February 9, 2008
FUKUOKA, JAPAN
Up-and-coming local prospect, Japanese #7 super-fly Kenji Ohba (11-1, 8 KOs), 115, formerly national winner of the Novice King four-round tourney, made short work of Thai #6 fly Phetchbhuphan Sishpraka-ifah (10-7, 5 KOs), 115, disposing of him with a solid right shot at 2:42 of the second round in a scheduled ten on Saturday in Fukuoka, Japan.
Ex-WBC feather champ Takashi Koshimoto hung up gloves after he was upset and dethroned by Mexican Rudy Lopez in his initial defense in July 2006. The first world champ from Kyushu district then succeeded his father Hidetake's Fukuoka Gym and became a manager/promoter since then. In his own promotion, his boy Ohba took the initiative with solid left-right combinations and exploded a vicious right shot, which sent the Thailander sprawling to the deck.
While the referee kept counting, a Thai cornerman threw in a towel and entered the ring to save the loser, but the third man had finished tolling the ten.
In Japan, upon throwing in a towel, a cornerman is logically entitled to enter the squared circle since he already shows his boxer’s surrender. In some countries it is strictly forbidden for a cornerman to throw in a towel to ask the referee for a stoppage, saying that should a towel be tossed in by some other person than a cornerman by ill-intentioned accident, the fight might be stopped mistakenly.
However, problem is which is faster for a cornerman to stop the fight and save the helpless loser from further punishment between (1) tossing in a towel and (2) appealing for a stoppage from the ring apron. Sometimes, the first way of tossing in the towel is more effective and evident in saving the loser, since the towel thrown in is clearly seen by everybody including the supervisor of the commission desk, who can promptly signal a halt to the referee. On the contrary, sometimes, a third man fails to hear a cornerman shouting for a stoppage because he is turning his back on the cornerman, which may cause a delay in his decision to call a halt.
Therefore, we, in Japan, still stick to the traditional way of a cornerman tossing in the towel to stop the affair, and we also accept a cornerman appealing from the apron to ask the ref to halt the affair like in Nevada or other places.
OPBF#15 super-bantam Kazuyoshi Niki (20-3-1, 8 KOs), 121.75, was an aggressor all night, regardless of precision, and was awarded a nearly lopsided decision (100-90, 100-91 and 98-91) over Thailander Daoroek Soonkilanoinai (8-8, 2 KOs), 121,5, over ten. Neither the aggressive Niki nor the counterpunching Daoroek scored accurate shots throughout the dull contest.
Hard-punching prospect from Osaka, Toshimitsu Yamamoto (9-2-1, 8 KOs), 126, was held to a majority draw (77-77, 76-76 and 78-75 for him) by Kiyomichi Shirogane (12-5-2, 7 KOs), 125.75, over eight. Yamamoto, in the final session, had him at bay.
Promoter: Fukuoka Promotions.
(2-9-08)