January 3, 2007
TOKYO, JAPAN
Mexican southpaw Cristian Mijares (30-3-2, 11 KOs), 115, retained his WBC 115-pound belt as he positively kept punching from the outset, withstood retaliations of Katsushige Kawashima (30-6, 20 KOs), 115, in middle rounds and finally halted him with a flurry of punches at 1:05 of the tenth round on Wednesday in Tokyo, Japan.
Referee Mike Ortega (US) made a well-received stoppage as Mijares pinned Kawashima to the corner, battering the helpless loser from all angles. It was a very impressive victory for Mijares, making his second defense, who fully displayed speed and skills to overwhelm the fading ex-champ.
It was a grudge fight as Mijares was awarded a hairline victory by a split decision (114-113 twice for him and 113-114 against him) to acquire the WBC interim belt in their first encounter in Yokohama last September. As the full champ Masamori Tokuyama (who once yielded his belt to Kawashima by a first-round shocker but regained it from him in their rubber battle) renounced his belt to move up to the bantam division in the previous month, Mijares became the legitimate WBC super-fly ruler.
Mijares, seven years his junior at 25, was remarkably sharp and aggressive from the start, throwing many southpaw jabs and quick combinations to have the Japanese on the defensive in the first two rounds. Kawashima was in command in round three, when Mijares was too positive in mixing it up toe-to-toe with the shorter hard-puncher to take good rights of the challenger.
Mijares grew more aggressive in the fourth to take back the initiative with a barrage of punches even onto the tight block of Kawashima, who only threw a shot at a time with inferior precision. After the fourth, the WBC’s open scoring showed interim tallies: 39-37 twice and 40-36 all for Mijares. The Mexican champ also dominated the fifth.
Busily weaving and ducking, Kawashima came close to the taller southpaw Mexican and landed good right leads and left hooks to take a point in the sixth. Mijares temporarily looked less aggressive as previously, so people thought the Mexican lefty was going to run out of gas due to his too high pace in earlier rounds. But it was a wrong view. Mijares, in the seventh, began to move to-and-fro fast to frustrate Kawashima and turned loose with quick combinations, while Kawashima gamely responded to his attack with few but harder punches.
The eighth was a difficult round to score, as Mijares threw much more light combinations, but Kawashima landed good right leads and left hooks (two judges gave it to Mijares and another to Kawashima). After the eighth, the scores were announced to be 77-75 and 79-73 for Mijares, and 76-76. Should Kawashima have swept all the last four rounds, he could have won the game. But it didn’t happen. The ninth saw the Japanese slowing down with his absorption of the busy-punching champ’s punishment. They mixed it up, but Mijares apparently outclassed and outpunched the visibly fading ex-champ.
The tenth and fatal round was dramatic enough. The much younger Mijares threw a fusillade of punches to the peek-a-boo stylist. When Kawashima was about to retaliate with big punches, Mijares caught him with a well-timed southpaw right hook, flooring him to the deck. Probably it might have occurred in the third man’s blind spot, so the ref called it slip. It, however, actually hurt Kawashima, whose legs were terribly gone. Mijares went all out for a kill, forcing him to the corner to batter him with unanswered combinations. The referee was patiently watching the champ’s one-sided rallies, and finally declared a halt. Kawashima then almost collapsed as the ref firmly held him and his cornermen rushed in to rescue him from going down.
We have never seen such a vast improvement in Mijares in such a short period since last September. He became a different boxer than a light-punching footworker in their first encounter. The Mexican youngster looked so confident and physically stronger that he dared to swap punches with the harder puncher Kawashima. Mijares could throw punches in combination in a brilliant fashion to overwhelm the game Japanese puncher. Kawashima might have studied the champ’s style, and moved much better than in the previous bout, but their difference of speed and skills was pitifully too big tonight.
Mijares said, “Kawashima was a brave warrior, but I had a good condition mentally and physically, so I was confident to win convincingly to bring back the belt to Mexico.”
Mijares will have to face sensational compatriot Jorge “Travieso” Arce with his WBC super-fly belt at stake. If he can show such a superb performance, he may have a good possibility to upset Arce and stun the world.
After the ninth, the official tallies were as follows: Maximo de Luca (US) 87-84, Malcolm Bulner (Australia) 86-85 and Chuck Hassett (US) 89-82, all in favor of Mijares. It was a Mijares night.
Japanese welter champ Terutoshi Ohmagari (18-4-3, 17 KOs), 149.25, dropped Mexican Alejandro Garcia (7-3, 3 KOs), 149.25, three times and stopped him at 0:53 of the third round in a scheduled ten.
Previously unbeaten 122-pound prospect Masaki Miya (16-0-1, 12 KOs), 122.75, was saved with a highly controversial draw (96-96 twice and 95-97 against him) with WBC#31 Hispanic champ Ruben Estanislao (18-7-3, 4 KOs), 122.5, over ten. This reporter saw it 99-91 for Estanislao. Though Miya kept moving forward without throwing punches, Estanislao kept punching even with light combinations to maintain the initiative before Miya showed his last surge to dominate only the last round. It was shameful that such a disputed decision was rendered before the WBA and the WBC officials.
Unbeaten Satoru Hosono (7-0, 6 KOs), 127.75, caught Mexican Mario Garcia (6-5-1, 2 KOs), 127.75, and floored him twice for the count at 2:38 of the sixth round in a scheduled ten.
Promoter: Ohashi Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi (as for all the Japanese-Mexican confrontations).
(1-3-07)