## CHARLIE KEEPS OPBF 154LB BELT

May 19, 2011

TOKYO, JAPAN

WBA#9 Charlie Ota (AKA Charles Bellamy, 17-1-1, 12 KOs), 154, impressively kept his OPBF and Japanese national super-welter belts as he displayed fine retaliation and finally halted formerly three-time champ Tadashi Yuba (38-7-2, 28 KOs), 154, at 0:15 of the ninth round on Thursday in Tokyo, Japan.

Charlie, a 29-year-old Japan-based American with a Japanese wife, previously defeated Yuba, a southpaw six-footer gunning for his fourth national belt, via hard-fought unanimous nod last year. In a highly anticipate rematch Yuba, 34, took the initiative from the outset with long southpaw lefts that had the champ on the defensive in the first three sessions. Yuba sustained a gash caused by the champfs legal shot in the opening session and kept bleeding throughout the contest. Charlie turned loose in the fifth and sixth, but Yuba fought back hard with solid lefts in the close quarter in the seventh. Charlie, in the closing second of the eighth, caught the elongated Japanese lefty with vicious rights and had him staggering to the ropes. Yuba, who had a narrow escape, came out fighting with rubbery legs only to be halted by the referee Fukuchi in the beginning of the fatal ninth. The OPBF open scoring system indicated Yuba had been leading on points after the eighth: 77-76, 77-75 and 76-76. Yuba, who had acquired the national belts in the 135, 140 and 147-pound divisions, again failed to gain the 154-pound throne.

Promoter: East Japan JPBA.

(5-19-11)

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