WBO Covid-19 Asia Pacific
Interviewer: Journalist and WBO Media José Sánchez Fournier. Interviewee: WBO Asia Pacific Vice President Leon Panoncillo. Host: WBO In House Counsel Gustavo Olivieri, Esq.
Date: Sunday, July 2, 2017
WBO INTERNATIONAL LT. HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE BOUT
Location: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Promoter: Duco Events Ltd/Dean Lonergan – Top Rank/Bob Arum
Supervisor: Leon Panoncillo
Referee: Phil Austin
Judges: Katsuhiko Nakamura 96-94, Adam Height 96-94, Danrex Tapdasan 96-94
Results: The WBO International Lt. Heavyweight Title was defeated by Damien Hooper against Umar Salamov by Unanimous Decision.
TV: USA ESPN, Australia Main Event, New Zealand Sky Arena
Date: Saturday, May 20, 2017
WBO Junior Flyweight Title Bout
Location: Takeda Teva Ocean Arena, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Promoter: Hatanaka Promotions / Kiyoshi Hatanaka
Supervisor: Leon Panoncillo
Referee: Manuel Oliver Palomo
Judges: Jerry Jakubco (117-110); Javier Alvarez (117-110); Giustino Di Giovanni (116-111)
Results: The WBO Junior Flyweight Title was retained by the Champion Kosei Tanaka against Angel Acosta by Unanimous Decision.
TV:
Date: Friday, May 19, 2017
Vacant WBO Female Mini-Flyweight
Location: Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Promoter: Watanabe Promotions / Mr. Hitoshi Watanabe
Supervisor: Leon Panoncillo
Referee: Katsuhiko Nakamura
Judges: Surat Soikratchang (98-92); Edward Ligas (97-93); Masakazu Murase (97-93)
Results: The Vacant WBO Female Mini Flyweight Title was obtained by Kayoko Ebata against Erika Hanawa by Unanimous Decision.
TV:
Date: Saturday, May 6, 2017
WBO Heavyweight Title Bout
Location: Vodafone Events Centre, Manukau City, New Zealand
Promoter: Duco Events / David Higgins and Top Rank / Bob Arum
Supervisor: Leon Panoncillo
Referee: Mike Ortega
Judges: Danrex Tapdasan (117-110), Gerardo Martinez (117-110), Deon Dwarte (119-108)
Results: The Champion Joseph Parker successfully defended his WBO world heavyweight title and won by unanimous decision over Razvan Cojanu in Auckland.
TV: New Zealand Sky Arena, Australia FOX
Report, Photos by Joe Koizumi –
This reporter sometimes wonder why such pretty girls exchange punches in the ring, but such an impression repeated at the weigh-in yesterday. WBO female flyweight champion Nana Yoshikawa (7-1, 4 KOs) will make her initial defense against Mexican national titlist Monserrat Alarcon (8-3-2) today (Saturday) in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Yoshikawa, who turned professional late after her long amateur career, acquired the world belt in her eighth bout by defeating Korean Eun-Hye Lee in the title bout for the vacant championship. Yoshikawa, trained by her husband Shinji Nogami, tipped the beam at the 112-pound class limit, while Alarcon a quarter pound lighter at 111.75.
Yoshikawa said, “I wish to show a good performance to respond to my supporters and defend my belt.” Alarcon, also a cute girl, expressed her ambition, saying, “I’d like to bring back the world belt to Mexico.” Monserrat is accompanied by her promoter Hector Garcia and trainer Agustin Vazquez.
The officials are as follows: referee Danrex Tapdasan (Philippines); judges Surat Soikrachang (Thailand), Edward Ligas (Philippines) and Takeo Harada (Japan); WBO supervisor Leon Panoncillo (US). This show is presented by Sakai Higashi Mitsuki Promotions.
www.fightnews.com/Boxing/wbo-female-112lb-champ-yoshikawa-face-mexican-alarcon-today-402402
By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Boxing Beat, Joe Koizumi
Japanese veteran Akihiro Kondo (26-6-1, 13 KOs), 139.75, impressively acquired the WBO ASPAC (Asia Pacific) junior welterweight belt when he had durable Filipino Jeffrey Arienza (15-5-1, 9 KOs), 139, staggering, followed it up hard and scored a fine TKO victory at 1:20 of the eleventh round on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan. Kondo celebrated the inauguration of the very first WBO ASPAC title bout ever held in Japan since the regional championship was approved in Japan this August. It was a crowd-pleasing competitive contest, where they kept swapping punches incessantly toe-to-toe from the outset until the referee Nakamura’s intervention. Arienza, a persistent southpaw, maintained the pressure to the elusive Kondo, who utilized faster footwork and rained solid combinations to the midsection and to the face, piling up points steadily. The eighth saw both sustain a cut—Kondo over the right eyebrow and Arienza from the left optic.
In the fatal eleventh, Kondo caught up with the fading Arienza and exploded a solid right hook to the face to have him retreating to the ropes. Quickly swarming over him with a flurry of punches, Kondo attempted to finish the affair then and there, when the ref wisely called a halt. The official tallies after the tenth were as follows: Surat and Mekin (both from Thailand) both 97-93, Harada (Japan) 99-91, all for Kondo who displayed his best form, regaining the belt since he took the Japanese national 135-pound belt six years ago. Leon Panoncillo (US), the WBO ASPAC supervisor, jubilantly said, “It’s a very good fight and it was also good that the crowd enjoyed such a hard-fought contest. We express our heart-felt congratulations to the Japan’s first WBO ASPAC champion Kondo.”
Promoter: Ichiriki Promotions.
www.fightnews.com/Boxing/kondo-awarded-japans-first-wbo-asia-pacific-belt-353874#more-353874
Date: Sunday, September 4, 2016
WBO JR. BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE BOUT
Location: Sky Arena, Zama, Kanagawa, Japan
Promoter: Ohashi Promotions / Hideyuki Ohashi
Supervisor: Leon Panoncillo
Referee: Mark Nelson
Judges: Patrick J. Morley, Louis Moret, Daniel V. Sandoval
Results: The WBO Jr. Bantamweight Champion Naoya Inoue retained his title as he kept battering top contender Karoon Jarupianlerd (aka Petchbangborn Kokietgym) swept all rounds and finally knocked him out at 3:03 of the tenth round.
Date: Saturday, August 20, 2016
VACANT WBO MINI-FLYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE BOUT
Location: Komagatani Gym, Sanda Hyogo, Japan
Promoter: Taisei Marumoto / Taisei Promotions
Supervisor: Leon Panoncillo
Referee: Danrex Tapdasan
Judges: Salven Lugumbay (58-56); Waleska Roldan (59-56); Lynne Carter (59-55)
Results: The vacant WBO Mini-Flyweight Championship was adquired by Katsunari Takayama over Riku Kano. Takayama was awarded a Unanimous Technical Decision
By Joe Koizumi –
Photos by Boxing Beat –
There is a proverb in Japan that no one can compete with a crying baby, but it might be true that no sports can compete with the Olympic Games. People here are only talking about how many medals our representatives have acquired—forgetting professional boxing for a while. But this summer we have seen some significant progress in the Sweet Science in this country, where the WBO Asia Pacific championship was duly recognized by the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) and the Japan Professional Boxing Association (JPBA; the union of club owners the president of which is Hitoshi Watanabe) after their prolonged consideration and discussion among prudent members on August 5. Unlike in other counties, our Japanese fraternity has been so traditional and stubborn in regulating regional championships that the JBC/JPBA had been only recognizing the belts of the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) and the WBC Youth championships.
In Japan, you are not allowed to have a world title shot to any of the four organizations such as the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO without being or once having been (1) Japanese national, (2) OPBF or (3) WBO Asia Pacific champions. That’s for the sake of quality control of world championships. In this regard, it is very meaningful that Japanese boxers aiming to gain the world championship—when staged in Japan—will be able to increase their possibility of a world title shot by winning the WBO Asia Pacific belt.
The historically first WBO Asia Pacific title bout will take place with the vacant lightweight belt at stake between Japan’s Akihiro Kondo and Filipino Jeffrey Arienza over twelve rounds in Tokyo on September 13. On the next day, a couple of WBO Asia Pacific title bouts will follow as the vacant junior lightweight belt will disputed by Japan’s Takuya Watanabe and Indonesian Musa Letding, and the also vacant middleweight title by Japanese compatriots Hikaru Nishida and Makoto Fuchigami also at the Hall. It is Leon Panoncillo, the president of the WBO regional jurisdiction, that will supervise all the title bouts here in Tokyo. It is good that they will be staged after the Olympic Games in Brazil since our people will remember the existence and value of boxing.
fightnews.com/Boxing/wbo-asia-pacific-championship-recognized-jbc-jpba-350838#more-350838
GEN. SANTOS CITY – Boxing fans will get to witness one of the biggest fight cards held in this region featuring three WBO regional title fights at the Oval Plaza Gym this Saturday.
Jake Bornea (10-1,5KO’s) is set for the first defense of his WBO Asia-Pacific Youth flyweight title against Renerio Arizala(13-3-1,5KO’s).
Bornea (left in top photo) easily made the division limit of 112 lbs while Arizala had to shed more than two pounds to make 112 on his second try during the official weigh-in held Friday at the Family Country Hotel and Convention Center in Gen. Santos City.
Bornea did not assure victory during the press conference held before the weigh-in but vowed to give fans a really good fight. Arizala for his part was thankful for the opportunity to fight for a title. He said that with a win, the fans in the Philippines will get to know his name.
Bornea is ranked number 13 among the contender’s list of the World Boxing Organization (WBO). He won the title by stopping Richard Rosales in four rounds last July. Arizala has a win against Romnick Magos and losses against Toshiyuki Igarashi in Japan and Genesis Libranza in his last three bouts.
Vic Saludar (left) poses with Lito Dante, and WBO Asia Pacific chief Leon Panancillo (extreme left)
“Vicious” Vic Saludar (11-2,9KO’s) will defend his WBO Asia-Pacific minimumweight title against Lito Dante (11–5-3,6KO’s). Saludar was ahead on the judges’ scores after decking Japanese Kosei Tanaka in the fifth round last December 31 in their WBO minimumweight world title bout before succumbing to a body shot in the sixth round.
Dante lost to Siyabonga Siyo in South Africa by unanimous verdict in a WBA International title bout last year but bounced back with back to back wins against Lester Abutan and Junuel Lacar. Dante is also ranked number one in the Philippines among the miniflyweights by boxrec.com.
Dante said that he can beat Saludar and experience is on his side. Saludar for his part wants to go back to the win column and show the fans here what he can do inside the ring.
Both boxers easily made 105 lbs.
Two foreign boxers will battle for the vacant WBO Asia-Pacific featherweight crown – Hiroshige Osawa (29-3,18KO’s) of Japan and Yon Armed (12-5,6KO’s) of Indonesia. Ozawa made 125.5 lbs on the scales while Armed was half a pound lighter.
During the press conference, Promoter Alex Amoy assured the sportswriters in attendance of fair and unbiased officiating.
For the undercard bouts:
Jade Bornea (115lbs) vs Ronie Sunido (115lbs) – for Mindanao-Philippine Boxing Federation title – 8 rounds
Rence Magarce (118) vs Jetly Purisima (112) – 8 rounds
Robert Paradero (105) vs Ian Ligutan (104) – 10 rounds
Vince Paras (107lbs) vs Briel Ozaraga (104.5lbs) – 6 rounds
Michael Rodriguez (111.5) vs Jeny Boy Buca (112.75) – 6 rounds
Raymart Lumacad (113) vs Ramil Antaran(108) – 6 rounds.
Lony Cadayday (111.75) vs Anferne Palanca (112) – 4 rounds
Roger Salaton (108lbs) vs Martin Faderogao (102.25lbs) – 4 rounds
Jayson Mama (107) vs Roland Beindima (107)- 4 rounds
Ken Jordan (103) vs Joey Antonio (108) – 4 rounds
Van June Saludar (112lbs) vs Jeffrey Alejandre (108lbs) – 4rounds
Joel Taduran (106) vs Michael Borja (100)-4rounds
The bout between Froilan Saludar vs Nicardo Calamba has been cancelled.
“KAMBAL KAMAO” is co-promoted by Amoy Boxing Promotions in cooperation with Ran-ran Boxing Stable, G-Pro Boxing Team and Championship Boxing Development of Kenneth Rontal. The weigh-in for the WBO bouts was supervised by WBO VP for Asia-Pacific Leon Panoncillo. The April 2 bouts here in Gensan will start at 2PM.
Header Photo – Jake Bornea and Renerio Arizala
Date: Friday, February 12, 2016
WBO BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE BOUT
Location: Loei, Thailand
Promoter: Onesongchai Boxing / Pariyakorn Ratanasuban
Supervisor: Leon Panoncillo
Referee: Raul Caiz Jr.
Judges: Katsuhiko Nakamura (70-63); Kermit Bayless (70-63); Takeo Harada (70-63)
Results: The Champion Pungluang Sor Singyu retained the WBO Bantamweight Title against Jetro Pabustan by TD in the 7th. round.
TV: Thailand 7
By David Finger –
Although all eyes in boxing were on Orlando, Florida this week as the World Boxing Organization held its 28th annual convention, one story jumped out during the convention: the imminent emergence of the WBO in what is perhaps the greatest untapped market in boxing. A new face that created the most excitement on the opening day as Mr. Shahe Ali, President of the Indian Professional Boxing Association (IPBA) was in attendance representing India and South Asia. After being introduced to the President of the WBO, he received a warm welcome from the members in attendance. Mr. Ali has expressed a desire to see professional boxing finally make its mark in India, one of the most lucrative and untapped markets for the sport. Mr. Ali expressed his desire to not only promote professional boxing in India, but to also see the WBO grow in India as well. He reiterated that the values of the IPBA, courage, determination, respect, and a passion for boxing, motivated him to come to Orlando to discuss his plans for the sport of boxing in India He also discussed his plans to host a WBO world title fight as early as next year in India, a move that would be a historic event for the sport of boxing. So far only one professional fight card has taken place in India.
“Our main aim it to promote and establish professional boxing in India,” Mr. Ali said, “We want the entire nation to fall in love with the sport.”
Although Mr. Ali expressed his view that boxing remains “the world’s second most played sport” he noted that, as of yet it does not command a significant fan following in India. However, he remains confident that the IPBA could soon change that.
“India has a huge population and we have great amateurs,” Mr. Ali said. “But they don’t have the opportunity (to fight professional).”
Although Mr. Ali has expressed a desire to work with all sanctioning bodies, including the WBA, WBC, and IBF, he was excited to hear of some of the plans set forth by the WBO. WBO member Danny Leigh expressed a desire to see professional boxing brought up correctly. He stressed that with the help of Mr. Leigh and WBO Vice President Leon Panoncillo, the Professional Boxing Commission of China (which Panoncilo and Leigh helped establish) will work with all parties in India to see that fights are properly sanctioned and that the commission is brought up correctly.
“Eventually they will work with all of the sanctioning bodies,” Mr. Leigh said of the proposed Indian boxing commission. “But right now they are working on the next show in India. Now that we are succeeding in China, we want to transfer that template to India.”
Mr. Leigh expressed a desire to see the Indian boxing commission follow the template set in China and reach a world standard shortly. He also expressed a desire to see a world class main event brought to India, even indicating a desire to see a WBO world title fight hosted there next year. IPBA promoted one card this year in India which was headlined by a WBC regional belt. The fight exceeded all expectations with over 25,000 fans in attendance.
Mr. Ali also envisioned a boxing league not unlike the “League of Fists” in China, where young Indian fighters would take part in a tournament to crown one of them Indian champion. The League of Fists tournament in China has become a popular event in which Chinese fighters are the exclusive participants. Their popularity in China has helped establish boxing in the country and Mr. Ali recognizes that it is a formula that can help establish boxing in India as well.
IPBA plans to promote events beginning with an emphasis on both building up boxing at a grass root level as well as exposing Indian boxing fans to world class international events: to give the young Indian fighters the exposure while also allowing them to emerge as not only domestic talents, but international talents.
Their aim and endeavor is to bring the sport of boxing in India to be at a level on par with other sports, so that the athletes get the best facilities and opportunities and are able to improve their standard of life.
Mr. Ali personally thanked WBO President Francisco ‘Paco’ Valcarcel, WBO Vice President for Asia-Pacific Leon Panoncillo, and WBO member Danny Leigh for their efforts to bring professional boxing to India.
http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/wbo-poised-to-make-moves-in-india-in-2016-311795
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr. –
CEBU CITY, PHILIPPINES – The SOS Children’s Village played host to the World Boxing Organization’s WKDF Drug Free Program activities held Monday afternoon.
The SOS Children’s Village in Talamban,Cebu City is home to children who are orphaned or abandoned. It is one of many branches nationwide that give children in need a home and facilities for education and development.
The WBO sponsored a sports event for the kids living inside the village. The children were divided into four teams – with shirts colored yellow, blue, black and red with the WBO logo as uniforms – for a tug-of-war competition.
The teams were matched in a best of three test of strength with the Blue Team emerging as the champion. The children had lots of fun the entire afternoon and were treated with a sumptuous meal by the organizers.
All the participants were awarded school bags and they were also given rubberized mats that can be sued for sports and school activities. On hand for the event and giving prizes to the winners and participants was WBO Asia Pacific VP Leon Panoncillo assisted by Promoter Sammy Gello-ani.
They also provided short speeches to the children reminding them to stay away from drugs and pursue their education or a career in boxing or other sports. Also on hand in organizing the event was Gello-ani’s wife Cora.
WBO VP Panoncillo received a plaque from appreciation from the Children’s Village. The SOS also works in hand with the Cebu City Task Force for Street Children. More than a hundred kids are being cared for inside this facility.
Also on hand for the WBO “Say No to Drugs” program were boxers form the SGG stable, WBO judges Edgar Olalo, Salven Lagumbay, Arnie Najera and Edward Ligas, referees Tony Pesons and Romar Embodo, and PBC/Macao ring inspectors Arcade Terrado and Martin Redona.
The Yellow Team in the WBO Tug-of-War game held at the SOS Children-s Village in Cebu.
The Yellow Team in the WBO Tug-of-War game held at the SOS Children-s Village in Cebu.
The Blue Team celebrates after winning the finals.
WBO Vice-President for Asia-Pacific Leon Panoncillo poses with the runner-up winner Black Team.
Panoncillo with the finals winner Blue Team.
Panoncillo distributes the WBO bags and rubber mats giveaway to the children.
Panoncillo gives the cash awards to a member of the winning team.
Panoncillo speaks during the awarding of the prizes and the distribution of WBO gifts to the SOS Children’s Village in Cebu.
Panoncillo receives a certificate of appreciation from SOS Children’s Village official Delia Saberon.
WBO boxing officials and boxing personalities in Cebu who joined the Monday WBO Kids Drug Free Program in Cebu.
More photos:
CEBU CITY – WBO junior flyweight world champion Donnie “Ähas” Nietes was awarded a very special ring by the World Boxing Organization after the official weigh-in held today at the SM Activity Center. On hand for the ceremony were WBO Pres. Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel, WBO Asia Pacific VP Leon Panoncillo and WBO ratings committee chairman Luis Perez.
The diamond encrusted ring,with rubies and emeralds was given to Nietes to acknowledge his accomplishments as the longest reigning Filipino world champion and being a champion in two weight categories under the WBO.
Nietes will be defending his WBO and Ring magazine 108lb division belts this Saturday for the seventh time against Mexican challenger Francisco Rodriguez at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel. Nietes is only the second Filipino boxer, after Manny Pacquiao to be awarded a ring by the WBO. He also joins the likes of of Oscar dela Hoya, Marco Antonio Barerra, Joe Calzaghe and Juan Manuel Marquez.
Both Nietes and Rodriguez stepped on the scales at 108lbs during the weigh-in supervised by GAB-Cebu.
WBO two-division champion Donnie Nietes (L) and former WBO minimumweight (R) pose during Friday’s official weighin held at the activity center of SM City Cebu.
Nietes receives the WBO diamond-encrusted ring from WBO president Francisco Paco Valcarcel. Witnessing the awarding are ALA President Michael Aldeguer (L) and WBO Vice-President for Asia-Pacific Leon Panoncillo Jr. (R); and a close-up of Nietes’s WBO diamond-encrusted ring.
WBO officials of the Nietes-Rodriguez world title fight (L-R): Referee Russell Mora, Judges Robert Hecko, Benoit Roussel and Lisa Giampa.
By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Boxing Beat
19-year-old unbeaten Japanese, Kosei Tanaka (5-0, 2 KOs), 105, very impressively acquired the vacant WBO 105-pound belt as he kept outspeeding and outpunching Mexican Julian Yedras (24-2, 13 KOs), 105, to win a unanimous decision over twelve fast rounds on Saturday in Komaki, Japan.
The official tallies read: Salven Lagumbay (Philippines) and Sawang Thaweekoon (Thailand) both 117-111, and Luis Ruiz (Puerto Rico) 115-113, all in favor of Tanaka, who thus won the world throne in his fifth pro bout. The referee was Samuel Viruet (US) who also moved so well as the busy-moving contestants. Tanaka, whose amateur mark was 46-5, 18 stoppages, displayed fast jabs, quick combinations and effective left hooks, and maintained the initiative despite the game Mexican’s occasional retaliation. Tanaka proved a real thing with such a fine performance as he looked like a young and small Sugar Ray Leonard.
Tanaka, an sophomore of Chukyo University, appeared sophomoric, utilizing various skills against the more experienced but one-dimensional Mexican such as shifty footwork, sharp flicker-jabbing, looping or short left hooking, well-timed countering and occasional infighting. Tanaka, much more skillful than Yedras, was an enfant terrible. The reporter hesitates to abuse a word of “genius” since, if doing so, there are so many geniuses here in Japan as three-class world champ Hiroki Ioka, two-time titlist Naoya Inoue, etc. But Tanaka is more than a vastly talented youngster by winning the crowd’s applause not only with his coronation but with his spectacular performance.
We, in Japan, now see nine world champions excluding Japan-based foreign titleholders such as Jorge Linares, but, only in terms of hand speed, Tanaka might be one of the best as he displayed lightening combinations to the game but slower Mexican, who said after the fight, “Tanaka was very fast and was too elusive with his lateral movement for me to catch up with. The chico (young kid) was splendid on speed, power and heart. I’m happy to have fought such a good boxer.” It is truly rare to hear such a straightforward admiration on a winner from a loser.
Tanaka, from the outset, showed his superior speed as he threw whiplash jabs and left-right combinations to the still cautious Mexican hombre. His mobility was reminiscent of Muhammad Ali in his rematch with Ken Norton. The second round witnessed the Japanese boy penetrate Yedras’ tight guard with a solid left-right combo to have him reeling to the ropes.
It was Tanaka that swept the first three rounds with a fine display of remarkable hand speed with good precision and power. Some 4,500 supporters in attendance at Park Arena Komaki were worried about his proper distribution of stamina, as he appeared to have started fireworks by consuming too much energy at the earlier stage.
As expected from his too hot opening attack, Tanaka’s vaunted footwork temporarily stopped midway in round four, when the shorter Mexican came forward and came close to him with a flurry of punches even on the block of the Japanese youngster, who recklessly responded to his rallies in the close range. It’s Yedras’ round.
Tanaka, however, won back the fifth session as he very furiously retaliated with a two-fisted attack, but seemingly spent too much energy—as if it had been a six-round competition—just to win a point even though his countering right uppercut had the knees almost buckled. The kid often caught the onrushing Mexican puncher with looping left hooks to the temple that apparently hurt Yedras, who nonetheless kept stalking the footworker.
Tanaka, in round six, recklessly mixed it up in the close quarter and Yedras maintained the pressure with incessant short punches to the face and to the midsection, while the youngster attempted to swap punches toe-to-toe with him without using his feet. Yedras was apparently in command. The crowd was afraid that the tide had turned then and there, and Yedras would take back the initiative from then onward.
It was, however, in the seventh that Tanaka showed his best as he courageously attacked the Mexican willing mixer with much faster combinations upstairs and downstairs. His jabs and one-two-left hook combinations were all effective enough to hurt the Mexican, who still refused to go down and tried to fight back with his best effort. It was a very furious round, which might be a good candidate of Round of the Year.
When Yedras returned to his corner, we saw he had the right cheek badly swollen with a lump due to his absorption of punishment. But he looked still mentally strong and willing to fight on.
The eighth was also hard-fought by the aggressive contestants, who exchanged hot rallies. Tanaka, with better precision, had the upper hand and almost stunned Yedras with a strong left-right combination. The Mexican warrior, however, landed a vicious right counter that shook up the Japanese prospect. Two judges favored Tanaka, while one gave a point to Yedras.
After the eighth round was over, the Tanaka adherents realized that there would be still no less than four more rounds though he had already consumed too much stamina due to his feverishly high pace. The worriers might be expecting Tanaka would be slowing down and Yedras would catch him with solid body shots as his Mexican cornermen incessantly kept yelling, “Abajo (downstairs)!”.
This reporter hereby becomes a Peeping Tom onto the interim scoresheet, though the open scoring system wasn’t applied to this bout. That’s 79-73, 78-74 and 77-75 in favor of Tanaka.
Amazingly did Tanaka turn loose in the ninth and keep punching almost entirely for three minutes. Where’s his energy from? From his youth? Yedras, of course, fought back hard but Tanaka’s faster combinations and hit-and-run tactics kept him from catching the busy and elusive target. Tanaka seemingly welcomed a second wind, as he accelerated freely punching and moving without feeling any fatigue.
Then we realized that Tanaka, a 19-year-young kid, wasn’t a Bernard Hopkins or a Japanese baseball player working in the US, Ichiro Suzuki, both of whom are 41 years of age. Kosei’s storage of abundant stamina was so astounding that the partisan crowd then expected Tanaka would maintain such a high pace and win the game.
Then tenth was spectacular enough since Tanaka’s footwork prevailed as fast as in the first three rounds and he served as a Sugar Ray Leonard in playing tag in a game of children. Busily jabbing and circling around the flat-footed Mexican, who was still aggressive and willing to mix it up, Tanaka finely displayed hit-and-run tactics to impress the crowd.
The eleventh witnessed Tanaka become a typical speedster, throwing flashy hand punches very fast but without putting his weight behind punches. He looked to have dominated this round only with his hand speed, and two judges gave this round to Tanaka, while another to Yedras who threw power punches even with low precision.
“With three more minutes you’ll be champion,” cried his chief second and father Hitoshi to encourage his son. Tanaka furiously commenced the final session with all his energy, as Yedras did. It’s a total war with the game warriors. It’s Tanaka that whipped Yedras from all angles so furiously as if he would finish him to bring home the bacon. But his too furious last surge had Tanaka slowing down in the last thirty seconds, when Yedras was courageous enough to fight back with his heart. When the final bell sounded, people really appreciated the good game from the bottom of heart.
After the official verdict announced his coronation Tanaka jubilantly said in the ring, “I’ve arrived at this place I had been aiming at for a long time since my childhood. I really thank for your people’s continually warm supports.”
Kosei Tanaka had a unique career. His father Hitoshi used to be a black belt of judo and Japanese national arm wrestling champion. He made his son learn karate at the age of three with his elder brother by two years, Ryosei, a student of Komazawa University, who is still amateur and national titlist for four years in a row. Kosei, when twelve, started learning how to box from his father, who has kept coaching his son since. Tanaka family was like Danny Garcia’s though Hitoshi isn’t as eloquent as Danny’s dad Angel.
To make a long story short, Kosei acquired national high school championship four times and turned professional under the tutelage of Kiyoshi Hatanaka, the first world champ ever produced in Nagoya area.
Tanaka, in November 2013, successfully made a pro debut by defeating WBO#6 Oscar Reknafa by a lopsided 6-round decision in Nagoya. Nicknamed “Knockout Dream Boy”, Kosei won a unanimous nod over WBA#13 Ronelle Ferreras in March 2014. His third bout saw a first-round knockout over OPBF#3 ranked Philippine champ Crison Omayao in July 2014. Tanaka, as the mandatory challenger, had an ambitious shot at WBO#2 OPBF 105-pound titlist and impressively dethroned him via tenth round TKO in October of the previous year. Literally that’s all as for his pre-history of coronation.
Chukyo University has produced many excellent young athletes such as Koji Murofuse (Olympic gold medalist in the shot put), Mao Asada (Olympic silver medalist in the figure skating), etc. Kosei Tanaka is one of those who have raised the Alma Mater’s reputation. Kosei is a little different from other boxers dependent on blood and guts since he often describes himself as a thinking boxer.
His manager/promoter Kiyoshi Hatanaka’s overall record was 25-2-1, 15 KOs, as he only suffered a couple of setbacks at the hand of as many Mexicans—Gilberto Roman and Daniel Zaragoza—each with a world championship at stake in 1988 and 1991 respectively. Tanaka avenged his manager’s setbacks to the Mexicans with his impressive victory.
Leon Panoncillo, the WBO supervisor, said, “Tanaka is the pride of our organization. He’s much better than we had expected. We hope he will grow up to be multiple-class champion since he is really talented. I love his tremendous hand speed in combination punching and his strong heart as well.”
The third man Samuel Viruet expressed his impression on the newly crowned champ, saying, “Tanaka boxed like a Bruce Lee, feinting, jabbing and shuffling. It’s fun watching him fight like that as the third man.”
This reporter hereby has to amend the list of “World Champions in Fewest Fights” that was previously compiled by historian Bob Yalen and yours truly by adding the Knockout Dream Boy.
Tanaka always writes an autograph of “KOsei” which means, in Japanese, “Do Knockout!” This is just for your reference.
Tanaka became the fourth of the youngest world champions out of Japan, as shown by an attached list.
Tanaka is also the fifth world titlist ever produced from Nagoya area in Japan.
In the end, this record-keeper hereby lists up our current world champions in Japan.
There are more episodes on Kosei Tanaka’s coronation, but should this reporter write them all, this writing wouldn’t finish within days. We just say we have had another good champion here in Japan.
Promoter: Hatanaka Promotions.
WBO supervisor: Leon Panoncillo (US).
http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/full-report-tanaka-wins-wbo-title-in-5th-pro-bout-293074
Date: Saturday, May 30, 2015
WBO VACANT MINI FLYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE BOUT
Location: Park Arena, Komaki, Alchi, Japan
Promoter: Hatanaka Promotions / Kiyoshi Hatanaka
Supervisor: Leon Panoncillo
Referee: Samuel Viruet
Judges: Salven Lugumbay (117-111); Luis Ruiz (115-113); Sawaeng Thaweekoon (117-111)
Results: The Japanese, Kosei Tanaka acquired the vacant WBO Mini Flyweight Championship Title (105-pound) as he kept outspeeding and outpunching Mexican Julian Yedras, to win a unanimous decision over twelve fast rounds in Komaki, Japan.
TV:
Date: Saturday, November 15, 2014
WBO JR. FLYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE BOUT
Location: Cebu City Waterfront Hotel & Casino, Barangay Lahug, Cebu City, Phillipines
Promoter: ALA Promotions / Michael D. Aldeguer
Supervisor: Leon Panoncillo
Referee: Robert Byrd
Judges: Rose M. Lacend; Salven Lugumbay; Masakazu Murase
Results: The WBO Jr. Flyweight Champion Donnie Nietes successfully defended the title stopping Carlos Velarde by KO in the seventh round.
TV: Phillipines ABS-CBN Channel 2
By David Finger \ Photos: Joel Colon/WBO
The World Boxing Organization 27th Annual Convention kicked off in full force this morning at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas as members from around the world introduced themselves and we subsequently treated to a video presentation highlighting last year’s convention in Budapest. The first order of business for the executive committee was the Championship Committee report, which highlighted the strong position of the WBO in regards to participating in championship fights. In 2011-2012 the WBO made a strong statement to the boxing world as they had an impressive 38 championship fights. However, as that number dipped to 32 in 2012-2013, the WBO was keen on making a strong statement and to bounce back. The Championship Committee was happy to report that the WBO more than exceeded expectations here.
“This year we came back fierce and strong,” commented Luis Batista Salas, chairman of the Championship Committee. “We came back with 40 championship fights. We had more championship fights than the other organizations together.” Batista Salas also commented on the growth, and strength, of WBO Women’s boxing. “We have 25 champions in the female division, and we only began three years ago with female championship fights.”
Perhaps most noteworthy for the Championship Committee was the prominent role that mandatory defenses played in WBO championship fights. “Mandatory fights are something we take very seriously,” Batista Salas added, “(The WBO) had 32 mandatory fights! This is also a record. That is also something to be proud of.”
From there President Valcarcel announced that the President’s Report would be postponed until after lunch to allow him to speak at length about some issues, including his planned announcement for the second day of the convention, in which the WBO will petition Senator John McCain and the ABC to propose amendments to the Muhammad Ali Act, proposals that would strengthen the bill and impose harsher penalties for violations. He then took a jab at the other organizations, and in particular the recent summit of boxing organizations in Cancun, Mexico that was hosted by the WBC.
“I wasn’t there to waste time in Cancun for some public relations stunt where nothing gets done,” Valcarcel said to the Executive Committee, “there were two of them in the past and nothing got done. We didn’t intend to go and waste our time.”
Valcarcel indicated a desire to continue working with local commissions and the ABC to promote safety and proposed rule changes, noting that local laws will always trump the WBO rules, and therefore it was important to work closely with these commissions. He also added that he will be meeting with the chairman of the IBF tomorrow, as the chairman will be visiting with the WBO in Las Vegas.
The Grievance Committee report followed, and in what could considered a “short and sweet” summary, the Grievance Committee chairman Alberto Rodriguez was happy to announce that there were no complaints submitted to the committee in 2014. He then discussed the process for a party to submit to the grievance committee.
A short video followed featuring WBO women’s bantamweight champion Carolina Duer, followed by Ms. Duer thanking the WBO and expressing her appreciation for the WBO. “Since I’ve been a world champion I’ve always been only a WBO champion,” Duer said to the executive committee, “I am very proud to represent this organization.”
The next order of business was the regional vice presidents report, starting with Istvan “Koko” Kovacs and WBO Europe. Kovacs was pleased to report a very successful year for the WBO Europe. “We had the pleasure to organize the second WBO congress (in Budapest) in 2013 and according to the feedback and your comments, it was very successful. Already after the 2009 (WBO Congress) we saw an increase in the nonetheless already significant activities of WBO Europe. But I must admit that I did not expect to have such extraordinary accomplishments (in 2014).”
WBO Europe increased overall, and although WBO International saw a slight decrease, much of that was attributed to tighter restrictions and higher standards. “We tightened the requirements for the belt,” Kovacs said, “we had less fights but there is higher prestige to the belt.”
However, any drop in activity to WBO International was more than made up by the increase in activity from the WBO European titles. It went from 11 fights in 2013 to 27 in 2014. The number of WBO regional titles in Europe nearly doubled from 29 in 2013 to 53 in 2014, Kovacs then discussed the increase in activity across the board for the WBO in Europe, citing the increased number of fights from the WBO Youth (from 4 to 9) and WBO female championships (from 5 to 9). In 2014 there were also 10 WBO championship fights in Europe, which was the same number as in 2013.
Kovacs then discussed the overall history of the WBO European title since 2009, noting that they have had 92 championship fights, with 54 champions, of which 13 would go on to fight for the title, and of which 3 world champions would emerge. Kovacs then discussed the financial situation with WBO Europe, noting that since 2009 the WBO Europe brought in $95,600 for the WBO in 2014 alone, thus making it the most successful year ever for WBO Europe. Since 2009 WBO Europe has collected over $325,000 in sanctioning fees for the WBO. Kovacs then took a few moments to discuss the ways in which WBO Europe took part in the WBO Kids Drug Free program.
From there WBO Asia Pacific Vice President Leon Panoncillo took the floor to discuss both the state of boxing in Asia and in Africa.
“Asia Pacific has shown positive growth, with 17 sanctioned fights since last year’s convention,” Panoncillo said. He also added that WBO Asia Pacific brought in $28,011.57 in revenue since the last convention and that he expected to sanction five more fights before the end of the year.
He then discussed the WBO Oriental title, adding that since the last convention he sanctioned 30 Oriental Championship matches, collecting a total of $44,250 in revenue since the last convention. The impressive increase in activity marked a dramatic rise in activity for the WBO Oriental title, making 2014 one of the most successful years in the history of WBO Oriental and in striking range of being the most successful year ever for the title. Panoncillo then went on to discuss the WBO Africa, noting that WBO Africa has sanctioned 16 total championship fights since the last convention and that it has raised $21,400 in revenue. Panoncillo then closed out with a discussion of the state of affairs with WBO Asia Pacific Youth, noting that the WBO sanctioned three youth titles and subsequently raised $2,525 in revenue for the WBO since the last convention.
From there WBO first vice president John Duggan discussed the China Zone development, and his hopes to see the WBO continue to grow in the region.
After Duggan’s discussion of China the WBO handed out several awards, with Marco Huck being the most notable. Huck was recently named a WBO Super Champion, and although he did not have a Super Championship belt yet, he was awarded a plague commemorating his accomplishment.
“This is a very rare and great honor,” Huck said after receiving the award, “I am very proud to be named Super Champion after 13 title defenses.”Also given awards were Osvaldo Rivero, who was named Latin America promoter of the year by the WBO. Also given an award was Patrick Teixeira, who was awarded the OMB Latino Champion of the year.
From there Jorge Molina presented his report on WBO Latino, noting that he still embraced the philosophy that “the sky’s the limit” when considering the future of the organization. Since the last convention, Molina noted that the WBO has sanctioned 30 championship fights, an increase from 25 in 2013. Of those 30 fights, 10 were held in Argentina, 10 were held in Brazil, six were held in the United States, 3 were held in Mexico, and 1 was held in Puerto Rico. Five fights were in the welterweight division, five were in the junior bantamweight division, and four were in the junior middleweight division. Molina then discussed the proud history of the OMB Latino championship, noting that the WBO Latino held an astounding 526 title fights since 1996. Of those who fought for the WBO Latino title, 134 would go on to fight for the world title, while 41 would go on to win world championships. Molina then added that since the last convention three OMB Latino Champions have gone on to win world titles as well. Molina then closed out with a video presentation that highlighted some of the greatest moments of WBO Latino, highlighting some legendary champions like Michael Carbajal and Ener Julio.
The executive committee took a short recess for lunch, and upon returning from lunch, resumed with the treasurer’s report. WBO CPA Jaime Ceballero advised that the strength of the WBO financial situation, adding that the WBO had $1,242,724 in savings, an increase in revenue of 302%. The increase in revenue was the largest ever in the history of the WBO. He then added that the WBO accounts included nearly $2,000,000 when added with the accounts of all of the regional organizations. He then added that, if the WBO were to pay off all of their debts today, they would still hold in excess of a million dollars. The positive report prompted President Valcarcel to ask if the WBO could spend more money on the WBO Kids Drug Free program. Unfortunately there was one area where regional organization in which WBO didn’t have tremendous success initially in 2014: the NABO.
The NABO had recently changed leadership in February of 2014 after reporting substantial losses in 2013 and early 2014. New NABO Vice President Jose Izquierdo, however, had done much to turn that ship around since taking over. One area of strength was the increase in fights on “important” cards such as the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley PPV card, or the recent Floyd Mayweather-Marcos Maidana PPV in 2014. Since taking over the helm at NABO, Izquierdo has sanctioned 12 NABO title fights and 14 Inter-Continental title fights, helping fuel a dramatic turnaround for the NABO financially.
“There is a dramatic decrease in the amount owed,” Izquierdo said, “over 46% decrease. And a 790% increase for cash on hand.”
Izquierdo has taken a much more inclusive approach to spearhead the NABO’s sudden resurgence. “I’ve called local commissions to have them recommend fighters to be considered and become part of the rankings of the NABO,” Izquierdo said.
The positive changes in the direction of the NABO prompted vice president Luis Batista Salas to sing Izquierdo’s praises during his presentation. “He has changed the face of the NABO,” Batista Salas said of Izquierdo.
From there President Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel presented the WBO President’s Report, and as expected, he took time to again discuss a topic that has become his cause belle: the proliferation of titles in boxing. Valcarcel first commended Jose Izquierdo on scoring a knockout with WBO’s presence on social media like Facebook.com and Twitter. Noting how WBO’s Facebook page went from 7,000 followers to 334,996 followers in only one year, he commended Izquierdo for helping turn WBO boxing into one of the most popular boxing pages on the internet.
“It is the fastest way to get resolutions out and give the public an outlet (to communicate with us).” Valcarcel said.
Valcarcel then spoke time to speak about the WBO champions, noting that “the WBO is very lucky, because we have the money makers. We have the best champions around the world.”
He then took a jab at a rival organization, noting that former WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin was making more money in his title defenses than a rival organizations champion who had become a regular fixture on television. He also noted that at the bantamweight weight class, the WBO recently received a $600,000 purse bid from a promoter for a title fight and that Marco Huck is highly successful in the cruiserweight division, earning tremendous paydays as a cruiserweight. Valcarcel then took another jab at the rival organizations and the proliferation of numerous “copper, platinum, silver, and aluminum” titles.
“We have the WBO (world) champion and that’s it! We call Klitschko a Super Champion and that’s it. We don’t have anyone (other champion) behind him. I want to be polite, but I have to speak the truth. Who cares about Alex Povetkin? The champion is Klitschko!”
Explaining the difference between the WBO and some of the other sanctioning organizations in how they recognize champions.
“We have regional titles, but others, they have 3, 4, 5 titles.” Valcarcel added. “We only have one Latino Champion…that means the WBO Latino title carries prestige. We want to keep it that way. We don’t want to have a bunch of titles.”
From there discussions turned to recent litigation involving the WBO, including a case in Puerto Rico that threatens the tax-exempt status of the WBO.
“Our financial success has attracted the attention of inland revenue in Puerto Rico,” WBOs legal counsel associated with the case told the commission, “due to new tax laws in Puerto Rico and the recession in Puerto Rico, and the degradation of Puerto Rican bonds. Puerto Rico has imposed further taxes to cover this.”
Although the WBO is a recognized non-profit according to the United States federal government, the government of Puerto Rico has refused to give full faith and credit to this designation, and their decision had initially been upheld by the Puerto Rican court of appeals. Although the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico initially refused to hear the case, the WBO remained confident that they still had a strong appeal.
Jose Izquierdo made a motion to give the President the authority to unilaterally name a committee to take on this issue at his discretion, a motion that was passed unanimously.
The second issue discussed was the issue of a trademark registration in Europe, and a fraudulent company that sent an unsolicited letter demanding payment to “register” the WBO trademark. This letter was disregarded when the WBO European Council assured the executive committee that the WBO trademarks are registered for the next several years.
Closing out the first day of the meeting, President Valcarcel again discussed the issue of the WBO’s refusal to take part in the joint summit of boxing sanctioning organizations held in Cancun earlier this year.
“We can work with other commissioners regarding safety,” Valcarcel said, “that doesn’t mean we have to meet up (with rival organizations) for it. I never heard of Coca-Cola and Pepsi having a meeting together. You have your own flavor, we don’t have to meet anyone, we don’t have to go anywhere because we are very busy. We are busy working with kids, enhancing the image of the sport. We had a meeting in 2011 and we talked about the same issues. We are doing much more than other organizations. Did you hear of other organizations doing as much for kids?”
WBO European member Markus Aslani then chimed in, “We stick to our rules and we don’t take part in the inflation of titles.”
“I think the main problem in boxing is that you have more than one champion in each division,” Valcarcel added.
“One organization that shall remain unnamed had 41 champions in 17 weight classes,” Jose Izquerdo added.
“We have the support of the most respected boxing writers of the world,” Valcarcel added, “I think in boxing, honesty is the best policy. If we are recognized as the honest organization, we are going to have success.”
From there President Valcarcel added that he will discuss proposals to Senator John McCain and Harry Reid in regards to amendments to the Muhammad Ali Act, and that the WBO would “not tolerate corruption in its ranks.”
Rounding off the opening day was a presentation on the still developing China Zone, which discussed its plans for 2015. The event closed off with a cocktail party that evening, and is set to resume tomorrow at 8:30 AM.
http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/giant-wbo-2014-convention-day-one-report-266381
SHANGHAI- Chinese boxing fans are expected to troop to the Mercedes Benz Arena today for “FIST OF POWER”, a live event that will feature Ik Yang (15-0, 9 KOs) of Dalian, China against Sukkasem Kietyongyuth (13-2, 8 KOs), of Roi-Et, Thailand for the WBO Asia-Pacific lightweight title.
The August 26 card also has something to offer for the Filipino fight fans – Randy “Razor” Petalcorin (21-1-1,16KO’s) of Gen. Santos City will go up against Walter Tello (20-7,8KO’s) of Panama for the interim WBA world light flyweight title.
It is not just Filipino boxers, but Filipino ring officials have also become a regular presence in boxing promotions held in China. When Top Rank started their first high profile boxing event – FISTS OF GOLD – in Macau last April 2013, ring officials of the World Boxing Organization (WBO) headed by its president Paco Valcarcel and WBO Vice-President for Asia-Pacific Leon Panoncillo were among those who handled and supervised the birth of big time boxing promotions in this country. This started the influx of experienced boxing officials from the Philippines who provided their expertise in the professional side of the sport. They have formed a good partnership with Thai,Australian and Chinese boxing officials.
Panoncillo is currently the driving force and head of the Professional Boxing Commission of China (PBCC). Aside from supervising events, he has conducted workshops for Chinese boxing officials who are interested in learning how professional bouts are conducted and supervised. One example was the demonstration on the proper taping or wrapping of a boxer’s hand and gloves which was held after today’s FIST OF POWER weigh-in at the Sheraton Hotel.
PHOTO – PBCC and WBO Asia-Pacific chief Leon Panoncillo demonstrates handwrapping on chief dressing room and handwraps inspector Romar Embodo as WBO As-Pac board member Danny Leigh and PBCC Executive Sec. Maggie Wei Na look on.
Panoncillo, who also has the experience of being a boxing trainer, showed the legal way of handwrapping as well as the illegal way to make inspectors aware of any shenanigans happening inside the fighters’ dressing room.
In various boxing events in Macau and in mainland China, the PBCC has conducted itself in a professional manner and has trained aspiring officials to do things the right way. It also has been responsible in the way they provide licenses, conduct the needed medical requirements for boxers and make sure the proper emergency facilities are available.
“Pro boxing is new and still growing here, If they start doing things the right way, the rest will be easy.” Panoncillo said. Top Rank has tied up with SECA to build the growth of pro boxing here in China. SECA CEO Sheng Li stated in today’s presscon that they still don’t have much knowledge in pro boxing in China, hence his partnership with Top Rank. Looking at the steady increase of boxing promotions in this country, it has been mutually beneficial for both parties. The PBCC has also become a steady and reliable presence.
Photo – PBCC officials – Romar Embodo, Dr.Rene Bonsubre, Salven Lagumbay, Larry Balanay, Edward Ligas, Arnie Najera, Danny Leigh,Danrex Tapdasan, Sorat Soikrachang and PBCC head Leon Panoncillo
The Tuesday fight card in Shanghai has seven Chinese boxers. Aside from Petalcorin, another Filipino boxer, Marlon Alta (12-4,9KO’s) will be pitted against Qu Peng (5-0-1,3KO’s) of China in a non-title light heavyweight match-up.
Date: Saturday, July 19, 2014
WBO Jr. Featherweight Championship Bout
Location: Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China
Promoter: Top Rank
Supervisor: Leon Panoncillo
Referee: Mark Nelson
Judges: Dennis Nelson, John Poturai, Glenn Feldman
Results: WBO Junior featherweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux retains his titles by knocking out Sod Kokietgym at 1:44 minutes into the first round.
TV: USA HBO 2, Hungary Sport 1, USA UniMas
Chuncheon, KOREA–In a fast-paced action fight, Japan’s Mako Yamada outhustled and outpointed defending WBO minimum weight champion Su-Yun Hong over ten rounds at the city gymnasium here.
The shorter Yamada fought with laser-guided precision, sweeping the first three rounds to befuddle the taller defending champion who was heavily breathing starting in the second frame.
By the fourth, and egged on by hometown crowd, Hong upped his tempo a bit, making the fight exciting with both fighters taking and giving punches.
Yamada’s speed and volume-punching proved too much, however, as she cruised to a split decision victory.
Neutral judge Salven Lagumbay of the Philippines scored it 96-94 for Yamada, Japan’s Katsuhiko Nakamura saw it 97-93 for Yamada, while Korean judge Joint Sum Kwon had it 97-96 for Hong. The Korean judge scored three of the rounds a 10-10.
Referee Danrex Tapdasan observed that the defending champ Hong was already breathing heavily as early as the second round.
A possible rematch can be worked out, according to WBO Asia Chairman Leon Panoncillo who supervised the bout. Hong’s handlers own an option to Yamada’s next defense.
Yamada’s handlers, meanwhile, can also bid to hold the fight in Japan, which has recently affiliated itself to the WBO in a special ceremony last year with no less than WBO President Paco Valcarcel in attendance.
With the win, Yamada now boasts of 7 wins, no loss with 2 KO’s while the dethroned Hong tastes her first defeat against 9 wins.
NOTES: Former ALA fighter and RP champion Bart Abapo took time off from his job as a boxing trainer here to visit this writer and WBO chief Leon Panncillo and referee Tapdasan…Chuncheon is just two hours away from communist country North Korea…JBC’s Aaron Ning is probably the hardest-working boxing official in Korea…
Chuncheon, KOREA–An interesting bust-up takes place here today as reigning WBO mini flyweight world champion Su-Yun-Hong defends her title against Japan’s Mako Yamada over ten rounds at the city gymnasium.
This is a highly anticipated face-off between the two undefeated lady boxers, with both media outlets from both countries giving attention to the fight.
Hong came in at 105 lbs, while Yamada was 103 lbs at yesterday’s weigh-in supervised by WBO Asia Pacific chairman Leon Panoncillo.
Hong, unblemished in 9 scraps with 5 KO’s, will be making the third defense of the title he won back in 2012. Yamada, 19, is unbeaten in 6 bouts with 2 KO’s.
Promoter for today’s bout is YMW Promotions headed by Moyung-Woo Yuh.
Third man on the ring is lawyer Danrex Tapdasan while judges are ABC-accredited Salven Lagumbay of the Philippines, Japan’s Katsuhiko Nakamura, and Korea’s Joong-Suk Kwon.