November 13, 2006
TOKYO, JAPAN
Southpaw counterpuncher Hozumi Hasegawa (21-2, 7 KOs), 117.75, Japan, had a tough night, but barely retained his WBC bantam belt as he floored perennial top contender Genaro Garcia (37-5, 22 KOs), 117.75, Mexico, in the fourth and eighth, withstood Garcia’s persistent body bombardments and pounded out a unanimous verdict on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan.
Dave Moretti (US) and Anek Hongtongkam (Thailand) both tallied 114-109, and Hubert Minn (US) saw it 114-110, all in favor of the bloodied champ. The hard-working referee was Vic Drakulich (US). This reporter had it closer 113-111 for the champ.
The main event of a world title twinbill was an action-packed thriller. Garcia had previously scored a meaningful KO win over former IBF bantam kingpin Rafael Marquez (who lately announced to renounce his belt to move up to the 122-pound category) six years ago, and showed his real power in the furious contest tonight. Garcia positively started fireworks from the outset and began stalking the backpedaling champ. The lefty champ smartly kept his distance and countered the onrushing challenger with southpaw lefts followed by solid right hooks.
In the closing seconds of the fourth Hasegawa connected with a southpaw left uppercut to the button and sent him to the deck to sense that his counterpunching strategy would be right. Garcia, however, wasn’t a soft-touch but a tremendous fireball. No matter how much he absorbed Hasegawa’s counters, Garcia never stopped coming forward and aiming at his breadbasket.
For two judges, the sixth was the first that they gave a point to Garcia. But the tide obviously turned in the sixth. Garcia became more and more aggressive, sometimes pinning the champ to the ropes with a barrage of body punches. Hasegawa kept retreating to avert the challenger’s body attack. Garcia was also in command with his continual aggressiveness in the seventh. People thought that Garcia might overcome previous deficits on points should he vigorously continue body shots that apparently began to weaken the champ.
The eighth was eventful enough. Garcia was dominating the round with his body bombardments. They had a terrible collision of heads, when Hasegawa suffered a big laceration at the right eyebrow and Garcia a rather small cut over the forehead. The referee Drakulich, based on the WBC rules and regulations, deducted a point from Garcia, and then penalized a point from Hasegawa due to their accidental headbutt. He was definitely loyal to the rules, but the crowd felt bewildered at the third man’s penalty from each boxer at the same time. Hasegawa went to keep bleeding profusely from the gash thereafter until the end.
Garcia had been an obvious aggressor who was about to take another point in the eighth. Hasegawa, however, exploded a well-timed southpaw right hook to the button of the aggressive challenger in the closing seconds. Garcia’s damage didn’t look big, but it was big that Hasegawa won this losing round by 10-8.
Garcia maintained the pressure on the retreating champ, and often forced him to the ropes with persistent body shots in the ninth. Hasegawa, in round ten, became abruptly very aggressive as he kept punching the game Mexican with furious combinations for some thirty seconds. It was the champ’s round.
Having used out his energy, Hasegawa looked slowing down in the eleventh, when Garcia started retaliating with incessant combos to the face and midsection, often pinning him to the corner. The Mexican showed his heart and abundant stamina to win back a point.
The twelfth and last session saw Hasegawa, aware of leading on points, display circling and head-slipping so skillfully that the determined Garcia often hit the air and failed to catch the elusive target. Boring in too roughly, Garcia took a penalty for coming in with the head though he showed his disapproval for being penalized again.
The fight contained everything interesting in boxing. There were a couple of knockdowns with excitement. Garcia showed his incredible energy in chasing the counterpunching footworker. Hasegawa, in the eleventh, responded to his furious attacks with remarkable combinations. As Hasegawa rather easily dominated the first four rounds, he might have underestimated Garcia’s real power. In this regard Hasegawa made a mistake in his counterpunching strategy. He should have outjabbed the onrushing Garcia with his favorite southpaw right hand, which he seldom displayed tonight. As he kept backpedaling and countering him to pile up points in the early stage of the bout, Garcia solved the champ’s lazy and easy-going fight plan. Therefore, he showed such a fine retaliation in the second half of this game. But for his second knockdown in the eighth, the outcome might have become different. It was such a heart-beating see-saw affair that entertained the audience very much.
WBC supervisor: Major Lee Wonbok.
Promoter: Teiken Promotions.
(11-13-06)