January 9, 2006
YOKOHAMA, JAPAN-WBC 105-pound champ Eagle Kyowa (15-1, 6 KOs), 105, impressively kept his belt as he battered Japanese challenger Ken Nakajima (14-3, 8 KOs), 105, from all angles, swept all rounds and finally accelerated his attack to prompt the refereefs intervention at 1:01 of the seventh round on Monday afternoon in Yokohama, Japan. There were no knockdowns, but it became a nearly lopsided affair despite Nakajimafs desperate retaliation as the contest progressed. All the judges, Tony Castellano (US), Herminio Cuevas (Mexico) and Hisatoshi Miyazaki (Japan), tallied 60-54 in favor of the busy-punching champ prior to the stoppage. The referee was Nobuaki Uratani (Japan).
It was a hot affair as Nakajima, who recently defeated a couple of world contenders (Armand de la Cruz and Francisco Rosas) in a row, gamely started fireworks from the first session. The champ, a Japan-based Thailander, positively responded to his opening attack with more accurate combinations followed by solid left hooks to be in command.
The second saw Eagle, 27, penetrate the challengerfs guard with a sharp left-right combo, bouncing his face off effectively. In the third Nakajima, also 27, aimed at the champfs breadbasket with solid left uppercuts, but Eagle shook them off and fought back with good one-two and left hooks with precision.
The shorter but muscular champ, in the fourth, went out to connect with solid combinations to weaken the challenger, who showed his heart and lasted the round. In the fifth Nakajima at first took the initiative by throwing more punches though properly blocked by the champ, who landed strong shots in combination to win a point in the closing seconds. The fifth was the closest session of this contest.
Nakajima was game and tough enough to recklessly attack the formidable champ in the sixth, when Eagle fought back hard to one-sidedly batter him with a two-fisted attack and the bell came to his rescue. As the fatal seventh began, Eagle went all out for a kill with a fusillade of punches that had the fading challenger staggering to the ropes. The champ swarmed over him and the third man made a very well-timed stoppage to save the loser from further punishment.
Nakajima fought well and displayed his vaunted lion-heart, but Eagle showed his improvement on power and skills so remarkably that he clearly proved itfs not a night for Nakajima. Eaglefs fine performance won the great praise of the crowd at the Pacific Yokohama. Eagle once forfeited his WBC belt to Mexican Isaac Bustos because of a shoulder injury in December 2004, but regained his throne by outscoring Katsunari Takayama (who had dethroned Bustos in his first defense last April) by a unanimous nod in August. Eagle, making his first defense since, showed such a revelation that people might forget his previous bizarre defeat by the injured shoulder. The strong Eagle flew back to the ring warfare this night.
Promoter: Green Tsuda Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi.
(1-9-05)