December 17, 2005
TOKYO, JAPAN-WBC#14 and OPBF#1 ranked Japanese 140-pound champ Norio Kimura (27-5-2, 12 KOs), 139.75, displayed an impressive one-punch KO over top contender Kazuyuki Matsumiya (12-5-1, 4 KOs), 140, with a devastating southpaw left at 2:25 of the second round on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan. Kimura, making his fifth defense, is one of the most improving boxers here and has become such a strong ringman that there are no competitive opponents in this division in Japan. Kimura, formerly national light champ, landed solid right hooks and straight lefts to effectively shake up the still nervous challenger in the opening canto. Midway in the second Kimura exploded a perfectly-timed countering left to drop Matsumiya on the deck. Wobblingly standing up, Matsumiya wasnft allowed to go on because of his glassy eyes and rubbery legs. Only a boxer that can cope with the hard-punching Kimura may be the OPBF ruler Jungbong Kim of Korea.
Japanese #2 lightweight Ichitaro Ishii (15-1-1, 14 KOs), 137.75, collected another KO victim in flattening Thai #9 light Chakkrapetch Toh Tiwanonth (4-3, 1 KO), 136.5, at 1:15 of the second session in a scheduled eight. Ishii, a less sophisticated hard-hitter, previously dispatched Filipino champ Fernando Montilla to enter the OPBF top ten. Yoshinari Hayamizu (19-5-2, 3 KOs), 139.5, outscored Kiyohisa Morita (8-5-1, 4 KOs), 138.5, over eight. Unbeaten national #6 light-fly Shigetaka Ikehara (9-0-1, 6 KOs), 106, showed his hard-punching ability as well as his switching style from orthodox to southpaw, and managed to earn a unanimous nod (79-74 twice and 78-75) over tremendously durable Goro Tachibana (7-3-1, 1 KO), 108, over eight.
Promoter: Yokohama Hikari Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi (as for the Ishii-Chakkapetch bout).
(12-17-05)