kratindaeng-gym by an impressive TKO this February. Recently having scored nine wins with seven within the distance, Toriumi has improved his power in every bout and boasts of his 5-1, 5 KOs mark against southpaw opponents, while it is the first time for Hasegawa to meet a lefty rival. It will be an interesting game of speedy and sharp southpaws. Hasegawafs OPBF belt will not be at stake.
Nakazato, ex-OPBF 122-pound champ, is know as a bone-crusher who destroyed the jaw of the WBC superbantam champ Oscar Larios in his first encounter with the Mexican warrior here though losing on points in April last year. Nakazato, a less skillful but tremendously hard-hitting battler, faced Larios again this year, losing a lopsided decision due to the Mexican champfs faster and more dynamic assault. Nakazato, from Okinawa, often showed his incapability to cope with fast-moving speedsters, but when he caught his foe with his devastating left hook or overhand right, he decked an impressive stoppage. Kimura, managed by ex-world flyweight champ Susumu Hanagata, is a slick-punching boxer who depends on speed and skill, though he is not a hard-hitter. Kimura entered the world top ten thanks to his victories over ex-world champs Saen Sor Ploenchit and Yokthai Sith-Oar. Kimurafs hit-and-run tactics might confuse Nakazato, a notorious slow starter, but if Nakazato should explode his vaunted punches, it might end before the final bell. It will be an interesting confrontation of the hard-puncher versus the speedster.