May 3, 2008
TOKYO, JAPAN
WBC#8/WBA#15 Japanese super-light champ Norio Kimura (34-5-2, 18 KOs), 140, registered his twelfth successful defense as he battered game and hard-punching challenger Daigoro Yamamoto (12-5-4, 9 KOs), 140, to the punch, bloodied him profusely and finally caught him with a barrage of punch to prompt the referee’s intervention of the lopsided affair at 2:37 of the fifth round in a scheduled ten on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan.
The flamboyant Kimura, whose hair was dyed in gold and red, swarmed over the reckless challenger who amazingly came out fighting from the start to cope with the champ’s vaunted and dangerous opening attack. Yamamoto’s heart might be admirable, but he absorbed much punishment of the southpaw champ in every round. In the fatal fifth Kimura accelerated his effective attack to bring him to a standstill, when the ref Asao declared a well-received halt to save the loser. Kimura said, “I’m gunning for a world title shot. If materialized, I’ll win the world title.” Anyway, Kimura must be the best and strongest 140-pounder in Asia without doubt.
Unranked busy-punching southpaw Tomoyuki Shiotani (10-11-1, 7 KOs), 140, upset JBC#8 super-light Hirofumi Ito (10-3-1, 8 KOs), 140, by winning a close but unanimous decision (96-95, 96-94 and 98-92) over ten. They kept swapping punches all the way to entertain the crowd, but the prefight favorite Ito didn’t fight his fight as he should have utilized his footwork more effectively to hit without getting hit. Ito could show his heart, but not his brain in losing an upset nod. Japanese #4 light-fly prospect Masayoshi Segawa (14-2, 4 KOs), 108, surprisingly hit the deck with a well-timed right uppercut of Thai #8 minimum Monkoldetch Patavikorngym (7-6, 2 KOs), 108, in the first round, but came back hard to drop the Thailander with his southpaw combos twice and for the count at 2:25 of the second session in a scheduled eight.
Promoter: Yokohama Hikari Promotions.
(5-3-08)