November 18, 2011
November 18, 2011
TOKYO, JAPAN
21-year-old ex-amateur champ Ryosuke Iwasa (10-1, 7 KOs), 118, acquired the Japanese bantamweight belt as he maintained the pressure, floored Japan-based Filipino Jerope Mercado Zuiyama (24-2-3, 8 KOs), 117.75, in the fifth session and earned a unanimous decision (98-92 twice and 97-92) over ten fast rounds on Friday in Tokyo, Japan.
It was a grudge fight for Iwasa, in a sense, since the talented southpaw (with an amateur mark of 60-6, 44 stoppages) had a crack at the national throne against Shinsuke Yamanaka only to suffer a come-from-behind stoppage in the tenth and final round last March. Yamanaka then renounced the Japanese title and acquired the vacant WBC bantam belt by stopping Christian Esquivel some two weeks ago. The once-beaten Iwasa thus fought in a quest for the same national diadem again.
The taller Iwasa, ten years his junior, had the upper hand from the outset to steadily pile up points. The fifth witnessed the Japanese prospect connect with a southpaw left uppercut to the button of Jerope, who lost his equilibrium and touched the canvas with a glove to be counted by the third man. Jerope turned loose in the sixth and eighth, occasionally pinning the aggressor to the ropes with a flurry of punches. But Iwasa was in command in the last two sessions to confirm his coronation. Iwasa is managed and trained by ex-WBC flyweight champ Celes Kobayashi, for whom Iwasa is his very first champ under his wing.
In another national elimination bout, unbeaten but light-punching Takuya Mitamura (11-0, only one KO), 105, seized the vacant Japanese minimum belt (vacated by the newly crowned WBA champ Akira Yaegashi) by eking out a close but unanimous verdict (96-94, 97-94 and 98-93) over WBC#6/WBA#10 ranked veteran southpaw Takashi Kunishige (22-7-2, only two KOs), 105, over ten lousy rounds. When it was over, the crowd was pleased to stop watching such a monotonous affair with plenty of clinches any longer. Also surprising was that great many adherents of Kunishige, some hundred spectators, dejectedly left the Hall without watching the main event. Lately there is such a trend that aficionados of some special boxers show no interests in viewing other bouts and leave the arena just after their favorite boxer’s performance. Therefore, we sometimes see less people at the main event than at preliminary bouts when some low-ranked but popular boxer appears on the undercard.
Promoter: Noguchi Promotions.
(11-18-2011)