June 7, 1999
TOKYO-Ex-WBA light fly champ KEIJI YAMAGUCHI(right photo), 117, dropped Korean DOWOON RA, 115 3/4, twice prior to his fine KO victory at 1:31 of the third round in a scheduled 10.
June 7, 1999
TOKYO-Ex-WBA light fly champ KEIJI YAMAGUCHI(right photo), 117, dropped Korean DOWOON
RA, 115 3/4, twice prior to his fine KO victory at 1:31 of the third
round in a scheduled 10.
It was a lopsided affair. The much taller lefty, Yamaguchi, toyed with Ra with southpaw jabs and straight lefts. His right jab floored him in the 2nd, and his straight left to the stomach sank him in agony for the count.
Yamaguchi, who had once dethroned Panamanian Carlos Murillo but lost the WBA light fly title to Pichit Chor Siriwat, bettered his mark to 28-4, 11 KOs. Ra, who previously fought in Japan, fell to 4-5, a KO.
WBC #14 ranked super-fly Yamaguchi plans to have an ambitious shot at the WBC super-fly title against Injoo Cho, Korea, here in Sept.
Lantern-jawed but hard-hitting lefty FUSAAKI TAKENAGA, 121 1/2, ran his ledger to 21-5, 20 KOs as he exploded a wicked left to TAKEJI NOBEYAMA, 123, to prompt the referee's intervention at 0:41 of the 4th in a semi-final 10.
Takenaga, a skinny and pale lefty, once fought for the vacant OPBF super-bantam title only to be lopsidedly battered and stopped by Reynante Jamili in Nov., 1996. Since then, Takenaga's career fluctuated, scoring stunning KO wins or suffering an unexpected defeat by unheralded Koichi Horie in Apr. of the previous year.
It was very unfortunate for Takenaga that his KO victim Ken Katagiri passed away due to brain hemorrhage after the fight on Oct. 12 of the previous year. Since then, he was inactive for some 8 months. Now Takenaga was dropped out of the JBC's top ten, but he will re-enter the Japanese top ten thanks to this comeback triumph.
Taiko Kobayashi Promotion.
(6-7-99)