## KOGAWA KEEPS JAPANESE 112LB BELT

April 26, 2012

TOKYO, JAPAN

WBC#14 Takuya Kogawa (19-2, 10 KOs) (right), 112, kept his Japanese flyweight belt as he kept throwing pit-a-pat punches without precision and was awarded a debatable unanimous decision (96-95, 97-94 and 97-93) over lazy but more effective Tetsuma Hayashi (18-2-1, 6 KOs) (left), 112, over ten rounds on Thursday in Tokyo, Japan.

Though entering spring, it was so heavily raining and was so unusually cold that this reporter at first became reluctant to go and see the national title bout at the Hall, but dared cover it since the Japanese belt was on the line. I should have stayed at home, drinking hot sake. It was only a disappointment to watch the lousy bout where the champ kept hitting the air and the challenger being lazy. Kogawa failed to win the WBC belt via lopsided verdict to Pongsaklek Wonjongkam in Thailand last July, but acquired the vacant national throne (vacated by Toshiyuki Igarashi who will have a mandatory shot at Sonny Boy Jaro, a conqueror of Pongsaklek) by a hairline decision over hard-hitting but slower Shigetaka Ikehara this January. Kogawa, making his initial defense, displayed an inaccurate human windmill that fortunately gained more points on the official tallies than the more effective challenger. This decision shows a recent inclination that judges evaluate the volume of quick combination punches regardless of precision.

Promoter: Miyata Promotions.

(4-26-2012)

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