March 5, 2005
TOKYO, JAPAN-Elongated Chikashi Inada (17-2, 12 KOs), 134.5, captured the OPBF lightweight belt as he made a good start, overcame countering attacks of WBC #7 ranked defending champ Dennis Laurente (21-3-4, 11 KOs), 134.5, in the see-saw process and scored significant points in the tenth and eleventh, winning a split but well-received decision over twelve sizzling rounds on Saturday night in Tokyo, Japan. The officials tallies were: scoring referee Anek Hongtongkam (Thailand) 116-111, Takashi Shimakawa (Japan) 117-113, both for Inada, and Edwin Sese (Philippines) 115-112 for Laurente.
Inada, handled by Akihiko Honda, kept jabbing to find the range and rhythm to win three rounds in the first four. Laurente, a cautious southpaw, changed his strategy and occasionally bored in to confuse the Japanese with wild punches in the fifth. Since then, each took a round in every other session. A head-collision opened a nasty gash on the forehead of the lanky challenger in the tenth, but it elevated Inadafs fighting spirit to dominate the tenth and eleventh by a clear margin. The desperate Filipino often came in with his head forward so roughly that it caused a penalty of a point in the eleventh. Inada, who had dropped a hairline majority nod to Laurente in the first encounter last October, thus revenged his previous setback to seize the regional throne.
WBC #13 ranked Japanese 140-pound champ Norio Kimura (25-5-2, 10 KOs), 140, floored ex-titlist Motoki Sasaki (23-6, 15 KOs), 140, with a short southpaw left in the opening canto, but ran out of gas and spirit in later rounds and barely kept his national belt by a majority verdict (95-94, 96-93 and 95-95) over ten.
Fast-rising KO artist Ichitaro Ishii (12-1-1, 12 KOs), 136, came off the canvas in the second, turned the tables on OPBF #2 ranked Filipino lightweight champ Fernando Montilla (28-15-3, 19 KOs), 136.25, and finally flattened him with a vicious left hook at 2:12 of the sixth round in the first ten.
Promoter: Yokohama Hikari Promotions in association with Teiken Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi (as for the Inada vs. Laurente and Ishii vs. Montilla bouts).
(3-5-05)