August 12, 2007
TAKASAGO, JAPAN
WBC#9 ranked Rolly Matsushita Lunas (24-6-1, 13 KOs), 115.5, a Japan-based Filipino banger, kept his OPBF bantamweight belt as he finally exploded solid combinations to drop WBC#6 Japanese national champ and OPBF top contender Masayuki Mitani (20-2, 10 KOs), 117, twice en route to a spectacular stoppage at 2:09 of the twelfth and final round on Sunday in Takasago, Japan.
Mitani, a Carlos Zarate stylist utilizing his height and reach, attempted to outjab and outpunch the shorter hard-puncher, and was leading on points in the first half. Lunas, however, accelerated his attack as Mitani began to bleed from the nostrils in the ninth. His bad nose-bleeding like a red cascade apparently disturbed the Japanese challengerfs rhythm, while the champ occasionally connected with good shots to the face in the tenth and eleventh. Still close as it was, Lunas turned loose with a vicious left uppercut to the chin following a left-right combo and floored the fading Japanese for a mandatory eight count. The champ swarmed over the groggy challenger and caught him with vicious combinations to flatten him, when referee Severino Necesario called a halt without bothering to count. The tallies after the eleventh were: 105-104, 106-103 and 107-102, all for the defending champ.
Junichi Ebisuoka (15-10-3, 6 KOs), 110, was awarded a controversial majority decision (95-94, 98-95 and 95-95) over ex-WBC world 105-pound champ Jose Antonio Aguirre (38-7-1, 23 KOs), 109.5, a Mexican veteran, over ten. Aguirre looked to have passed his peak, and his punches were slow and less damaging though he connected with more shots to the younger Japanese, who was still fresher in later rounds. Aguirre deserved a draw at worst.
Promoter: Takasago Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi.
(8-12-07)