June 18, 2008
June 18, 2008
TOKYO, JAPAN
A dream fight in Japan will realize in Tokyo on September 6. Unbeaten WBC#15 OPBF middleweight champ Koji Sato (12-0, 11 KOs) (right photo), Japan, will face OPBF#1 Japanese national titlist Keiji Eguchi (18-1, 12 KOs) with both belts on the line at the Korakuen Hall.
The long-anticipated encounter will produce a great sensation among our fight fans. Sato, eight-time national amateur champ, acquired the vacant OPBF throne by halting more experienced Australian champ Adam Vella in nine hard-fought rounds in March of the previous year. Sato, a 5’11” combination-puncher, impressively kept his belt on three occasions, defeating David Koswara (TKO2), Manabu Komatsu (KO3) and Bangbang Rusadi (TKO2). Sato used to be coached by Rudy Hernandez and Kenny Adams in the US to horn his fists.
Eguchi, a 5’7” stocky southpaw ex-sumo wrestler, is also a fighting champ. As he wrested the national belt by an upset decision over Toshihiko Itagaki in December 2006, he was successful in five defenses to his credit. Eguchi, as old as Sato at 27, beat Fukutaro Ujiie (KO3), Makoto Fuchigami (W10), Eiji Kano (TKO4), Norifrumi Suzuki (W10) and Manabu Komatsu (TKO3). Eguchi relies on busily moving to score his solid southpaw left hand, while Sato, an upright stylist, is good at versatile combination punching. It will be a highly competitive fight without doubt.
It is rare that an OPBF champ and a national ruler collide in the 160-pound division, though there was an old example that Orient champ Fumio Kaizu kept his regional belt against national ruler Hachiro Tatsumi in 1960. Then Kaizu defeated Tatsumi on points, but the loser Tatsumi didn’t put his national belt at stake and went on to defend it thirteen times to make the national class record. This reporter, then 13, clearly remembers the then sensational encounter. The Sato-Eguchi battle will cause a same excitement among our aficionados, hopefully.
(6-18-08)