December 16 2015
FUKUOKA, JAPAN
Japanese southpaw speedster Yuko Kuroki (15-4-1, 7 KOs), 105, successfully kept her WBC female mini-flyweight belt as she withstood the opening attack of ex-IBF titlist and WBC mandatory challenger Nancy Franco (14-7-2, 4 KOs), also 105, from Mexico, and fully utilized her footwork and hand speed in pounding out a unanimous decision over ten speedy rounds on Sunday in Fukuoka, Japan. Filipino judge Jerrold Tomeldan saw the fast-moving affair 97-93, Jaebong Kim (Korea) and Yoshikazu Furuta (Japan) tallied 99-92 and 98-92 respectively, all in favor of the Japanese defending champ. The referee was Raymond Chang (Hong Kong).
Kuroki, a daughter of Fukuoka Police Station’s executive, registered her third defense since dethroning compatriot Mari Ando last year. The first round witnessed ex-IBF titlist Franco show a furious opening attack, which the champ barely averted by making best use of her vaunted footwork and retaliating with quick combinations. Franco maintained her aggressiveness in the second, when, however, Kuroki responded to her attack with some good countering lefts.
The champ, two years her junior at 24, found her rhythm and dominated the third and fourth with quick combinations to the onrushing Mexican. After the fourth, the opening scoring system indicated Kuroki was leading on points: 40-36, 39-37 and 38-38.
It was Kuroki that was in command with better precision in exchanging hot rallies, though Nancy was still pressing the action with incessant combos to the air. After the seventh, the official tallies were as follows: 69-65, 68-65 and 67-66, all for Kuroki.
Franco sustained a slight cut over the left eyebrow caused by a legal shot in the eighth, when Kuroki displayed busier combinations to the game Mexican challenger. Nancy tried to catch the elusive champ, but Kuroki used her mobility and scored with sharper lefts to the face. They kept swapping punches all the way until the end of the affair.
It was a hotly contested game that entertained the audience, who praised both contestants’ good performance.
Franco’s handler was former WBC featherweight champ Alejandro “Cobrita” Gonzalez, who gloomily said, “Kuroki was a good boxer with good speed on hand and foot. Nancy also fought well but couldn’t catch the fast-moving champion.”
There was a heart-warming scene at the dressing room of Nancy Franco before the bout. Eddy Reynoso, the manager/trainer of Canelo Alvares as well as Nancy’s promoter, just arrived in Fukuoka city in time in order to assist her corner along with Cobrita Gonzalez. It was because Eddy’s father Jose Reynoso previously worked the corner of Cobrita and they are more than close. Eddy got married to a daughter of ex-world flyweight champion Alacran Efren Torres, and he this time accompanied her wife and a lovely daughter to Japan in a vacation after Canelo’s important victory over Miguel Cotto.
The matchmaker of this Kuroki-Franco bout was formerly the manager of Luisito Espinosa who previously shared a win and a loss with Cobrita Gonzalez. He produced an opportunity of Alacran’s daughter meeting with ex-world champ Susumu Hanagata who was using another dressing room just next to Nancy’s.
What an emotional scene it was! Hanagata, who couldn’t speak Spanish, truly appreciated his first encounter with Alacran’s daughter as he once defeated Alacran by an upset decision in a non-title bout in Los Angeles in June 1969 but lost to Alacran with his WBC belt on the line in Guadalajara in November that year.
Heart is sometimes beyond words. Both Hanagata and Alacran’s daughter (AKA Eddy Reynoso’s wife) both mourned the passing of Efren Torres who had passed away in 2010. If you live long in the boxing world, such a coincidence may take place as this, though this reporter cannot meet Kid Azteca again any longer.
Promoter: YuKO Fitness Gym.
WBC supervisor: Won Kim (Korea).
(12-20-2015)