February 19, 2005
TOKYO, JAPAN-Crafty lefty, WBA#12/WBC#14 ranked OPBF top contender Jun Toriumi (23-4-1, 9 KOs), 117.75, acquired the vacant OPBF bantamweight belt as he took the initiative all the way and withstood occasional solid counters of OPBF #2 ranked Indonesian champ Ringgo Jaguar (12-8, 6 KOs), 118, winning a unanimous decision over twelve rounds on Saturday night in Tokyo, Japan. The official tallies were as follows: scoring referee Charlie Lucas (Australia) 116-112, Machmud Yunus (Indonesia) 117-111, and Kazunobu Asao (Japan) 120-108, all for the Japanese southpaw. The 30-year-old Toriumi, who had entered the world top 15 by scoring an upset ninth round TKO over ex-WBA fly champ Sornpichai Kratindaeng-gym a year ago, kept aggressive from the start, whipping the 5’9” elongated opponent , 22, with southpaw lefts. Though sweeping the first five sessions, Toriumi took some strong counters of the Indonesian in the sixth and eighth. The Japanese lefty, however, turned loose with a flurry of punches and had him at bay in the last four rounds to carry himself to a fine victory.
Unranked Kazuhiro Isotani (9-6, 5 KOs), 154, scored an upset split decision (98-95, 96-95 and 95-98) over ex-Japanese welter champ Toshiharu Kayama (22-5-1, 14 KOs), 154, over ten. Japanese top 122-pound contender Rikiya Fukuhara (15-1-1, 12 KOs), 122, halted Tsutomu Odajima (8-7-2, 4 KOs), 121.5, at 2:04 of the eighth and final round. Southpaw speedster Akio Mikami (13-1-1, 5 KOs), 130, eked out a hairline unanimous nod (78-77 twice and 77-76) over Takuya Suzuki (7-2, 5 KOs), 130, over eight.
Promoter: Watanabe Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi (as for the Toriumi vs. Jaguar main event).
(2-19-05)