February 4, 2006
NAGOYA, JAPAN-An OPBF championship twinbill will take place tomorrow (Sunday) in Nagoya, Japan. Hard-hitting Filipino Randy Suico (23-2, 20 KOs) will put his OPBF 130-pound belt against ex-world challenger Ryuhei Sugita (30-2-2, 22 KOs), a local favorite, over twelve rounds. Also, newly crowned OPBF bantam ruler Malcolm Tunacao (19-1-2, 13 KOs), a slick-punching southpaw, will risk his regional belt against unbeaten up-and-coming prospect, WBC#13 Kohei Ohba (13-0, 8 KOs) over twelve sessions.
Suico, 26, making his fifth defense, hasnft lost in Asia, though he suffered a couple of close setbacks to Mzonke Fana (by a split decision) in a WBC eliminator in 2004 and to ex-IBF champ Javier Jauregui (by a majority nod) last year. Sugita also only twice got defeated by Tiger Ari on points for the OPBF belt in 2001 and by Yodsanan 3K Battery via seventh round TKO in a quest for the WBA throne in 2004. Sugita, 29, is a tough and durable infighter whose stamina and gameness is highly evaluated, while Suico is a hard-puncher called Komong Bato (Stone Hand) in his native Cebu of the Philippines.
Tunacao, 28, was once the WBC flyweight champ, though having forfeited his belt to the current ruler Pongsaklek Singwangcha in the first round in 2001. The Filipino lefty has been unbeaten in nine bouts since, and wrested the OPBF 118-pound belt by outmaneuvering Thailander Kumarnthong Por Plumkamon to win a unanimous nod last November. Ohba, a tall admirer of Floyd Mayweather, is one of the brightest prospects here in Japan that lately defeated world-rated Mexican Jose Angel Beranza by a unanimous decision in Nagoya to be rated #13 by the WBC.
Promoter Kiyoshi Hatanaka, ex-WBC superbantam champ, says all the tickets were already sold out and he should have used a bigger arena for the dual OPBF title show. Will Hatanaka, also the manager of Sugita, have a double luck in his boy capturing the OPBF belt from Suico along with his promotional success?
(2-4-06)