JAPANESE MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE BOUT
YOSHINORI NISHIZAWA KO6R YOSHIHITO KUROTA
Nov. 4, 1997
TOKYO--Korakuen Hall--Elongated YOSHINORI NISHIZAWA, 160, kpet his Japanese national middleweight title as he battered a less experienced opponent named YOSHIHITO KUROTA, 159, with wild right crosses and left uppercuts to the belly, made him take a couple of standing counts and halted him at 0:37 into the 6th round in a scheduled 10. It's Nishizawa's 2nd defense since he acquired the vacant title on a 5th round KO of Kenichi Tsukamoto last Jan. The national throne had been renounced by Kevin Palmer, a US military worker living here, who became the OPBF titlist by a unanimous nod over Korean Chongmoh Kim in Sept. of the previous year. Kurota, the JBC's #5 ranked contender, didn't look like a qualified challenger to the champ, as he failed to throw any damaging punches--almost all his punches being open blows. Nishizawa attempted to score big shots to finish the affair, but Kurota harshly kept coming forward to nullify the distance for the champ to hit him hard. But the more experienced champ caught him with plenty of overhand rights to the temple and had him staggering for a while to make the referee Kodai Kumazaki declare a standing count in the closing seconds of the 5th. It was a matter of time. In the 6th, when the ref issued another standing count against the fading boy, a towel was tossed in to save the loser from further punishment. (In Japan, when a towel comes fluttering into the ring while the referee counts against a boxer, it is registerd as a Knockout, not as a TKO. It is because a cornerman can throw in a towel when his boxer goes down and is obviously unable to beat the count, it will become a TKO, not a KO. Whether you--foreign readers of this report--like it or not, it is our rule.) Nishizawa raised his mark to 14-9-4, 9 KOs. The loser fell to 7-2-1, 4 KOs. After the fight, the OPBF champ and his grudge rival Kevin Palmer appeared into the ring. Nishizawa verbally offered a shot at his OPBF title, and Palmer accepted it, saying, "It's good for Nishizawa to have got married before he meets me again. Otherwise, he will not be married." They fought to a draw in Apr., 1994, though Nishizawa sent Palmer to the deck twice. In their rematch, Nishizawa had a shot at Palmer's Japanese middle crown only to lose on a decision in Feb., 1996. Palmer, the WBC's 9th ranked 160-pounder, is a New Yorker, whose ledger is 15-0-1, 9 KOs. We look forward to seeing their 3rd meeting.
NAOTAKA HOZUMI KO3 KOICHI SAIBOGU
In a semi-final 8, it happened a strange ending. Taller and bigger NAOTAKA HOZUMI, the JBC #6 middle contender, 160, was awarded a unsatisfactory KO win, as KOICHI SAIBOGU (who was named after Cyborg), 156 3/4, suddenly refused to answer the bell and the referee Hiroyuki Tezaki counted him out while he was standing in his corner at 0:24 of the 3rd session. The first round saw the underdog Saibogu, the JBC #8 ranked welter, furiously bang out Hozumi, whose right optic was
swollen badly. Hozumi came back to throw big shots, while Saibogu responded with sporadic overhand rights. Hozumi dominated the 2nd by a close margin. During a recess after the 2nd, Saibogu claimed that he suffered a broken rib and could not fight on. Hozumi, who had absorbed more punishment than the loser despite his victory, shouted "let's get it on" and urged him to go on fighting. The crowd was stunned at this sudden finish, as Saibogu was expected to show a good fight in later rounds against the bigger prefight favorite with his good jabs and solid lefts & rights. Saibogu, a local boy from Ehime Prefecture, may be a dangerous opposition against the national champ Makoto Nakahara, but it was obvious that, this time, there was a big physical difference between Hozumi and Saibogu. Hozumi, who previously failed to win the national crown via a 10th and final round KO defeat by Kevin Palmer in Aug., 1995, is 8-1-1, 7 KOs. As Hozumi belongs to the same Yonekura Cub as Nishizawa, he will not be able to have a shot at the Japanese title until Nishizawa should dethrone Palmer and then renounce his Japanese crown. Saibogu fell to 15-3, 12 KOs. As his record indicates, Saibogu can punch and also can box.
Promoter: Yonekura Promotions.
(11-4-97)