August 5, 2005
TOKYO, JAPAN-WBC 105-pound champ Katsunari Takayama (15-1, 7 KOs), Japan, will risk his newly acquired belt against ex-champ Eagle Kyowa (13-1, 5 KOs), a Thailander living here with a Japanese wife, at the Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan, tomorrow (Saturday). The weigh-in ceremony took place there this afternoon with Takayama tipping the beam at the 105-pound class limit and Eagle at 104.75.
The WBC officials are as follows: referee Yuji Fukuchi (Japan), the son of ex-Orient welter champ Kenji Fukuchi; judges Brian McMahon (Australia), Franz Marti (Thailand) and Takeaki Kanaya (Japan); and WBC supervisor Major Lee Wonbok (Korea).
The WBC straw belt busily changed hands. Eagle dethroned Mexican Jose Antonio Aguirre by an upset lopsided decision in January of the previous year. The Japan-based Thailander, however, yielded his belt to the perennial top contender Issac Bustos, Mexico, via fourth round TKO, as the champ had the right shoulder fractured and abruptly quit fighting in the fourth despite having won the first three rounds one-sidedly in Tokyo last December. Bustos failed to keep his throne in his first defense against unheralded speedster Takayama, losing a unanimous decision (117-111, 117-112 and 115-113) this April. Now Takayama, a busy-punching and constant-moving speedster, squares off against the formidable ex-champ.
Eagle is a prohibitive prefight favorite, as people regarded his previous loss to Bustos as just an accident. Eagle, very muscular and skillful, is an excellent boxer-puncher, having decisively defeated Aguirre and current Japanese champ Satoshi Kogumazaka in his first defense to his credit. Takayama, four years his junior at 22, tasted his sole setback in Tokyo, when he had a crack at the national 108-pound belt only to be stopped by Masato Hatakeyama in the ninth session in 2003. So, the champ’s stock here in Tokyo isn’t so high, but he has remarkably improved technically and mentally as he moved down to the 105-pound division after his bitter experience, beating Filipino champ Elmer Gejon (W10) and Thai ruler Namchai Taksin-Isarn (KO3). Then, Takayama made good use of his highly-evaluated speed and stamina in dethroning Bustos in a brilliant fashion. Having gained great confidence in his title-winning, Takayama may become a better boxer than what he showed in the Bustos bout. Eagle is good at attacking his opponent with sharp jabs and accurate combos and defending himself with his tight guard, while Takayama is also a fine combination puncher. We will see a highly competitive bout tomorrow, though many aficionados here favor Eagle to regain the WBC belt this time.
(8-5-05)