June 19, 2011
TOKYO, JAPAN
OPBF super-light champ Motoki Sasaki (36-8-1, 23 KOs), a cagey veteran of Japan, left for Mexico yesterday (Saturday) to have an ambitious crack at the WBC lightweight belt against Humberto Soto (55-7-2, 32 KOs) this coming Saturday. Sasaki, 35, once experienced a shot at the WBA welter ruler Viacheslav Senchenko only to lose on points in Ukraine in September 2009. But the seasoned campaigner captured the OPBF 140-pound belt by dropping defending titlist Randy Suico en route to a split verdict in July of the previous year and kept it twice by halting Geisler AP and Pansoo Kim to his credit. WBC#12 Sasaki, who previously visited the fight place Cozumel as a traveler, seems willing to cause an upset and bring back the WBC green belt to Tokyo.
(6-19-11)