April 3, 2006
TOKYO, JAPAN-Akihiko Honda, Teiken Promotions, Inc., announced that WBC #2 Sirimongkol Singwangcha (53-2, 32 KOs), Thailand, and #3 ranked Chikashi Inada (19-2, 14 KOs), Japan, would dispute the interim WBC lightweight belt beneath a Marco Antonio Barrera-Rocky Juarez WBC 130-pound title bout at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, on May 20. Now that the legitimate WBC 135-pound kingpin Diego Corrales enters the third chapter of a trilogy against Jose Luis Castillo on June 3, after an unexpected postponement due to Diego’s ribcage injury, his obligation to defend his throne against the official challenger Sirimongkol would not materialize for a long time. The Thailander had acquired the mandatory position by dispatching Michael Clark in an eliminator in Las Vegas last May. It might look strange that a couple of Asians will fight for the interim belt in the US, but it will be a highly competitive bout. Should Sirimongkol, 29, win the interim belt, he will become the first Asian that seizes three world belts in as many different categories, since he previously gained the WBC bantam and super-feather crowns. Inada, 28, an elongated speedster with good footwork, is the OPBF champ who captured the regional belt by outscoring Filipino lefty Dennis Laurente in March of the previous year, and kept it twice by stopping Koreans Sungwoo Park in eight and Yongbong Lee in four to his credit. We hope the Asians will show a good performance before US aficionados.
(4-3-06)