September 16, 2006
TOKYO, JAPAN
Unbeaten WBA#3/WBC#13 ranked Japanese Hiroyuki Enoki (25-0-1, 18 KOs), 126, kept his OPBF featherweight belt as he impressively scored an important victory over WBC#6 Nedal Hussein (41-4, 26 KOs), 126, Australia, by winning a unanimous decision over twelve hot rounds on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan. The official tallies were as follows: scoring-referee Pinit Prayadsab (Thailand) 116-112, Brian McMahon (Australia) and Kazuo Abe (Japan) both 116-114, all in favor of the defending champ. Enoki, making his first defense, made a good start, but Hussein retaliated to win the second and fourth with good jabs and left-right combinations. Enoki, however, turned aggressive and swept five rounds straight from the fifth as he occasionally rocked the more experienced Aussie with solid right crosses and vicious left hooks. Hussein showed his last surge to dominate the tenth and twelfth, which wasnft enough to overcome his earlier deficits on points. Enoki, an aggressive hard-puncher with a tight guard, showed his best performance in his career.
Japanese top ranked 130-pounder Akio Mikami (18-1-1, 5 KOs), 131, suffered a couple of lacerations over the right eyebrow, but finally finished Thai #9 feather Denchai Soh. Thiapkhun (6-7, 2 KOs), 131, at 0:36 of the sixth. Kazuma Kumada (12-4, no KO), 104, floored ex-world contender Hiroshi Matsumoto (16-6-3, 8 KOs), 104, in the sixth and earned a unanimous decision (97-95, 97-93 and 100-92) over ten. Filipino feather champ Vinvin Rufino (20-6-2, 9 KOs), 127, showed a one-punch stoppage of Yoshinori Miyata (18-5-1, 10 KOs), 127, with a southpaw left to the button at 1:25 of the second.
Promoter: Kadoebi Promoitons.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi.
(9-16-06)