News & Results from Japan
Results
10/11, WBC Super-Flyweight
Hiroshi Kawashima TKO 2 Domingo Sosa
Kawashima successfully defended his WBC title for the 6th time
by knocking out the 8th ranked challenger, Sosa, in the 2nd round.
Kawashima kept putting pressure on Sosa and made him back up
all the way. Sosa tried to put his combinations together, but
Kawashima avoided most of the punches with quick head movement
and blocking.
In the 2nd, Kawashima rocked Sosa with a sharp right hook to
the chin. Kawashima then finished him off with some flurries.
With the victory, Kawashima raised his record to 20-2-1 with 14 kayos.
10/12, WBA jr.lightweight
Choi Yong-Soo W 12 Yamato Mitani
Choi Yong-Soo defended his WBA title for the 3rd time with
a unanimous decision over the 8th ranked challenger, Mitani.
Mitani started well and outboxed Choi for the first two
rounds, but the champ weared him down with strong
body shots and continuous pressure. Choi had Mitani
seriously hurt in the 7th and 9th with series of body shots,
Choi then cemented his victory by dropping Mitani with
body shots in the 12th.
The scoring was surprisingly close with 115-113, 115-114, and
115-112, all in favour of Choi.
Choi won the title in October 1995 with a TKO against Victor
Hugo Paz of Argentina.
Other notes
JBC, Japanese Boxing Commission, officially announced that they
will not approve the Foreman vs. Grimsley bout and its undercards
as legitimate boxing bouts. The reasons are as follows...
1. The person who is trying to set up the Forman fight does
not have a promotional license issued by JBC.
2. JBC's local rule states that promoters are not allowed to hold
world title bouts which are not sanctioned by WBA or WBC. In
Japan, it is strictly forbidden to hold title bouts which are
sanctioned by IBF, WBO, WBU, IBC, IBA, etc, because they would
"lower the quality of world title bouts." JBC has set this rule
when IBF was newly formed about 10 years ago. There were some
exceptions such as Tyson vs. Tubbs and Tyson vs. Douglous, but
it is unlikely that Foreman will get the same kind of treatment as
Tyson got. Foreman now has the WBU and IBA titles.
3. JBC's local rule states that a fighter who is older than 37
MUST retire unless he has a WBC or WBA title. Foreman is
almost 50 years old, and he does not have a WBC or WBA title.
- 11/02, Japan, Luisito Espinosa vs. Nobutoshi Hiranaka WBC feather
- 12/21, Las Vegas, Antonio Cermeno vs. Yuichi Kasai WBA jr.feather
- 12/??, Japan, Keiji Yamaguchi vs. Pichit Sithbangprachan WBA jr.fly
- 02/??, Japan, Yuri Arbachakov vs. Isaias Zamudio WBC fly
- 02/??, Japan, Hiroshi Kawashima vs. Gerry Penalosa WBC superfly