Box On! Boxing News August.17.

Fukushima loses to Filipino, fails to retain OPBF super bantamweight title TOKYO,  Aug. 16 – Champion Manabu Fukushima of Japan failed to retain his Oriental-Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) super bantamweight title as he dropped a 12-round unanimous decision against lightly regarded Pedirito Laurente of the Philippines at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall on Saturday.      While tricky Fukushima, 28, took the fight to his ninth-ranked challenger by working his body, the 22-year-old Laurente rebounded from around the middles rounds with left jabs and accurate combination blows and stayed on top the rest of the way.      Laurente, a brother of the OPBF lightweight ruler Dennis Laurente, boosted his record to 13 wins, including four KOs, against five losses and a draw. Fukushima, who failed in his first defense of the title he won last April, is 24-6-1 with 17 KOs.      Meanwhile, Japan’s Eiji Kojima pounded out a 12-round split decision over Waenpetch Chuwatthana of Thailand to win the vacant OPBF super flyweight crown in a hard-fought bout in Osaka.      Waenpetch pummeled the Japanese with a barrage of left and right combinations after putting him against to ropes with straight rights in the fourth and sixth rounds. But southpaw Kojima severely staggered the Thai with a sizzling straight left to the head in the seventh, sending his opponent tottering against the ropes.      With the victory at No. 2 Osaka prefectural gymnasium, Kojima improved his record to 9-1 with two KOs, while Waenpetch sagged to 17-8-1 with 11 KOs.      The title was left vacant by Kojima’s compatriot Hideyasu Ishihara who is said to be preparing for a world title challenge.

Box On! Boxing News August.13.

41-year-old ex-nat'l champ Yokoto to return to ring TOKYO, Aug. 12 - Former Japanese super bantamweight champion Hiroaki Yokota has indicated he is considering returning to the ring in December following the Japan Boxing Commission's lifting of the age limit of 37 earlier this year, boxing sources said Tuesday. If realized, Yokota, who will turn 42 Oct. 19, will become Japan's oldest boxer to return to the ''squared circle.'' Former Japanese lightweight champion Rick ''Yoshimura'' Roberts of the United States, 38, will be the first boxer to return to the ring after the age limit was lifted as he will face Japan's Kengo Nagashima on Oct. 4 as one of the chief supporting cards of the triple-header world championship bouts in Tokyo. Southpaw Yokota, currently head of Yokota Boxing Gym in Machida, western Tokyo, has always said the age limit should be lifted. Although details of his comeback fight scheduled for 10 rounds have not yet been worked out, Yokota's opponent will probably be Norihisa Tomimoto, the second-ranked Japanese super bantamweight, according to sources close to Tomimoto, who won a bronze medal in the 57-kilogram category at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games. While serving as the gym owner, Yokota has been training himself and had urged the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) to lift the age limit. Yokota, who made his professional debut in 1979 out of Tokyo's Okawa Boxing Gym, captured the Japanese super bantamweight title in 1990. He challenged World Boxing Association super bantamweight ruler Wilfred Vasquez of Puerto Rico in November 1993 only to drop a 12-round decision. He hung up his gloves in 1995, but then returned to the ring only six days before turning 37 in October 1998 and fought to a 10-round draw. His career record is 26 wins, 15 by knockout, against five losses and two draws. He is expected to fight out of Okawa gym in his comeback bout. In lifting the age limit, the commission decided to allow into competition a boxer who has captured at least a national title, has the experience of a world title challenge and is ranked among the top 15 in the world on turning 37. Those eligible are obliged to undergo a brain scan and a thorough neurological examination. A boxer must file a license application within five years of his last fight. Yokota has reportedly said, ''My wish has been realized at long last. I will become the Japanese George Foreman.'' ''Big George'' Foreman holds the record as the oldest boxer to win a world title at 45 and nine months when he captured the WBA heavyweight crown by knocking out Michael Moorer in November 1994. Former world light heavyweight champion Archie Moore last defended his title at 47 and six months.

Box On! Boxing News August.10.

JABF rejects request for arbitration on high school boxer  TOKYO, Aug. 9 - The Japan Amateur Boxing Federation (JABF) has rejected a request for a hearing at the Japanese court of arbitration (JSAA) lodged by a high school boxer over the JABF's revoking of his amateur license, JSAA sources said Saturday. The JABF revoked the 15-year-old's license due to his previous experience of dabbling in exhibition matches promoted by a pro boxing gym. According to the sources, the JABF conveyed to the JSAA its intention not to accept any arbitration by the JSAA regarding the request to reinstate the license of Futa Nakagishi, a first-year student at Kanazawa municipal high school, saying JSAA officials are not necessarily familiar with amateur rules. Arbitration by the JSAA regarding complaints from athletes, including suspensions over suspected doping, does not take place unless both sides agree to it. Nakagishi was disqualified from participating in the recent national high school championships on the ground that he took part in sparring sessions and his name was included in the pamphlets or on the tickets of professional fights promoted by Kanazawa's Kashimi Gym several years ago. The JABF slapped a one-year suspension on Nakagishi as an amateur boxer late this May despite the fact that he had won the Ishikawa prefectural championship earlier that month. Nakagishi and his parents argued he took part in the sparring sessions before he acquired the amateur license, while the JABF said the matter is not an appropriate one for arbitration, citing the JSAA officials' alleged lack of familiarity with the amateur rules concerned. Yoshiaki Nakagishi, Futa's father, said, ''The refusal is tantamount to their admitting to have committed a mistake (in revoking the license). I feel sorry for my son as he has been deprived of his dream.'' Earlier this month, the JSAA, in its first judgment after its creation in April, ruled in favor of a former world champion weight lifter who protested against his six-month suspension as a university coach following a marijuana incident involving university students not under his supervision. The JSAA is modeled on Switzerland's Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Box On! Boxing News August.6.

Tatsuyoshi to meet Avila instead of Dianzo on Sept. 26  OSAKA, Aug. 5  - Former three-time World Boxing Council (WBC) bantamweight champion Joichiro Tatsuyoshi will face Mexican Julio Cesar Avila instead of Hugo Dianzo in a nontitle match in September, officials of the Osaka Teiken Gym said Tuesday. Dianzo, also of Mexico, has pulled out of the bout apparently because he was unable to change his schedule after Tatsuyoshi postponed the fight from July 6 to Sept. 26 due to an injury to his left thigh suffered during training in June. ''It doesn't matter who my opponent for the match is. I just need to win the bout to help improve my chances for a shot at a world title fight,'' said the 33-year-old Tatsuyoshi. Avila, 26, ranked 24th in the WBC bantamweight class, will meet Tatsuyoshi at Osaka Municipal Central Gymnasium. Tatsuyoshi, arguably the most popular boxer in Japan, has a record of 18 wins, including 13 knockouts, against six losses and one draw while Avila is 21-14-1 with nine KOs.

Box On! Boxing News August.3.

Koshimoto beats Thai to keep OPBF featherweight title  FUKUOKA, Aug. 3  - Takashi Koshimoto of Japan retained his Oriental-Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) featherweight title Sunday by knocking out challenger Saengsopoh Chaiyawathana of Thailand in the third round in Fukuoka Prefecture. It was Koshimoto's fifth defense of the title he captured in 2001. The end of the scheduled 12-rounder at Munakata Urix gymnasium in Munakata came 40 seconds into the third round when southpaw Koshimoto landed a vicious counter left to the head, sending the Thai to the canvas for the count. ''That was the kind of punch I had been aiming at through training. I am happy that I was able to display that,'' Koshimoto said, adding, ''I will be bettered prepared for a world title challenge (which is expected to come next year).'' He unsuccessfully challenged then World Boxing Association　featherweight champion Freddy Norwood of the United States in January 2000. With the victory, Koshimoto, ranked third by the World Boxing Council, improved his record to 33 wins, including 15 knockouts, against a loss and two draws. Third-ranked Saengsopoh fell to 11-6 with seven KOs. Undefeated Dainoshin Kuma scored a knockdown in the ninth round en route to a 10-round unanimous decision over Naoto Fujiwara to retain his national featherweight crown in a co-feature event. It was Kuma's second defense of the title he won by knocking out hard-punching Eiichi Sugama last December. Kuma extended his unbeaten streak to 24, including 11 KOs, while fifth-ranked Fujiwara sagged to 14-3 with seven KOs. The southpaw Kuma took the fight to Fujiwara from the opening bell with vaunted right-left combinations and sent the latter on his posterior with a straight left in the ninth round. But Kuma failed to finish him off as Fujiwara put up a stiff resistance.

Top Page