January 31, 2011
January 31, 2011
TOKYO, JAPAN
Unbeaten WBA super-feather champ Takashi Uchiyama (17-0, 14 KOs) (left), 130, kept his belt as he came off the canvas in the third, took back the initiative and hurt game southpaw compatriot Takashi Miura (20-2-2, 16 KOs), 130, with stinging lefts to score an abrupt stoppage after the eighth round on Monday in Tokyo, Japan.
Miura claimed that he had lost his vision on the right optic, so his corner declared he would give up going on. The loser was so crestfallen that he gloomily said in the dressing room, “Had I continue fighting, I would lose (not only my eyesight but) my life.” It might be his excuse addressed to his supporters and the audience.
The official tallies were as follows: Rafael Ramos (US) 77-74, Kazunobu Asao and Takeo Harada (both Japan) both 78-73, all in favor of the stylish defending champ. The referee was Takeshi Shimakawa, a Japanese veteran third man who did a good job.
Fast and hard-punching, Uchiyama made good use of good jabs to keep the game challenger from coming close to him, winning the first two rounds with ease.
The third round was a nightmare for Uchiyama who might have then become a little overconfident and careless. He took a smashing southpaw left of Miura, hitting the deck on the seat of his trunks. The champ promptly pulled himself up, but looked much bewildered by Miura’s vaunted power. Uchiyama, the prefight favorite, also sustained a bad laceration over the right eyebrow caused by an accidental butt during this session.
It was admirable that Uchiyama, five years his senior at 31 and ex-amateur national champ with a 91-22 (59 stoppages) mark, quickly regained his composure and returned to his original strategy to properly keep his distance with stinging lefts. Miura seemingly became stiff and nervous as he attempted to score such big shots as shown in the third, but Uchiyama cautiously made himself a moving target for the hard-hitting southpaw challenger.
As the contest progressed, Uchiyama’s versatile left hand became more accurate and more effective, having the right optic of Miura puffed and later almost closed. Miura hung his guard high to avert Uchiyama’s busy lefts and occasional rights, but the champ’s combinations finely penetrated his guard with precision.
The eighth saw Miura recklessly boring in to mix it up with the cool and clever champ, who didn’t allow him to land such a coup-de-grace again as in the third.
It looked a bit disappointing that Miura unexpectedly quit after the eighth canto, since the crowd still expected him to exchange hot rallies with Uchiyama. But his explanation accounted for the sudden stoppage. Miura had inexplicably returned to a wrong corner twice after the rounds, which might show his deteriorated vision even at an early stage of the bout.
The winner Uchiyama also revealed a fact that he suffered a right hand injury during the second, so was forced to fight mainly with his left hand, which, however, looked very effective. To southpaw opponents, many orthodox boxers usually tend to score such right hand as right lead, double right, right-left combination, etc. Uchiyama, however, used his left hand very well as if he fought an orthodox rival. His left eventually closed Miura’s optic to force him to quit on the stool.
Uchiyama, after his third defense, scored a record of four stoppages from his title-winning bout over Juan Carlos Salgado via last-round TKO a year ago. But the victor repented of hitting the deck, and didn’t look jubilant but reflected on his mistake in the third. “I should be more careful from next time on.”
Now that the WBA interim 130-pound champ Jorge Solis decided to face the WBA feather ruler Yuriorkis Gamboa by moving down to the 126-pound category, Uchiyama’s target may be Jason Litzau who recently upset Celestino Caballero last November. But Uchiyama will have to recover the badly injured right hand at first before considering his next defense. We witnessed the good champ’s good defense despite his only one flaw of kissing the deck.
WBA supervisor: Tsuyoshi Yasukochi (Japan).
Promoter: Teiken Promotions in association with Watanabe Promotions.
(1-31-11)