September 17, 2006
YOKOHAMA, JAPAN
Mexican southpaw Christian Mijares (28-3-2, 10 KOs), 115, acquired the WBC interim superfly belt as he came off the canvas from a bad knockdown in the end of the second round, and fought back hard to be awarded a hairline split decision over ex-WBC champ Katsushige Kawashima (30-5, 20 KOs), 115, Japan, on Monday in Yokohama, Japan.
The official scorecards were as follows: Burt Clements and David Harris both 114-113 for Mijares and James JenKin 114-113 for Kawashima. The referee was Frank Garza. All the officials came from the US.
The audience believed in Kawashima’s victory, so got stunned at the announcement of the tallies against him. It was such a close affair as Mijares survived his visit to the deck from Kawashima’s very strong right hook to the face in the second and went on mixing it up in the close-range rallies. Kawashima’s punches looked more effective than the Mexican’s pit-a-pat combinations, though Mijares was superior in terms of precision.
From the outset they kept swapping punches as Mijares threw light but busy combos, while Kawashima connected with heavier left hooks to the belly and the face. The crowd almost thought it was over in the second when Kawashima landed a vicious right to the face of Mijares, who went down with a thud. The Mexican was apparently rubbery-legged. Kawashima tried to finish him with a flurry of punches, but became a bit too stiff to catch the groggy target with precision. Mijares had a really narrow escape. Had Kawashima’s punches been a little more accurate, he could have caught Mijares again with solid shots to have it over.
The third saw Kawashima, 31, wildly miss big punches when Mijares, 24, retaliated with light but busy combinations. The Japanese hard-puncher attempted to score same powerful shots as shown in the second, but Mijares withstood them and responded with light combos in the middle range. The Mexican looked in command by a slight margin in the third and fourth sessions to show his good recovery from the knockdown.
Kawashima was more aggressive than Mijares, using left hooks to the side of belly in the fifth and sixth. The Japanese sustained a cut over the left eyebrow caused by the Mexican’s legal punches in the fifth, while Mijares also began bleeding from a cut over the right optic in the sixth.
Mijares, a lanky lefty, seemed to have had a second wind to dominate the seventh and eighth with light but accurate combos to the face. Kawashima, a rugged Gene Fullmer stylist, turned loose in the ninth to win a point with his busier combinations. Mijares gamely exchanged punches in the close quarter and took the tenth, when Kawashima suffered another gash over the left optic.
After the tenth was over, the official scores were 95-94 twice for the Japanese and 95-94 for the Mexican. It became a two-round fight. Mijares was in command in the eleventh, but Kawashima showed his last surge as he kept punching the fading Mexican to dominate the final session. But the final tallies showed the Mexican’s closest victory by a split verdict.
Mexican Rudy Lopez captured the WBC feather belt by stopping Takashi Koshimoto last July, and another Mexican Mijares again defeated Japanese Kawashima to acquire the WBC superfly belt. For Mexican hombres, Japan might be a fortunate place.
The crestfallen loser Kawashima, in the dressing room, announced to retire from ring competition. Kawashima was a game, if not skillful, crowd-pleaser with hard-punching ability and strong heart. We saw his last performance, which was never shameful as he showed his very best on the verge of a victory.
OPBF minimum champ Akira Yaegashi (6-0, 5 KOs), 105, floored Thai challenger Liempetch Thanyon (6-2, 3 KOs), 105, three times to score an automatic KO at 2:55 of the opening session to keep his regional belt. Unheralded OPBF#10 Taisei Marumoto (19-7-1, 8 KOs), 147, surprisingly captured the OPBF welter throne as he survived a first-round trip to the deck and came back hard to badly hurt previously unbeaten defending champ Hiroshi Yamaguchi (15-1-1, 10 KOs), 147, and halt him at 2:04 of the seventh canto. It was a stunning upset. WBC #3 minimum Rodel Mayol, 110.25, decked Masatsugu Okada, 110.25, three times en route to a quick stoppage at 2:02 of the first round. Unbeaten Satoru Hosono, 127.5, ran his mark to 5-0, 4 KOs by showing a beautiful one-punch KO of ex-Filipino feather champ Jeffrey Onate, 128, at 0:25 into the first round.
Promoter: Ohashi Promotions in association with Teiken Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi.
(9-18-06)