January 31, 2012
TOKYO, JAPAN
Should you be the promoter/manager of a newly crowned world champ, will you book such a dangerously hard-punching challenger in your boy’s voluntary first defense as Vic Darchinyan? Akihiko Honda of Teiken Promotions seems to love such an adventurous mathup as will greatly stun and attract our aficionados. We attended a deluxe press conference in Tokyo yesterday (Monday). Unbeaten WBC bantam champ Shinsuke Yamanaka (15-0-2, 11 KOs), with a knockout streak of last nine wins, will risk his belt against Darchinyan (37-4-1, 27 KOs), an Armenian “Raging Bull” residing in Australia, in Tokyo, Japan, on April 6. Yamanaka seized the vacant belt renounced by Nonito Donaire when he dispatched Mexican Christian Esquivel in eleven furious rounds last November.
The headliner is WBC super-feather titlist Takahiro Aoh (22-21, 10 KOs), a Japanese southpaw, will also put his throne on the line against WBC top ranked contender Terdsak Jandaen (46-3-1, 31 KOs), a hard-hitting Thailander, in the main event. We now surprisingly realize that all the four contestants are southpaws. Even though there are many lefty campaigners such as Manny Pacquiao and Toshiaki Nishioka in Asia, it may be unique that all are southpaws in a couple of world title goes. Aoh, making his third defense since dethroning Vitali Tajbert in November 2010, will face the dangerous puncher who has scored sixteen wins straight with eleven within the distance. Terdsaka previously failed to win the world crown twice, losing to Juan Manuel Marquez and Steve Luevano (despite dropping the latter). He looks forward to welcoming third time lucky.
Supporting the world title twinbill is an anticipated comeback appearance of ex-WBC bantam ruler Hozumi Hasegawa (29-4, 12 KOs), who will take on an unbeaten Mexican named Felipe Carlos Felix (18-0, 10 KOs) over ten rounds. Hasegawa, a skillful and speedy southpaw, forfeited his second world belt in the feather category to Jhonny Gonzalez via pulverizing TKO defeat in his native Kobe a year ago. Hasegawa is gunning for an opportunity to regain the world belt within this year. You call the first day of the month April Fool, and we name April 6 Day of Southpaws.
(1-31-2012)