August 4, 2011
TOKYO, JAPAN
Formerly two-class WBC champ Hozumi Hasegawa (29-4, 12 KOs), a Japanese southpaw, had been contemplating whether or not he would go on fighting after his shocking forfeiture of the newly acquired WBC feather belt via annihilation by Jhonny Gonzalez this April. Hasegawa, 30, declared he would return to ring warfare to pursue his fistic career once again at press conference on Monday at Shinsei Gym in Kobe, Japan. The Japanese lefty speedster registered ten defenses of the WBC bantam throne to his credit, but saw a nightmare when he coped with WBO ruler Fernando Montiel, succumbing by a fourth round TKO in April of the previous year. Having had a severe weight problem, Hasegawa jumped up two divisions and impressively acquired the vacant WBC feather belt by outhustling unbeaten Mexican Juan Carlos Burgos on points last November. Hasegawa, however, engaged in a mandated initial defense with the official challenger Gonzalez, whom he outpunched with quick combinations to be leading on points but whose pulverizing right dramatically turned the tide midway in the fourth canto. Hasegawa said, “I’d like to prove my power in the feather class and hope to enjoy fighting from now on.” Hasegawa had been originally a speedster dependent on his strategy of hitting without getting hit, but his KO streak in five title defenses gradually changed him into a puncher that loved to mix it up. His reckless tendency might cause a couple of stoppages by Montiel and Gonzalez, so he had better return to his previously favorite hit-and-run tactics, if possible. If so, he may be successful again even in the 126-pound category.
(8-4-11)