November 6, 2010
TOKYO, JAPAN
WBC#15 Motoki Sasaki (35-8-1, 22 KOs), 139.25, barely kept his OPBF super-lightweight belt as he had a tough time in earlier rounds but landed a vicious left hook to drop Indonesian champ Geisler AP (5-1, 3 KOs), 139.75, for the count at 1:07 of the seventh round on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan.
The 35-year-old Japanese veteran, making his initial defense since dethroning Filipino banger Randy Suico by a split duke here this July, put on a see-saw performance, though leading slightly on points. The muscular Indonesian, boasting of his unblemished amateur mark of 20-0, occasionally caught the shorter champ with big rights, but inexplicably failed to press follow it up only to be riding on a bicycle. The seventh witnessed Sasaki explode a devastating left hook to the cheek of the fading challenger, 26, who badly went down and paid no effort to raise himself up prior to Filipino referee Delbert Perigrinofs fatal ten.
OPBF#11 Filipino challenger Jonel Alibio (16-10-2, 8 KOs), 125.75, surprisingly captured the OPBF feather throne when he finally caught a gory defending champ Naoki Matsuda (33-9-4-1NC, 13 KOs), 125.75, with solid combinations followed by a wicked overhand right and badly decked him, when a towel came in fluttering from the ex-champfs corner at 0:55 of the sixth session.
The WBC#8/WBA#11 Japanese, 34, touched the canvas to be counted for a mandatory eight after absorbing a right cross in round two, but he floored the Filipino back with a same overhand right to the face to have him also touch the deck in the next canto. A nasty laceration on the forehead of the champ, which had been opened by an accidental headbutt in the first session, became so apparently worsened that it obviously deteriorated his vision as the contest progressed.
Though Alibio, a rough-and-tumble swinger, was penalized a point for having repeated rabbit punches in the third and was losing on points (44-48, 45-47 and 46-46), he came out brutally brawling to turn the tables with his whirlwind attack in the fatal sixth. His right cross caught the bloodied champ right with such a force that Matsuda fell on all fours and the blood streamed down onto the canvas. It was a right decision that his corner threw in the towel to save him from a highly expected further punishment. The newly crowned champ jubilantly said, gIfve lost ten times, but thus became the champion. Donft give up any time.h Our press people listened to his verbal lecture, while our champ Matsuda, well-known by his upset KO win over ex-WBC ruler Rudy Lopez in Mexico years ago, failed to give him an expected boxing lesson. The ref was Brad Vocale from Australia.
Promoter: Teiken Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi.
(11-6-2010)