February 9, 2015
TOKYO, JAPAN
A confrontation of unbeaten young prospects sounds good enough to attract a sellout crowd at the Korakuen Hall. Unbeaten Japanese super-featherweight champ Rikki Naito (12-0, 5 KOs), 130, barely kept his national belt as he eked out a hairline majority decision (96-95, 97-94, 95-95) over previously unbeaten ex-WBC youth titlist Masayuki Ito (16-1-1, 7 KOs), 129.75, over ten see-saw rounds on Monday in Tokyo, Japan. Rikki, the 23-year-old son of former Orient middle champ Junichi “Cassius” Naito, utilized his southpaw jabs and fast footwork, and overcame Ito’s smashing rights to the face. We saw good rallies of the excellent speedsters, each of whom repeatedly hit the air due to the counterpart’s good mobility. After the fifth, the interim tallies were announced: 48-48, 48-47 (Naito) and 49-47 (Ito). Naito, from the sixth, turned loose to pile up some more points as he became aggressive with quick combinations, while Ito, 24, only kept throwing a solid right at a time. The southpaw champ seemingly took three rounds from the sixth, which carried him to a very close victory.
It was reminiscent of an unforgettable encounter of future world 130-pound champs Yoshiaki Numata and Ruben Navarro here in 1968, when the dazzling speedsters kept exchanging jabs and straight rights with each averting almost all punches the foe threw all night. It was a beautiful display of their speed and skills, after which the drawn verdict was very well received by the audience because neither actually landed punches each other. It might be a good lesson that you should not book a game of a couple of defensive masters.
In the semi-windup, formerly world-rated southpaw Go Onaga (23-2-2, 16 KOs), 115.75, wasn’t sharp as previously, often losing his balance, but earned a unanimous decision over Venezuelan Breilor Teran (13-11-1, 6 KOs), 114.75, over eight. It was like a Max Baer-Primo Carnera fiasco in 1934, as they very often tumbled down together to the canvas. Teran, in his previous bout, lost to David Sanchez in quest of the WBA interim 115-pound belt via unanimous nod in Tijuana, Mexico, last May, but didn’t look such a boxer that he fought at such a high level internationally. He might have forgotten his fighting spirit in his country. Or, was Japan too cold for him?
Promoter: Reason Promotions.
(2-9-2015)