## NUMATA KEEPS JAPANESE 147LB BELT

September 6, 2008

TOKYO, JAPAN

OPBF top ranked Japanese welterweight champ Koji Numata (15-2-1, 10 KOs), 146.5, kept his national belt as he withstood the opening attack of ex-OPBF ruler Hiroshi Yamaguchi (16-3-2, 10 KOs), 146.25, displayed furious retaliations and dropped him three times to score an automatic KO victory at 2:11 of the sixth round on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan.

It was like a Rocky Marciano-Ezzard Charles encounter, as Numata absorbed much punishment but shrugged them off to turn his absorption into his retaliation. The tide turned in the fourth, when the champ began to hurt the aggressive challenger who should have outboxed more rather than mixed it up so recklessly. The fatal fifth saw Numata, a sturdy hard-puncher, catch the fading foe with solid combos, decking him three times in succession. It was Numatafs initial defense since he registered a stunning upset in dethroning highly regarded Tadashi Yuba via fourth round knockout that surprisingly fractured the defending champfs jaw bone last April.

### Undercard:

Game campaigner, JBC#6 super-welter Takao Onda (19-6, 14 KOs), 153.5, kept battering Indonesian #3 Rianto Simamora (12-3-3, 3 KOs), 152.5, from the outset and finally sank him for the count with wicked body shots at 1:08 of the third canto.

Promoter: Kaneko Promotions.

Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi (as for the Onda-Simamora bout).

(9-9-08)

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