August 8, 2015
TOKYO, JAPAN
This week we saw no less than five shows from Monday at the Korakuen Hall, where there were many hard-fought contests entertaining the crowd almost every day. IBF#11 ranked Japanese six-footer Akio Shibata (26-8-1, 12 KOs), 159.5, successfully kept his OPBF and Japanese belts as he fully utilized his hand speed and footwork, and had the face of compatriot challenger Yasuyuki Akiyama (10-5-1, 8 KOs), 159.25, so badly swollen that the referee finally called a halt because of the ring physician’s advice at 1:40 of the eighth round on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan. Shibata was in command from the outset, scoring with sharp straight rights to the slower and still stiff challenger. Akiyama occasionally threw a heavy shot to the champ only at a time, but Shibata, a year his junior at 34, kept circling and countering nearly at will. After the fourth, the open scoring system indicated that Shibata was leading on points: 40-36 twice and 39-37. Akiyama’s left optic became puffed and swollen later with his absorption of punishment as the contest progressed. Shibata’s superiority, in the fatal eighth, looked obvious with Akiyama’s face grotesquely getting swollen and his left eye almost closed, when the third man logically decided to terminate it with no objection.
Having suffered a quick demolition at the hand of former Olympic gold medalist Ryota Murata in his professional debut in August 2013, Shibata steadily went back on a comeback trail and registered five victories straight including three within the distance to be ranked by the IBF. His manager/promoter Hitoshi Watanabe said, “Shibata is willing to have a world title shot either in the 154-pound or 160-pound category, if an opportunity should be given.” Mr. Watanabe himself, formerly an unfruitful middleweight contender, seems more ambitious than his boy Shibata.
Promoter: Reason Promotions.
(8-8-2015)