September 6, 2010
OSAKA, JAPAN
WBA interim super-welter champ Nobuhiro Ishida (22-5-2, 7 KOs), Japan, left for his US training camp in Los Angeles on Sunday prior to risking his belt against Rigoberto Alvarez (25-2, 19 KOs) in Guadalajara, Mexico, on September 25. Rigoberto is the elder brother to sensational Mexican star Saul Alvarez, but he had suffered a couple of defeats in his last five outings to Marco Antonio Rubio (TKO by 9) and William Gare (L12). Ishida, three years his senior at 35, seized the interim WBA 154-pound belt by earning a close decision over Marco Antonio Avendano of Venezuela in August of the previous year and decked his first defense against Oney Valdez of Colombia via lopsided decision here last December. Ishida, a 6’1” stylish jabber though short of convincing power, chiefly depends on his left hand, but will he be able to outspeed and outjab the ambitious Mexican?
(9-6-10)