March 26, 2005
YOKOHAMA, JAPAN-Rugged Japanese southpaw Masayuki Arinaga (18-4-1, 8 KOs), 115, wrested the OPBF 115-pound belt as he roughly mixed it up with WBC #15 ranked defending champ Waenpetch Chuwatana (22-6-1, 12 KOs), 115, all the way to be awarded a controversial split decision over the Thailander over twelve heats on Saturday in Yokohama, Japan. The official tallies were as follows: scoring referee Bruce McTavish (Philippines) and Kazunobu Asao (Japan) both 115-114 for Arinaga, and Anan Meksawan (Thailand) 117-114 for Waenpetch. This reporter saw it 115-113 for the dethroned champ because of a little higher accuracy in hitting the target. The hardest worker tonight was the third man who had to repeatedly separate the willing mixers in the close range. Waenpetch, six years his senior at 32, wasn’t in tip-top shape as he had to reduce some five pounds in a day prior to the weigh-in. The Thailander looked sluggish and slower than usual, but scored straight rights with better precision than Arinaga’s southpaw lefts in earlier rounds. WBC #20 Arinaga, handled by ex-WBC and WBA 105-pound champ Hideyuki Ohashi, turned loose in the sixth, and they took a point by a slight margin in every other round. Each often missed many blows, hitting the air in later rounds. Waenpetch, the shorter Thailander, may deserve a rematch after Arinaga’s voluntary defense.
Highly expected ex-amateur champ Akira Yaegashi, 106, successfully made his pro debut in just 80 seconds into the opening session, as he exploded a vicious left hook and sank Tomoyoshi Nakayama (8-9-1, 1 KO), 106, prone in a scheduled six rounder. The hard-hitting youngster’s future may be bright if he can take a punch. Yoshimasa Mochizuki (10-1-2, 4 KOs), 126, needed just 0:42 of the first round before he dropped Yasuhiro Shindo (8-3, 4 KOs), 126, three times and scored an automatic KO in a scheduled eight. Haruki Tsuchiya (13-7-2, 8 KOs), 125, floored Masami Hachisuka (6-5, 3 KOs), 126, with a sharp left hook in the second, and battered him so effectively that the referee halted the proceedings at 1:04 of the eighth and final session.
Promoter: Ohashi Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi (as for the Waenpetch vs. Arinaga title bout).
(3-26-05)