December 9, 2005
NAGOYA, JAPAN-Ex-WBC superbantam champ Kiyoshi Hatanaka, now a promoter, has announced that he will stage an OPBF twinbill in Nagoya, Japan, on February 5. WBC#11 ranked OPBF 130-pound champ Randy Suico (23-2, 20 KOs), will make his fifth defense against WBC#19 Ryuhei Sugita (30-2-2, 22 KOs), Japan, over twelve rounds. The 26-year-old Filipino Suicio, then ranked #3 by the WBC, lost a majority decision to ex-IBF lightweight champ Javier Jauregui in Los Angeles in his previous bout in September, and was drastically dropped to #11. Suico, a tall hard-puncher, wishes to re-establish his position by busily keeping his regional belt and going back to the US to try his fists again in 2006. Also, the newly crowned OPBF bantam champ Malcolm Tunacao (19-1-2, 13 KOs), ex-WBC flyweight ruler of the Philippines, will put his belt against unbeaten local prospect, WBC#13 ranked Kohei Ohba (13-0, 8 KOs), Japan, over twelve rounds. Tunacao forfeited his world throne to Medgoen Kratingdaeng-gym by a seventh round TKO in Thailand in 2000, and has been unbeaten since. The Filipino southpaw lately captured the OPBF 118-pound belt by lopsidedly outscoring Kumarnthong Poh Pluemkamol, a durable Thailander, in Tokyo this November. Ohba, one of the brightest prospects here, decked an important victory over WBC rated Jose Angel Beranza last month in Nagoya to be newly ranked by the WBC. The 21-year-old Japanese admires Floyd Mayweather, and, funny enough, always watches a video of Pretty Boy prior to his workout and then start training to imitate his versatile style. But Tunacao may be too much more experienced and talented for the fast-rising youngster. Will Ohba make a trick against Tunacao as Floyd amazingly dethroned Genaro Hernandez in his first crack at the world belt?
(12-9-05)