Oct. 3
TOKYO, JAPAN-- Korakuen Hall--In a clash of lefties, KENGO NAGASHIMA(right photo), 130, kept
his OPBF super-feather title as he survived an 8th round visit to the
deck, floored veteran NOBUTOSHI HIRANAKA, 130, back in the 11th and
earned a close but unanimous decision over 12 hard-fought rounds.
Scored: referee Nobuaki Uratani 114-113, judge Masakazu Uchida 115-113, and Takeshi Shimakawa 116-115, all for Nagashima, 12-1-1, 8 KOs. Hiranaka, who had failed to win the WBA and WBC feather thrones at the hands of Eloy Rojas and Luisito Espinosa, dropped to 17-4-1, 11 KOs.
The WBC #8 ranked Nagashima, the son of ex-Japanese ranked fighter Kiyoshi Nagashima, piled up points steadily with his fine hit-and-run tactics in the first 5 rounds. But Hiranaka came out fighting to win the 6th with a solid one-two, and had the footworker one the deck with a southpaw left cross in the 7th. The champ was barely saved by the bell.
Nagashima seemingly regained his rhythm in outlegging and outpunching the flat-footed opponent in the 9th and 10th. The 11th saw Nagashima connect with a left counter followed by a southpaw right hook, dropping Hiranaka on the canvas for the compulsory 8 count. Hiranaka, however, fought back to make the champ quite groggy in the closing seconds of this round. (So, two judges scored the 11th 10-9 despite Hiranaka's visit to the deck.) In the 12th and final session, Nagashima tried to ride a bicycle to retain his lead on points and repeatedly grabbed his game opponent to be penalized a point by the third man. It was a crowd-pleasing give-and-take battle.
In a supporting 10, fast-handed lefty SHIN YAMATO(left photo), 118, kept his
Japanese national bantam title on a technical draw with THE MUSASHI
(whose real name is Toru Sato), 117 1/4, after the 3rd round due to the
champ's bad gash under the eyebrow. Yamato was winning the fight by
outspeeding the slower challenger by dominating all rounds, but an
accidental butt caused the JBC physician to advise the ref to halt the
proceedings. Yamato is 13-1-4, 3 KOs. The Musashi impaired to 13-10-5,
7 KOs.
Promoter: Teiken Promotions.
(10-3-98)