October 25, 2008
OSAKA, JAPAN
WBC#10 light-fly Takashi Kunishige (19-3-1, only 2 KOs), 110, utilized his southpaw stance, dropped WBA#10 minimum Yuji Kanemitsu (11-2, 6 KOs), 109.5, in the opening session and scored a unanimous decision (98-92, 97-93 and 100-89) over ten on Saturday afternoon in Osaka, Japan.
The fast-moving southpaw Kunishige, who failed to win the WBC 108-pound belt by an eighth round stoppage at the hand of Edgar Sosa in Mexico this June, proved more ringwise and accurate than the onrushing Kanemitsu, who had entered the WBA’s top ten thanks to his upset triumph over Filipino Eriberto Gejon last March.
Unbeaten JBC#6 light Tsukasa Takase (8-0, 5 KOs), 135, decked Shinichi Hidaka (13-5, 8 KOs), 134.5, with a solid right and halted him with follow-up combinations at 2:13 of the second round in a scheduled ten.
On a separate night show at the same venue, unheralded and unranked Kiyotaka Kanamaru (10-6-2, 3 KOs), 131.5, was awarded a majority technical decision (87-85, 87-86 and 87-87) over JBC#9 super-feather Akira Yamazaki (11-3-3, 6 KOs), 131.75, at 1:41 of the ninth round in a scheduled ten. Yamazaki’s bad laceration halted the proceedings and a technical decision was taken, including a score of the incomplete ninth session.
(10-25-08)