## SHIMIZU, SERIE KEEP JAPANESE BELTS

August 9, 2010

TOKYO, JAPAN

WBA#7/WBC#8 flyweight Tomonobu Shimizu (17-3-1, 8 KOs) (left), 112, kept his national 112-pound belt as he finely outboxed and outpunched crouching and onrushing challenger Kewpie Kanazawa (13-7, 6 KOs) (right), 112, and finally halted him with a towel thrown in by the corner at 0:36 of the sixth round on Monday. Shimizu, an upright stylist, made good use of his footwork and countering rights to the face and the belly, effectively weakening the overmatched challenger. The fifth saw Shimizu come out mixing it up in the close quarter and badly hurt Kanazawa with solid combinations. A towel was fluttering midway in the fatal sixth, as the loserfs corner thought Kanazawa had absorbed too much punishment.

WBA#6/WBC#12 super-bantam Masaaki Serie (17-3, 7 KOs), 121.5, was awkward, unorthodox and least technical, as usual, but retained his Japanese 122-pound belt with a well-received surrender of ex-world challenger and ex-OPBF/Japanese champ Manabu Fukushima (36-11-4, 20 KOs), 122, after the seventh round in a scheduled ten. Fukushima, 35 and eight years his senior, was just a shell of his old self when he had an unsuccessful shot at the WBC belt against Oscar Larios via eighth round stoppage in 2002. His timing and sharpness were miserably gone. Fukushima took a solid direct right of the younger champ, hitting the deck in the fourth. Serie, in round seven, accelerated his attack and forced the fading veteran to the ropes with a fusillade of wild and strong shots with Fukushima having a narrow escape. Susumu Hanagata, ex-world flyweight champ, decided not to allow the loser to go and fight for the eighth. Fukushima, after a sad swan song, declared a farewell to the ring after his bad defeat.

Promoter: Kaneko Promotions.

(8-9-10)

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