December 2, 2006
OSAKA, JAPAN
Unbeaten WBA superfly champ Nobuo Nashiro (9-0, 5 KOs), 114.75, Japan, kept his belt as he was aggressive all the way and withstood the challengerfs occasional assault to pound out a unanimous decision over Mexican Eduardo Garcia (17-5, 7 KOs), 114.75, over twelve heats on Saturday in Osaka, Japan.
Rafael Carabano (Venezuela) and Kwanho Jang (Korea) both saw it 117-112, and Chalerm Prayadsab (Thailand) had it 118-110, all for the defending champ. The referee was Mark Nelson (US).
Despite the unanimous verdict it wasnft necessarily an easy initial defense for Nashiro, a year his junior at 25, who had captured the WBA belt via upset tenth round TKO over Martin Castillo this July. But Nashiro, shorter by an inch, mostly kept stalking the fleet-footed Mexican and stayed more aggressive and effective, piling up more points than Garcia. The lanky Mexican, who was once employed by Nashiro as a sparring partner, displayed his heart as he showed a whirlwind attack in the eight and tenth.
Nashiro, an ex-amateur university graduate who tied the Japanese record of ex-WBC bantam champ Joichiro Tatsuyoshi in gaining the world belt in the shortest career of his eighth pro outing, positively made a good start by scoring solid right crosses and heavy left uppercuts to the side of the belly in the first session. Garcia responded to his opening attack with a flurry of punches with inferior precision.
Garcia had a good upright style and tried to utilize his longer reach in swapping punches with the shorter but sturdy champ, but Nashiro showed his tight defense in averting the Mexicanfs busy combinations. The champ was in command in the first three rounds with ease.
The fourth saw Garcia turn loose with furious rallies from the beginning. Nashiro, however, defended himself well with his high guard and retaliated with more effective combos to the taller opponent. Garcia, nicknamed gBambinoh due to his baby-face, threw many punches in the fifth, but Nashiro felt him out and properly blocked his combinations and fought back with less but accurate blows. It was a close round to be given either.
Nashiro, in rounds six and seven, looked so impressive that it might be a matter of time that he would finish his challenger. His body shots were effective enough to slow down Garcia, and his combinations (left uppercuts to the belly followed by right crosses to the face) often caught the fading foe in the sixth. Nashiro accelerated his attack to have him retreating to-and-fro in the seventh.
Garcia, however, displayed an incredible retaliation, throwing many combos from all angles in the eighth. His assault opened a laceration of Nashiro over the left eyebrow. Though Nashiro averted almost all of them, it was apparently a round for the Mexican kid. The ninth went to Nashiro, who fought back hard and blocked Garciafs blows well.
The boyish-looking Mexican showed his best in the tenth, when he unleashed strong long rights followed by solid left hooks in combination entirely for three minutes to have the champ at bay. The tide then almost turned dramatically, but thatfs all Garcia exerted out of his funeral tank.
Nashiro, in the eleventh, took back the initiative by battering the fading Garcia with a fusillade of punches. The champ rained fierce combinations to his opponent, pinning him to the ropes. Garcia, in the twelfth, came out fighting, but it was Nashiro that showed better stamina and busier combinations to dominate the final stanza.
It was a more competitive combat than people had expected, as they came and see Nashirofs easier defense. Nashiro, a shaven-skulled youngster, showed his improvement in good defense, but failed to reveal his trade-mark aggressiveness as shown in his title-winning fight against Castillo.
Nashiro said, gI feel sorry not to be able to satisfy the crowd with a big victory. Garcia showed his heart and was simply stronger than I had expected. Ifd like to show a better defense next time.h The Japanese champ is one of seven current world titlists in Japan. He will be obliged to face ex-champ Martin Castillo due to his option agreement, and then meet the WBAfs mandatory challenger and ex-champ Alexander Munoz. If Nashiro recovers from a bad gash, he will have to prepare for his rematch with Castillo.
Elongated six-footer Nobuhiro Ishida (16-5-2, 5 KOs), 153.75, acquired the vacant Japanese 154-pound belt (vacated by Crazy Kim) when he earned a majority decision (98-93, 97-95 and 95-95) over Shinsuke Matsumoto (12-4-1, 3 KOs), 153, over ten. Up-and-coming 130-pounder Yuki Yoshizawa (15-1, 7 KOs), 132.5, sunk Thailander Yuki Worwisuth (7-4, 2 KOs), 130, at 1:54 of the second round in a scheduled eight. Southpaw welter Takayuki Hosokawa (10-6, 2 KOs), 147.5, almost finished Thailander Burnung Sakhomsilpa (5-3, 1 KO), 147.25, but had a tough time in later rounds to barely eke out a majority nod (58-56, 58-57 and 57-57) over six.
Promoter: Mutoh Promotions in association with Teiken Promotions.
WBA supervisor: Alan Kim (Korea).
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi.
(12-2-06)