KANAZAWA, Japan – The 10th-ranked Yasuo Kunimi scored two knockdowns en route to a seventh-round knockout over former champion Jimrex Jaca to capture the Oriental-Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) super bantamweight title on Sunday in Kanazaw, central Japan facing the Sea of Japan.
　Jaca failed to make the super bantamweight limit and was stripped of the title in an official weigh-in on Friday.
　Fighting at Ishikawa Industrial Sangyo Exhibition Hall in Ishikawa Prefecture, the 29-year-old Kunimi took the fight to Jaca from the opening b ell and decked the ex-champion with a right hand.
　While Jaca rebounded from the second round based on his superior technique, he gradually became short of breath and hit the deck in the seventh round when he got hit with a left hook to the body, which prompted the referee to call a halt 1 minute, 50 seconds into the round of a scheduled 12-rounder.
　Kunimi, fighting out of a gym facing the sea of Japan, has become Japan’s first champion in that region, said, ‘’ I badly wanted to win the title. I did not know I was the first champion (from the region).
　With the victory, Kunimi improved his record to 15 wins, six by knockout, against five losses and four draws, while the previously undefeated Jaca sagged to 21-1 with nine KOs.

　JOHANNESBURG, May 30 – Previously undefeated Randy Suico of the Philippines dropped the top-ranked Mzonke Fana of South Africa twice but lost a split decision in a 12-round eliminator for the World Boxing Council (WBC) super featherweight champion Erik Morales of Mexico on Saturday in Johannesburg.
　Fighting at Orland Community Hall in Soweto, the 24-year-old Suico, managed by noted Japanese matchmaker Joe Koizumi, floored Fana in the second round with a right uppercut and decked Fana again in the fourth with right-left combinations.
　After regaining his feet, Fana, 30, kept his distance while peppering Suico’s face with jabs the rest of the way until the 12th round.
　In the final round, Suico, ranked second by the WBC, caught Fana with devastation shots, turning the latter’s knees to jelly but failed to finish him off due to Fana’s desperate clinching.
　After the fight, Koizumi said, ‘’The tide turned dramatically after the fourth round,’’ describing Fana as a ‘’light-punching but durable, workmanlike jabber. 
　With the victory, Fana improved his record to 22-0 with nine KOs, while Suico is 21- 1-1 with 18 KOs.

　SEOUL, May 29 – Newly crowned World Boxing Council (WBC) featherweight champion Chi In Jin of South Korea will put his title on the line against hard-hitting Japanese Eiichi Sugama at the end of July in Seoul, boxing sources said Friday.
　While Sugama, a former Japanese featherweight champion, had indicated that he would hang up his gloves rather than challenging Chi after he was held to a draw with Mexico’s Hector Velazquez in a 10-round nontitle fight earlier this month, the 28-year-old Japanese has recently changed his mind and decided to go ahead with his challenge as planned, according to the sources.
　The 30-year-old Chi, who won the vacant title by knocking out Michael Brodie of England on April 10 in Manchester, England, has a record of 28 wins, including 17 KOs, against two losses and a draw, while Sugama is 26-3-1 with 19 KOs.

　KOBE, May 24 – Hozumi Hasegawa pounded out a 12-round unanimous decision over Norasing Kietprasanchai of Thailand to retain his Oriental-Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) bantamweight crown in Kobe on Sunday.
　It was the 23-year-old Hasegawa’s third successful defense of the title he wrested from Jess Maca of the Philippines in May last year.
　Fighting at Sambo Hall, western Japan, southpaw Hasegawa, gunning for a world title challenge next year, piled up points with his signature combinations. There were no knockdowns in the fight.
　With the victory, the 23-year-old Hasegawa improved his record to 16 wins, five by knockout, against two loses, while the 29-year-old Norasing sagged to 5-8-1 with four KOs.

　OSAKA, May 23 – New Boxing sensation Koki Kameda scored a brutal first-round knockout over unheralded Saming Twingym of Thailand in a flyweight nontitile bout in Osaka on Saturday for his third straight opening-round KO victory over a Thai boxer.
　The KO at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium annex came 1 minute, 48 seconds into the first round of a scheduled eight-rounder when southpaw Kameda, the elder of ‘’the famed three Kameda boxing brothers,’’ decked the hapless Thai for the count with a counter right.
　The damage of Saming was such that he remained flat on the canvas for some time.
　The flamboyant Kameda, dubbed ‘’the new Rocky of Osaka,’’ extended his unbeaten first-round KO streak to three, all against Thai boxers, since his debut last December.

 　TOKYO, May 19 – Light flyweight Toshiyuki Igarashi is likely to be able to compete in this summer’s Athens Olympics following the recent announcement of a withdrawal of a Pakistan boxer due to an injury, amateur boxing sources said Wednesday.
　According to the sources, the 20-year-old Tokyo University of Agriculture student, who had failed to qualify for the Olympics as he lost in the final Asian zone Olympic qualifiers held in Karachi, Pakistan, earlier this month, will probably be brought in as he lost to the winner of the division at the Karachi meet.
　Although the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) has not yet officially conveyed its decision, a Japanese amateur boxing official sounded optimistic about the prospect of Igarashi entering the Olympics as the AIBA unofficially told the Japan Amateur Boxing Federation of its decision.
　After three Asian zone Olympic qualifiers, none of the eight Japanese fighters was able to obtain an Olympic ticket.
　Japan has never failed to compete in the Olympic boxing ever since the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam to the exclusion of the Olympics Japan did not enter.

　GIFU, Japan, May 16 – Top-ranked Martin Castillo of Mexico stopped Japan’s Hideyasu Ishihara in the 11th round to capture the World Boxing Association (WBA) super flyweight interim title in Gifu, central Japan, on Sunday.
　The technical knockout of the scheduled 12-rounder at Gifu Memorial Center in Gifu Prefecture came 2 minutes, 41 seconds as the referee stopped the contest after Castillo floored Ishihara with a right counter.
　At the time of the stoppage, Ishihara was ahead on points.
　Castillo is expected to face champion Alexander Munoz of Venezuela for the unification fight.

　Sunday’s interim championship bout came about as Munoz suffered an injury last month during a break-in at his house in Caracas.
　While southpaw Ishihara, ranked seventh in the division, got the better of the exchange of blows going into the 11th round, he left himself open for Castillo’s hard right.
　With the victory, Castillo, 27, improved his record to 26 wins, 16 by KO, against a loss, while Ishihara, 28, fell to 15-3-1 with 11 KOs.

　KARACHI, May 14 – Japanese boxers are not competing in this summer’s Athens Olympics as none was able to advance to the finals in the final Asian zone Olympic qualifiers held in Karachi, Pakistan earlier this week.
　Koji Sato of the middleweight, Terukado Shoyama of the featherweight, Kaoru Murahashi of the flyweight and Toshiyuki Igarashi of the light flyweight lost in the semifinals, respectively.
　This is the first time that Japan has been denied for the Olympic boxing as it has continued to compete in the sport in the Olympics it has entered since the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam.

　OSAKA, May 4 – Waenpetch Chuwatana of Thailand floored two-time former champion Eiji Kojima three times in the second round for a knockout and retained the Oriental-Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) super flyweight crown on Sunday in Osaka.
　It was the first successful defense of the title Waenpetch won last February by beating Kojima’s compatriot Shin Ogata for the vacant title. Kojima had vacated the title to challenge World Boxing Association super flyweight champion Alexander Munoz of Venezuela last March. Kojima was stopped in the 10th round.
　Fighting at Osaka Municipal IMP Hall, Waenpetch took the fight to Kojima from the start and decked the Japanese with a powerful right in the second round.
　While Kojima struggled to his feet to beat the count, Waenpetch went all over and floored the dazed Kojima twice more to knock him out 2 minutes, 53 seconds into the round of a scheduled 12-rounder.
　With the victory, Waenpetch improved his record to 16 wins, 11 by KO, against three losses and two draws. Kojima sagged to 9-3 with two KOs.
　Waenpetch is next expected to face Japan’s new boxing sensation Daisuke Maruyama, who owns the Japanese record of ninth straight first-round KO.　　

　OSAKA, May 3 – Yoshihiro Araki, exchanging fierce blows toe-to-toe, beat former champion Naotaka Hozumi to retain the Japanese middleweight crown on Saturday at the sub-arena of Osaka Chuo Gymnasium in Osaka.
　It was the 30-year-old Araki’s second successful defense of the title he wrested from Satoru Suzuki last July.
　With the victory, Araki, a former high school baseball player, improved his record to 14 wins, seven by knockout, against a loss.
　For his part, Hozumi, who was also a former Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation middleweight ruler and unsuccessfully challenged a world middleweight title in October 2002, fell to 23-4-1 with 20 KOs.

TOKYO, May 2 – Champion Nobuhito Hommo, overcoming an opening round knockdown, pounded out a 10-round unanimous decision over 10th-ranked Tomonori Nakagawa to retain the Japanese super featherweight title on Saturday in Tokyo.
It was the 27-year-old Hommo’s fifth successful defense of the title he wrested from Kinji Amano in August 2002.
Fighting at Korakuen Hall, Hommo hit the deck in the opening round when Nakagawa threw an overhand right.
While Hommo got up quickly and appealed it was a slip, he was issued a mandatory eight count.
But the technically superior Hommo piled up points in the ensuing rounds although he suffered a cut above the left eye in the fifth round due to an accidental head butt.
‘’I heaved a sign of relief because I was able to come through with a victory,’’ Hommo, who is currently ranked eighth in the super featherweight by the World Boxing Council and sixth by the World Boxing Association, said.
With the victory, Hommo improved his record to 24 wins, including five knockouts, against four losses and two draws, while Nakagawa dropped to 10-4-4 with three KOs.
In a chief supporting card, Jorge Linares of Venezuela, dubbed the Golden Boy of Venezuela, hammered out a lopsided decision over Michael Domingo of the Philippines in a super bantamweight nontitle bout.
While the undefeated Linares landed blinding combinations on many occasions, the tenacious Domingo withstood them for 10 rounds.
Linares upped his unbeaten log to nine with four KOs while Domingo fell to 19-12-3 with nine KOs.