November 12, 2006
TOKYO, JAPAN
A world title twinbill promoted by Akihiko Hondafs Teiken Promotions will take place tomorrow (Monday) at Nihon Budokan (Japanese Martial Arts Hall) in Tokyo, Japan.
WBC bantam champ Hozumi Hasegawa (20-2, 7 KOs), Japan, will risk his belt against perennial top contender Genaro Garcia (37-4, 22 KOs), Mexico, over twelve rounds. Also, WBC 105-pound ruler Eagle Kyowa (16-1, 6 KOs), a Thailander living here, will take on Mexican Lorezo Trejo (28-14, 15 KOs), over twelve.
There was an official weigh-in today, and the weight of the four contestants was as follows: Hasegawa and Garcia both 117/75 pounds, while Eagle and Trejo both 105. The Mexican veteran Garcia failed in his first weigh-in as he scaled in a half pound over the limit, but shed it in less than an hour to make the weight.
The officials are as follows:
For the Hasegawa-Garcia bout; referee Vic Drakulich (US); Hubert Minn (US), Dave Moretti (US) and Anek Hongtongkam (Thailand); and supervisor Major Lee Wonbok (Korea).
For the Eagle-Trejo bout; referee Mike Griffin (Canada); Gale Van Hoy (US), Lynn Carter (US) and Dongahn Park (Korea); and supervisor Edward Thangarajah (Thailand).
Hasegawa, a fast-moving and quick-punching southpaw, will make his third defense since capturing the belt via upset unanimous decision over Veeraphol Nakhornluang-Promotion in April of the previous year. The fast-improving lefty, 25, registered a couple of defenses over Geraldo Martinez (TKO7) and ex-champ Veeraphol (TKO9) to his credit. Garcia, 29, once scored a valuable second-round KO win over former IBF bantam ruler Rafael Marquez in 2000. Since his last defeat by Venezuelan Jose Cheo Rojas in 2002, Garcia scored eight victories straight over Mauricio Martinez, Julio Cesar Avila, Adonis Rivas, Rodolfo Martinez, Geraldo Martinez, et al. It will be a very competitive fight between the fast southpaw and the hard-hitting fighter.
Eagle, 27, regained the WBC straw belt by outscoring Katsunari Takayama (who lately became the WBA 105-pound interim champ on this November 7) in August of the previous year. Since then, the Japan-based Thailander impressively registered two successful defenses over Ken Nakajima (TKO7) and Rodel Mayol (W12). Trejo, 27, is an aggressive hard-puncher who suffered a fourth-round TKO defeat at the hand of Rodel Mayol in a WBC eliminator during the Carnival of Champions in Cancun, Mexico, last January. Trejo, however, made a fine comeback as he acquired the WBC Hispanic light-fly belt by stopping Martin Cepeda last September. Eagle, an excellent boxer-puncher with his tight defense, is favored to keep his belt for the third time.
(11-12-06)