November 22, 2005
OSAKA, JAPAN-A WBA 115-pound eliminator to decide the mandatory challenger took place with the Japanese belt at stake, and WBA#4 ranked defending champ Nobuo Nashiro (7-0, 4 KOs), 115, kept his national belt as he connected with solid overhand rights and withstood a last surge of elongated WBA#2 Prosper Matsuura (25-6, 12 KOs), 115, to pound out a unanimous verdict (97-93, 96-94 and 97-94) over ten hard-fought rounds on Tuesday in Osaka, Japan. The fast-rising Nashiro, a stout-built ex-amateur puncher, thus defeated such three world contenders as Hidenobu Honda (W10), Seiji Tanaka (TKO10) and Matsuura in a row. Nashiro, however, wasnft as aggressive as he used to be probably because of his trauma to see his last opponent Tanaka pass away in a ring tragedy. He seemed to hesitate to follow up furiously as previously, but often landed good rights to the much taller opponent with precision. Matsuura, who had entered the top ten thanks to his upset triumph over then world-rated Rogelio Galicia last November, was in command with sharp left-right combos in the fourth, sixth and ninth, but wasnft enough to overcome his early deficits on points. Itfs a good fight of the world contenders, but Nashiro had better experience more fights prior to his forthcoming shot at the WBA throne against Martin Castillo, a clever and crafty counterpuncher.
In a first main event, there happened an OPBF middleweight unification bout with Australian Sakio Bika (20-1, 13 KOs), 156.25, fully displaying his superior physical power to demolish interim champ Yoshihiro Araki (15-3, 8 KOs), 159.5, with a single right shot at 2:22 of the fifth canto in a scheduled twelve. Bika, originally from Cameroon, had previous stopped Araki in ten hot frames in their first encounter to acquire the then vacant OPBF belt here in October of the previous year. Bikafs back pain cancelled a once-slated rematch in July, and Araki fought Korean ruler Kyunghoon Lee instead to gain an interim belt under the OPBFfs sanction. The muscular champ took the initiative with heavy jabs from the outset, though Araki averted them with his tight guard well. Araki, former Japanese titlist, attempted to counter the wild-punching champ in the third and fourth, but looked overpowered so much that he was forced to backpedal time and again. A devastating right of Bika, in the fatal fifth, caught the Japanese, who went down and wobblingly stood up only to be counted out by Korean referee Dongahn Park. The official scores before the trick happening were: 39-37 twice and 38-38.
A second main event saw ex-OPBF champ Noriyuki Komatsu (21-2-5, 9 KOs), 112, regain his OPBF flyweight belt as he almost toppled Filipino ruler Federico Catubay (16-10-3, 11 KOs), 110.5, in the third and earned a well-received but split decision over twelve give-and-take rounds. The judges tallied as follows: scoring referee Jaebong Kim (Korea) 115-112, Ichiro Uenaka (Japan) 115-111, both for Komatsu, and Jonathan Davis (Philippines) 114-112 for Catubay. The shorter Filipino, who previously failed to win the same OPBF throne via fourth-round stoppage by Hussein Hussein in Australia last February, made a good start, but Komatsu smartly penetrated the free-swinging the Filipinofs guard with short combinations from the second onward to steadily pile up points. The Japanese, midway in the third, connected with a well-timed short right, which made his opponent so badly rubbery-legged that he almost finished the affair with a barrage of punches. Catubay, a switch-hitter, was wild and aggressive, but threw almost all of his punches with open gloves, failing to hit his target with the knuckles, so he was penalized a point twice by the ref Kim in the third and seventh. After the seventh, Komatsu looked to win this bout rather easily with a comfortable lead on points. However, the tide turned in the eighth, when Catubay started his engine and furiously kept coming forward regardless of hitting the mark accurately. The Filipino dominated the last five rounds except the tenth with his persistent aggression, while Komatsu kept moving and covered himself up to keep his early accumulation of points. Having annihilated by Pongsaklek Kratindaeng-gym in five lopsided rounds in a quest for the WBC 1112-pound belt last January, Komatsu successfully regained the regional belt lately renounced by Japanese sensation Koki Kameda.
Co-promoters: Muto and Eddie Townsend Promotions.
Matchamker: Joe Koizumi (as for the Bika-Araki and Komatsu-Catubay OPBF title goes).
(11-22-05)