February 5, 2005
TOKYO, JAPAN-Akihiko Honda of Teiken Promotions announced on Friday that he would present a couple of world title bouts at the Nihon Budokan (Japan Martical Arts Hall) in Tokyo, Japan, on April 16. WBA 105-pound champ Yutaka Niida (17-1-3, 8 KOs), making his second defense, will risk his belt against #4 ranked Jaewon Kim (19-1-2, 6 KOs), Korea, over 12 rounds. Also, WBC bantamweight champ Veeraphol Nakornluang-Promotion Sahaprom (46-1-2, 32 KOs), Thailand, will make his 15th defense against up-and-coming ex-OPBF ruler Hozumi Hasegawa (17-2, 5 KOs), a Japanese Pernell Whitaker, over twelve. WBC top ranked 122-pounder Toshiaki Nishioka, Venezuelan golden boy Jorse Linares and Japanese future champ Takahiro Ao will appear on the undercard.
Niida, 26, regained the WBA 105-pound belt as he defeated Venezuelan Noel Arambulet by a unanimous decision in Tokyo last July. He successfully made his first defense by a hairline decision over WBA interim ruler Juan Landaeta, Venezuela, also in Tokyo in October. Niida, handled by ex-world top ranked featherweight contender Mitsunori Seki (who failed to win the belt, losing to Vicente Saldivar, Ultimino Sugar Ramos and Howard Winstone), had once captured the same belt by outpointing Thailander Chana Porpaoin in 2001, but the enfant terrible capriciously renounced it and temporarily retired for about eleven months prior to his direct crack at Arambulet. Niida then tasted his first setback by a close decision, but kept fighting and beat the Venezuelan in a rematch to win back his throne.
Kim is an aggressive puncher who once held the OPBF 105-pound belt as he scored an upset decision over defending champ Hiroshi Nakajima in Tokyo in April 2002. The Korean kept it once by a hard-battled draw with compatriot Kimoon Na in December that year. Kim renounced it to be inactive for a year, but made a fine comeback by demolishing Filipino Cenon De Ocampo in five rounds in February of the previous year. The game and gutsy Korean defeated Filipino Jake Pahayahay on points last July. He may show his vaunted durability against the hard-hitting Japanese champ.
The 36-year-old Thailander, Veeraphol, boasts of his long reign such as Bernard Hopkins. He has already kept his WBC bantam belt fourteen times since he captured it by a sensational sixth-round KO win over Japanese legend Joichiro Tatsuyoshi in Osaka in December 1998. His reign spans more than six years by showing his speed and skills in every defense. Veeraphol, a short but sturdy 118-pounder, leads a clean life and keeps his diligent training routine for many years. The ex-Muaythai (Thai traditional kick-boxing) superstar turned to the international style boxing in 1994, and wrested the WBA bantam belt in his only fourth bout by beating compatriot Daorung MP Petroleum in 1995, but lost it by a second round KO at the hand of Nana Konadu in his initial defense in Thailand the next year. It was his first and last defeat in his 10-year career. He kept winning since then, though he was held to a draw twice both by Japanese southpaw Toshiaki Nishioka in 2001 and 2003. Veeraphol faced Nishioka four times with his WBC belt at stake, and defeated him twice in 2000 and 2004. Veeraphol is not what he used to be, but his ring experience in controlling the fight is still excellent enough to beat his younger challenger.
Hasegawa abruptly zoomed up by scoring an upset decision over gJapanese Killerh Jess Maca, a cagey Filipino veteran, to capture the OPBF bantam belt in May 2003. The Japanese southpaw is so good at averting his opponentfs attacks that people here call him gJapanese Pernell Whitaker.h But Hasegawa also showed his improvement in the offense in keeping his regional belt three times by whipping Sunao Uno, Alvin Felicilda and Norasingh Kiatprasanchai to his credit. The up-and-coming Hasegawa lately scored an important victory over world-rated compatriot Jun Toriumi last October. The less experienced Hasegawa, 24, wishes to overcome the aura of the Thai legend with his youth, stamina and speed.