January 30, 2007
January 30, 2007
TOKYO, JAPAN
Australian Heath Stenton (12-17-1, 2 KOs) (right photo), 174.75, impressively captured the OPBF light-heavyweight belt as he made good use of his left hand, repeatedly bounced off the face of defending champ Yoshinori Nishizawa (28-18-5, 16 KOs), 174.5, Japan, with stinging lefts and pounded out a unanimous decision over twelve heats on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan.
The official tallies were as follows: scoring referee Pinit Prayadsab (Thailand) 118-110, judges Gus Mercurio (Australia) and Nobuaki Uratani (Japan) 118-111 and 117-113 respectively, all in favor of the OPBF top contender Stenton.
It was their rubber match, as they fought in a quest of the vacant OPBF 168-pound throne en route to a split draw (116-116, 114-114 and 114-116 for Nishizawa) in March 2001, and Nishizawa eked out a hairline split verdict (116-115, 117-114 and 112-116) over Stenton to acquire the regional belt in June that year. As almost six years passed since their first encounter, Nishizawa became an old soldier, ten years his senior at 41.
From the start Stenton landed good jabs and left hooks to the game Japanese champ, who failed to show his previous zip despite fighting gallantly. Stenton showed his improvement since his previous showings here, and utilized his faster jabs and sharp rights to the champfs face, piling up points steadily except in the third and ninth. The champ sustained a gash caused by a legal punch in the fifth, while the challenger suffered a slight cut around the right eyebrow caused by a butt.
Nishizawa attempted to hit the breadbasket to stop Stentonfs mobility, but it didnft work well as the Australian cleverly blocked almost all of them and used his faster footwork. As Nishizawa went forward regardless of precision of his attack, the crowd kept roaring to warmly hail the old champ. But Nishizawa absorbed good punishment of the Aussie speedster, who obviously looked a winner. Nishizawa, who had often received recommendations of the Japanese commission (JBC) to retire from the game, will be obliged to hang up gloves for good. He was loved by great many fight fans because of his always gallant and all-out performance. It might be good for the old soldierfs career that Nishizawa could experience a couple of world title shots against Anthony Mundine in Australia and Marcus Beyer in Germany.
WBC#12 lightweight/WBA#14 super-feather Takehiro Shimada (20-3-1, 13 KOs), 137.5, dispatched mediocre Thailander Ensiphok Sor Worasin (3-4, 1 KO), 133, with persistent body shots at 2:27 of the fifth round in a scheduled eight.
Promoter: Yonekura Promotions.
(1-30-07)
January 2, 2007
TOKYO, JAPAN
Fast-moving Mexican southpaw Cristian Mijares (29-3-2, 10 KOs) will risk his newly acquired WBC 115-pound belt against Japanese grudge rival Katsushige Kawashima (30-6, 20 KOs) tomorrow (Wednesday) in Tokyo, Japan. It will be the main event of a world twibill presented by Teiken and Ohashi co-promotions.
Both weighed in at 52.1 kg (115 pounds), the class limit, today. The officials are as follows: referee Mike Ortega (US); judges Chuck Hassett (US), Malcolm Bulner (Australia) and Maximo de Luca (US); and supervisor Frank Quill (Australia), the OPBF president.
They had battled for the vacant interim belt here this September with Mijares emerging victorious with such a hairline verdict of 114-113 twice for him and 113-114 for Kawashima. The decision was debatable, as Kawashima badly dropped the Mexican with a vicious overhand right in the second, but Mijares showed a remarkable recuperation and maintain hit-and-run tactics to earn a closest decision.
Mijares, seven years his junior at 25, already made his first defense by outscoring Colombian Reynaldo Lopez on November 18. The young speedster doesnft seem to care about a short interval of only 46 days since, and looks in good shape. Mijares, then the interim champ, elevated to the full titlist as the champ Masamori Tokuyama lately renounced his WBC belt to move up to the bantam category last December.
Kawashima, a Japanese banger, once wrested the WBC super-fly belt by registering a shocking first-round stoppage of Tokuyama, but yielded it to him in their rubber battle in 2005. The Japanese isnft so skillful, but his physical power and tremendous stamina is his trademark by which he previously overpowered many opponents. Kawashima, handled by ex-WBC/WBA 105-pound champ Hideyuki Ohashi, said at a press conference, gI am in perfect shape, and wish to get the belt back to me. Mijares confidently said, gIfll bring back the belt either by a decision or by a knockout.h
The key for victory may be speed on hand and foot. Mijares is a very fast gFancy-Danh, furthermore a puzzling southpaw, but Kawashima is also a fast fighter. Kawashima has a bad tendency to miss big punches in the close quarter, but he says he would catch the elusive target with sharper punches. Should he wear down the champ with persistent body bombardments, Mijares may be slowing down so that Kawashima will be able to catch the lanky Mexican hombre in a later round. But Mijaresf defensive skills and fast footwork may be a nuisance enough to frustrate the one-dimensional infighter. Kawashima will have a puncherfs chance.
(1-2-07)