## THREE OPBF TITLE BOUTS SET

September 3, 2008

TOKYO, JAPAN

As the Olympic Games in Beijing were over, people turned their eyes to boxing that will present good cards in the last four months of this year. Three title bouts with the OPBF (Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation) belts at stake have been already announced here in Japan. WBC/WBA#8 Randy Suico (28-3, 24 KOs) (right photo), a hard-punching Filipino, will put his OPBF lightweight belt on the line against Japanese southpaw prospect Nihito Arakawa (13-1, 9 KOs) in Tokyo on September 20.

As OPBF feather champ Hiroyuki Enoki decided to have a crack at the WBA throne against Chris John here on October 24, the OPBF championship automatically became vacant to activate the division because of the rules and regulations. OPBF#1 Korean champ Jonghoon Lee (10-0, 7 KOs) and #2 unbeaten Satoru gBazookah Hosono (12-0, 10 KOs) will dispute the vacant crown in Tokyo on October 18.

The OPBF super-flyweight category will also watch an elimination bout as Filipino Sonny Boy Jaro will get a shot at the WBC 108-pound throne against Edgar Sosa in Mexico on September 27. OPBF top contender and Thai national champ Suriya Khlongphajon (10-5, 3 KOs) will face #3 Yukio Wadamine (24-3-1, 19 KOs) for the vacant belt in Fukuoka on November 3.

The OPBF headquarters now in Australia is supposed to move to Japan, of course, by acclamation of member countries after this yearfs convention in China. The Federation has been taking the excellent leadership thanks to hard-working president Frank Quillfs great efforts for years, but the Asian boxing scene is apparently declining chiefly because of Koreafs terrible retreat. Korea used to boast of five world champs at a same time, but now there are very few good boxers with decreasing professionals after the Olympic Games in 1988. Now the Korean Boxing Commission (KBC) cannot fill the domestic top ten in almost all classes without as many boxers to be qualified.

Also there has happened a serious problem of proliferation in Asia. Each sanctioning body has regional championship(s) such as OPBF, ABCO (Asian Boxing Council), WBC Youth titles under the WBC; PABA (Pan Asian Boxing Association) belt under the WBA, IBF intercontinental crown under the IBF, WBO Asia Pacific and WBO Orient diadems under the WBO. Asian boxers have too many options to be called regional champions (to be world-rated) and need not stick to the OPBF belts, although the OPBF once used to be the sole and most prestigious regional body.

We have had pitiful recession in boxing industry in Asia and/or Pacific countries including Australia and New Zealand, as seen in other parts of the world. It is only Japan that can afford to regularly stage OPBF title bouts due to considerably high amount of OPBF champsf purses (between $10,000 and $20,000) and necessary expenditures to promote the OPBF games. Some Thai prospects tend to aim at ABCO or PABA titles in order to enter the world ratings rather than fight for the OPBF belts, since the promotional cost is much cheaper than to stage the OPBF title goes.

Indonesia has a perennial bipolarization with a very limited number of excellent boxers such as unbeaten WBA feather champ Chris John and majority of poorly leveled fighters. It is very rare that we see Indonesian boys win in the ring in Japan. If we mention the percentage of victories, we have witnessed majority (higher than 90%) of Korean, Indonesian and Thai boxers succumb here. It is not because Japanese boxers are by far stronger but because there are so few good boxers or prospects in the other countries (except in the Philippines) that they rarely win here. Even unranked Japanese 8-round boys sometimes win over national champs ranked highly by the OPBF from those countries. Only Filipino boxers are advancing toward the US rather than to aim for the OPBF belts with the remarkable influence of Manny Pacquiao, the model with his tremendous success.

The decline of the OPBF might be caused by the Japanese dominance itself. Recently there have been not a few OPBF title goes between Japanese compatriots for the sake of reducing the promotional cost. They look like national title bouts unlike traditional OPBF title games. Should there be suitable foreign challengers, it might be an effective way for activating the OPBF fistic map to forbid Japanese boxers (or fighters of the same nationality) to fight in a quest for the OPBF belt in voluntary defenses or elimination bouts.

Look at the OPBF ratings and see how many Japanese OPBF champs we have. 108 Toshiaki Waga; 112 Masafumi Ohkubo; 115 Konosuke Tomiyama; 118 Rolly Matsushita (a Filipino belonging to a Japanese gym); 130 Takashi Uchiyama; 147 Motoki Sasaki; 154 Kazuhiko Hidaka; and 160 Koji Sato. All Japanese champs arenft necessarily excellent, but the level of the OPBF boxers in some categories is miserably deteriorating without doubt. We may see one or two more newly-crowned Japanese OPBF champs in the aforementioned three OPBF title bouts in September through November. Then Japan may have a more apparent monopoly of the OPBFfs scope of influence.

It is regrettable that the OPBF championship is becoming a secondary title to the Japanese national belt here. Our national champs are only obliged to face mandatory contenders in every nine months and can select any out of the JBC ranked contenders during that period. Some prospects will have to wait for years to get a national title crack, so their managers/promoters occasionally look for OPBF belts instead. Some cynic observers say, gJapanese champs are stronger than OPBF titlists.h If really so, it should have been partly caused by the staleness of Japanese national champsf mandatory defenses.

Should the JBC rules say every champ must defend the national belt in every six months (as previously), we may see higher rotation of mandatory defenses that will certainly activate our fistic scene. JBC #2 or #3 ranked contenders need not fight for the OPBF belt, but can battle for the national throne, as they can wait just a year or so prior to their mandatory shots. However, such a motion will certainly rejected by our union of managers (JPBA), which makes it a rule to grant a privilege for a national champ to make some voluntary defense in nine months.

Even if the OPBF presidency should see a changeover from Australia to Japan (JBC), the headquarters will not be able to stop this OPBF avalanche. But the JBC will be able to at least forbid a couple of Japanese boxers to repeat fighting for the OPBF belts unless in mandatory defenses between the OPBF and Japanese champs. In short, OPBF champs out of Japan had better give more opportunities for foreign OPBF contenders to fight for the still prestigious belts. It must be the first step to improve the OPBF activities properly.

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