OSAKA, June 27 – Undefeated Noriyuki Komatsu retained his Oriental-Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) flyweight crown with a 10th-round technical decision over compatriot Takeyuki Kojima on Saturday in Osaka.
It was the 25-year-old Komatsu’s fifth successful defense of the title he won in November 2002. He now sets his sights on a world title challenge, according to boxing officials.
The scheduled 12-rounder at Osaka Prefectural No. 2 Gymnasium was stopped 1 minute, 7 seconds into the 10th round when Komatsu was unable to continue due to a bad gush suffered above his right eye in an accidental butt in the third round.
At the time of the stoppage, Komatsu, who was the aggressor of the twot, was ahead on points.
Komatsu has a record of 19 wins, eight by knockout, with five draws while the fifth-ranked Kojima, 26, is 11-3-3 with five KOs.

TOKYO, June 22 – Champion Masato Hatakeyama, surviving a final-round knockdown, retained his Japan light flyweight title with a split draw with Hidekazu Kaneko on Monday in Tokyo.
It was the 23-year-old Hatakeyama’s fourth successful defense of the title he won in November 2002.

Fighting at Korakuen Hall, Hatakeyama had a hard time connecting with effective blows as he was forced to fight at close range. 
After clearly taking the ninth round, Hatakeyama hit the deck immediately into the 10th and final round when he took southpaw Miyagi’s left hook to the head but managed to survive the round.
Hatakeyama has 12 wins, four by knockout, against two losses and three draws. Miyagi, ranked third in the division, is 12-3-2 with five KOs.

TOKYO, June 20 – Yoshikane Nakajima retained his Japanese super bantamweight crown with a technical draw when challenger Kyohei Tamakoshi was unable to continue due to an accidental butt he suffered in the fourth round at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall on Saturday.
It was the 26-year-old Nakajima’s third successful defense of the title he won from Junichi Watanabe a year ago.
Tamakoshi bled profusely from above the left eye after the butt, and the scheduled 10 rounder was declared a draw 2 minutes, 17 seconds into the fourth round in accordance with a Japan Boxing Commission rule.
Nakajima has a record of 15 wins, including four knockouts, against five losses and five draws, while the 23-year-old Tamakoshi is 12-4-5 with five KOs.

TOKYO, June 15 – The World Boxing Council (WBC) will hold an emergency meeting on July 4 in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine to discuss the recent declaration for bankruptcy of one of the sport’s biggest organizations following the rupture of a out-of-court settlement with former world light heavyweight champion Graciano Rocchigiani of Germany, boxing sources quoted on Monday a Japanese Boxing Commission (JBC) official as saying recently.

According to the sources, Shigeru Kojima, the JBC secretary general who is also one of the official committee members of the WBC, said the WBC would dissolve itself into a new organization under a new name.

Kojima also indicated the current champions and rankings will be stay intact, they said.

Last Friday, WBC President Jose Sulaiman said in the WBC homepage that the organization would make a petition in bankruptcy in the United States on Monday, thereby putting an end to its 41-year existence.

In June 1998 the WBC declared Rocchigiani’s title an interim title. But, the latter sued the WBC, which culminated in the WBC being ordered to pay about￥3.4 billion for the German. 

A U.S. district court later restored Rocchigiani’s title. He lost the title to Dariusz Michalczewski of Poland in April 2000.

TOKYO, June 15 – Champion ‘’Crazy Kim’’ scored a devastating knockdown in the sixth round en route to a close but unanimous 10-round decision over top-ranked Nobuhiro Ishida to retain his Japanese super welterweight title on Monday in Tokyo.
It was the 29-year-old Kim’s fourth successful defense of the title he won in October 2002.

Fighting at Korakuen Hall, Kim, who had long been known as Toshiharu Kanayama, took the fight to Ishida from the opening bell by landing left hooks to the body.
But the technically superior Ishida, who lost to Kim two years ago, took command of the fight by befuddling Kim with rapid combinations and lateral movement to pile up points.

Kim, who also holds the Oriental-Pacific Boxing Federation super welterweight title, gritted his teeth in the sixth stanza and decked Ishida late in the round with a powerful right swing. Ishida wobbled to his feet to be saved only by the bell.
Ishida, 28, however, rebounded gallantly and exchanged fierce blows with Kim to go the distance.

With the victory, Kim, who is ranked 13th in the division by the World Boxing Council (WBC) and is said to vacate his both titles to seek a world title challenge, improved his record to 20 wins, 17 by knockout, against three defeats, while Ishida, a stablemate of WBC super flyweight ruler Masamori Tokuyama, sagged to 11-5-1 with four KOs.
==Kyodo

　OSAKA, June 13 – Former many-time world champion Daniel Zaragoza of Mexico will join nine current and former Japanese boxing greats in a unique men’s fashion show to be held early next month, boxing sources said Sunday.
　According to the sources, the 46-year-old Zaragoza, who captured world bantamweight and super bantamweight titles in the 1980s and 1990s, will climb through the ropes on July 4 at Osaka IMP hall to serve as a model for the men’s fashion, according to the sources.
　The event, to be named ‘’Hachiman 1st Fashion Show,’’ will be held between fights as the 10 models will wear casual wears designed by famed Japanese designer Shogo Nakanishi, thereby adding a zest to the day’s bouts, they said.
　Zaragoza, who never lost in his four fights in Japan, will come to Japan immediately after being inducted into the Hall-of-Fame on Sunday in New York, they added.
　The nine Japanese are: former World Boxing Council super bantamweight champion Kiyoshi Hatanaka, who lost his title to Zaragoza, former World Boxing Association (WBA) super flyweight champion Katsuya Onizuka, former Japanese welterweight champion Shoji Tsujimoto, former Oriental-Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) bantamweight champion Eijiro Murata, former Japanese middleweight chamion Keitoku Senrima, the third-ranked current WBA featherweight Takashi Koshimoto, current OPBF super lightweight champion Masakazu Satake, Current OPBF bantamweight champion Hozumi Hasegawa and current Japanese middleweight champion Yoshihiro Araki.

　Osaka, June 8 – Hard-hitting Eiichi Sugama, a former Japanese featherweight champion, will take a crack at newly crowned World Boxing Council (WBC) featherweight kingping Chi In Jin for the latter’s title on July 24 in Seoul, boxing officials said Tuesday.
　It will be the 28-year-old Sugama’s first world title challenge.　
　While Sugama had earlier 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 last month, Sugama later changed his mind and decided to go ahead with his challenge as earlier planned, according to the officials.
　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.

　OSAKA, June 7 – Hard-hitting Akinori Kanai turned out the lights on Robert Oyan of the Philippines in the first round in a featherweight nontitle bout on Sunday in Osaka to extend his knockout winning streak since his debut to 13, tying a Japanese record.
　Daisuke Maruyama, the seventh-ranked Japanese super flyweight, set the record last November by dispatching his first 13 opponents inside the distance. Maruyama also holds the Japanese record of the ninth straight first-round KO since his debut.
　Former World Boxing Council super lightweight champion Tsuyoshi Hamada holds the Japanese record of 15 consecutives KOs.
　The end of the scheduled 10-rounder at the Osaka Municipal IMP Hall came 1 minute, 20 seconds into the first round when Kanai floored Oyan for the count with a volley of wicked left hooks to the body.
　The 20-year-old Kanai, who made his debut in June 2001 fighting out of Himeji Kinoshita Gym in Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, said, ‘’I’m really happy. I did not feel any pressure at all. I now have set my sights on eclipsing the Japanese record.’’

　NAGOYA, June 6 – Hard-hitting Daisuke Naito floored champion Hiroshi Nakano twice and wrested the Japanese flyweight title in the sixth round as Nakano was unable to continue due to an accidental head butt he suffered over his left eye on Sunday in Nagoya.
　Fighting at Fukiage Hall, the top-ranked Naito decked Nakano in the first round with a sizzling left hook to the head and put the previously undefeated champion on the seat of his trunks in the third as he landed a straight right on the button.
　While Nakano regained his feet and fought back gallantly, he was cut above his left eye due to the butt, which prompted the referee to eventually halt the bout in the middle of the sixth round of a scheduled 10-rounder.
　With the victory, Naito upped his record to 25 wins, 18 by knockout, against a loss and two draws. Nakano, who failed in his first defense of the title he won by beating Koji Koyama last February, is 20-1 with 11 KOs.