November 13, 2015
IBF female light-flyweight champ Naoko Shibata (14-3-1, 4 KOs), 106.5, very barely kept her belt as she was held to a split draw (96-94, 94-96, 95-95) by Mexican southpaw Maria Salinas (11-4-3, 4 KOs), 108, over hard-fought ten on Friday in Tokyo, Japan. Salinas had the upper hand by utilizing her southpaw stance in the first half, but Shibata, making her fourth defense, turned the tide with persistent body attacks in later rounds.
November 13, 2015
Japanese outstanding female boxer Naoko Fujioka (14-1, 6 KOs), a 40-year-old still fresh speedster, has renounced her WBA super-flyweight belt on Friday in Tokyo, Japan. Fujioka lately acquired her third world belt by acquiring the vacant WBO bantamweight throne by lopsidedly defeating Korean Hee-Jun Yuh on points here on October 19. Fujioka gained the WBC 108-pound, WBA 115-pound and WBO 118-pound belts, but says, “My best weight is between 108 and 112, and my ultimate goal will be to win the fourth world championship.” Fujioka, a fast-moving and busy-punching mighty atom, beat Mexican queen Mariana Juarez by a split duke in Mexico this March. Fujioka’s managers Shinji Takehara and Takanori Hatakeyama, both former WBA world champs, say, “Naoko will retain her newly acquired WBO belt, and is gunning for her fourth in the flyweight or light-flyweight categories.” Fujioka, a physical prodigy, may win four or five belt should she go on fighting until fifty like Bernard Hopkins.
(11-15-2015)
November 9, 2015
TOKYO, JAPAN
OPBF and Japanese national middleweight champ, IBF#10 Akio Shibata (27-8-1, 13 KOs), 160, kept both belts when he dropped elongated 6’2” southpaw Koki Tyson Maehara (9-2-1, 9 KOs), 159, twice and finally battered him into submission at 1:31 of the seventh session on Monday (November 9) in Tokyo, Japan. Shibata, also a six-footer ten years his senior at 32, proved too fast and ringwise as he connected with well-timed straight rights to the upright stylist, flooring him in the third and sixth. As Shibata attempted to accelerate his assault, the ref Fukuchi didn’t bother to call a halt to save the lopsided loser.
(11-9-2015)