November 1, 2008
TOKYO, JAPAN
Unbeaten Takashi Uchiyama (11-0, 8 KOs), 129.75, ex-national amateur champ and one of the brightest Japanese prospects, impressively kept his OPBF super-feather belt as he battered OPBF #1 Korean champ Byungjoo Moon (9-6, 7 KOs), 128.75, upstairs and downstairs, effectively weakened him and finally halted him at 1:55 of the fourth round on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan.
Uchiyama, whose hard-punching ability was highly evaluated here, worked the body from the outset, but Moon kept coming forward despite his absorption of good punishment. In the third, Moon’s desperate combinations had the champ once bewildered, but Uchiyama displayed stronger retaliations to have the Korean fading in the closing seconds. The fourth witnessed Uchiyama swarm over the stationary target, cornered him with a flurry of punches and finally dropped him there, when Thai referee Pinit Prayadsab declared a well-timed halt.
Japanese #5 ranked flyweight Tomoya Kaneshiro (16-2-1, 7 KOs), 112, floored Takeo Hashimoto (8-3, 7 KOs), 112, twice and brought him to a standstill to prompt the referee’s intervention at 2:37 of the third round in a scheduled eight. JBC#10 fly Tetsuma Hayashi (9-0-1, 2 KOs), 112, sank Ekapop Soonkilanoynai (8-5-1, 2 KOs), 112, for the count with a left-hook haymaker at 2:04 of the third round in the first eight.
Promoter: Watanabe Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi (as for the Uchiyama-Moon OPBF title bout).
(11-1-08)