May 17, 2005
TOKYO, JAPAN-Kadoebi Promotions has announced today (Tuesday) that WBC 105-pound champ Katsunari Takayama (15-1, 7 KOs), from Osaka, will make his initial defense against ex-champ Eagle Kyowa (13-1, 5 KOs) at the Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan on August 6. Takayama captured the WBC belt by dethroning Mexican Isaac Bustos by a lopsided decision in Osaka this April. Bustos had wrested it via fourth round TKO because of defending champ Eagle’s having fractured the shoulder bone during the fight in Tokyo last December. The Bustos-Takayama victor was supposed to meet ex-champ Eagle because of the option agreement, but it isn’t the highly expected Bustos but the newly crowned Takayama by an upset verdict over him that risks the throne against the formidable Thailander residing with his Japanese wife in Tokyo. Should Eagle completely recover from the shoulder injury, he will be a prefight favorite, but Takayama, four years his junior at 22, boasts of great speed of hand and foot. It will be an interesting encounter to entertain the audience.
(5-17-05)