February 23, 2005
HACHIOJI, JAPAN-Ex-Japanese champ Satoru Suzuki (23-5, 15 KOs), 159, barely regained the vacant national middleweight belt as he struggled to earn a split decision (98-96, 98-93 and 97-98) over soft-punching but busy Eiji Nakamura (10-6-5, 3 KOs), 159.5, over ten lousy rounds on Wednesday in Hachioji City, Tokyo, Japan.
Suzuki took three rounds in the first four sessions, but Nakamura turned loose from the fifth with his pit-a-pat combinations to overcome his early deficit on points. It became a one-round fight in the final round, which was barely dominated by the more experienced Suzuki. The six-foot winner, in his tenth defense, had forfeited his national belt to Yoshihiro Araki, who then failed to win the vacant OPBF title by a TKO at the hand of Australian Sakio Bika last year and recently renounced his Japanese belt to look for a rematch with Bika. Suzuki is willing to revenge his previous upset defeat against Araki.
Japanese #3 ranked 105-pounder Kazumasa Kumada (8-3, no KO), 106, eked out a hairline unanimous nod (77-76, 78-74 and 80-76) over southpaw Naoya Kishida (9-4-3, 3 KOs), 106, over eight. Feifong Kogure (16-6-1, 6 KOs), 140, lopsidedly decisioned Ryota Uchiyama (5-5-3, 2 KOs), 140, over eight. Lefty Junji Murakami (11-3-1, 4 KOs), 130, decked an upset decision (78-76 twice and 77-76) over Japanese #7 ranked 130-pounder Takanori Kariya (19-3, 5 KOs), 130, over eight. Takashi Ishida (9-5, 6 KOs), 121.5, floored Yasuyuki Endo (7-6-1, 4 KOs), 121.75, in the final session to earn a unanimous verdict over eight.
Promoter: Hachioji Nakaya Promotions.
(2-23-05)