April 15, 2006
TOKYO, JAPAN
WBC#15 ranked Peter Okello (18-4, 16 KOs), 253, kept his OPBF heavyweight belt as he struggled to earn a unanimous decision over mandatory challenger Bob Mirovic (26-16-2, 17 KOs), 262.75, over hard-fought twelve heats on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan. Itfs total war as they exerted all themselves to show a really grueling fight. The official scores were as follows: scoring referee Dongan Park (Korea) 118-108 (too generous for Peter), judges Kazunobu Asao (Japan) 117-111 and Mark Osborne (Australia) 115-112, all for the defending titlist who registered his ninth defense.
Mirovic, an Australian citizen born in Croatia, made a good start with effective jabs and solid left hooks to befuddle the champ in the opening session. Okello came back to win the second, but Mirovic was in command in the third. Rocking the Aussie with a big right, the champ dominated the fourth and fifth. But Mirovic accelerated his attack to score a point in the sixth and seventh. Okello had his second wind and turned loose in the eight through tenth sessions. The third man repeatedly gave a warning to Mirovic who held the champfs neck and pulled it down, and finally penalized a point twice in the ninth and eleventh. Mirovic was bleeding from the nostrils, while Okello was streaming blood from a gash over the right eyebrow. Though almost exhausted, they exchanged slow but still heavy blows toe-to-toe in the last two rounds. Itfs rare that Japanese fans watch a heavyweight competition, but it was truly a crowd-pleaser though Peter had a very tough time throughout the contest.
A terrible disaster happened when ex-IBF 105-pound champ Nico Thomas (32-29-7, 20 KOs), 105, a southpaw Indonesian, miserably succumbed on all fours with busy, if not so strong, body shots of Japanese lefty Yasutaka Kuroki (13-3, 10 KOs), 105, to be counted out at his second visit to the canvas at only 3:10 of the first round in a scheduled ten. We just wonder why the Japanese commission (JBC) allowed such a miserable 39-year-old boxer with no win for almost six years to appear in the ring even though the JBC has an exception for ex-world champs to the age-limit regulation that a boxer who reaches 37 is forbidden to fight here. Prior to this bout Nico Thomas had suffered seven consecutive KO defeats since 2000.
Co-promoters: Midori and Tsuchiura Yamaguchi Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi (as for the Okello-Mirovic bout).
(4-15-06)