February 9, 2005
TOKYO, JAPAN-A couple of OPBF title bouts will take place in Tokyo and in Nagoya. Following the relinquishment of WBC #4 ranked OPBF bantam champ Hozumi Hasegawa who decided to have an ambitious shot at the WBC 118-pound kingpin Veeraphol Nakornluang-Promotion here on April 19, the vacant regional belt will be disputed by WBC #14 Jun Toriumi and Indonesian champ Ringgo Jaguar at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on February 19. On the next day, in Nagoya, WBC #8 ranked OPBF 122-pound champ Yasuo Kunimi will take on #2 ranked compatriot Masakazu Sugawara with his belt at stake. The winner will be obliged to defend the title against the OPBF top ranked Thai national champ Wethya Sakmuangklaeng, a veteran southpaw campaigner.
Toriumi, who had entered the WBA’s top ten thanks to his upset stoppage over ex-WBA champ Sornpichai Kratindaeng-gym last year, recently lost a unanimous nod to Hasegawa in an eliminator to decide the challenger to Veeraphol last October. But the crafty southpaw Toriumi is willing to seize the vacant belt.
Kunimi wrested the OPBF belt by scoring an upset knockout over previously unbeaten world-rated defending champ Jimrex Jaca in a pier-six brawl last year, and kept it once by a disputed technical decision over Korean champ Heunsik Lim. Kunimi is more powerful, but Sugawara, with his good amateur experience, may try to outbox and outleg the game and gutsy champ now trained by American trainer Mack Kurihara.
(2-9-05)