July 4, 2009
TOKYO, JAPAN
WBC#13/WBA#15 Motoki Sasaki (32-7-1, 20 KOs), 146, kept his OPBF welterweight belt as he was awarded a well-received unanimous technical decision (70-64, 69-64 and 70-65) over elongated Filipino southpaw Dexter Delada (18-7, 12 KOs), 146, at 1:14 of the seventh round on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan.
The 33-year-old shorter Japanese controlled the contest by exclusively working the body to have Delada, 26, slowing down. A head-collision in the fatal seventh opened a vertical laceration on the forehead of the Filipino lefty, who was declared unfit to go on.
In a grudge fight after their drawn game in the first encounter this January, perennial top contender Takashi Miura (16-1-2, 14 KOs), 130, captured the national super-feather title by scoring a dramatic TKO victory over WBA#12 defending champ, previously unbeaten Yoshimitsu Yashiro (21-1-2, 12 KOs), 129.75, a lanky southpaw, at 0:30 into the seventh session. The lefthanders hit the deck four times in total to show a grueling war. Miura, a stocky flat-footed puncher, caught the champ with a vicious southpaw right hook to drop him in the closing seconds of the second, but Yashiro dropped him with a left cross in the next. The champ was in command in the fourth and fifth, utilizing his accurate combinations and shifty footwork. Miura, however, turned loose in the sixth, when he had the fading champ on the deck twice with a barrage of punches. Though Yashiro gamely went out fighting, he looked still so shaky and wobbly that his corner tossed in the towel with good timing.
Promoter: Teiken Promotions.
(7-4-09)