Boxing In Japan: Gonzalez Upsets Hasegawa For WBC Title

Earlier tonight at World Memorial Hall in Kobe, Japan, WBC featherweight boss Huzumi Hasegawa was stunningly dethroned by Mexico’s Jhonny Gonzalez on a massive fight card featuring three world title bouts.

Both fighters previously held world titles at bantamweight but the taller Gonzalez left the 118 pound class four years ago while southpaw Hasegawa only moved up last year, skipping the super bantams after suffering a the loss of the WBC bantam crown to Fernando Montiel a year ago.

Once the action started in Kobe, Hasegawa sought to leverage his edge in quickness by darting in and out, using a double jab to set up to straight power lefts.

Some of these efforts found the mark but the highly experienced Gonzalez began to counteract the measure with hard right hands.

In the second, Hasegawa become more calculating, increasing his hit percentage while presenting the challenger with fewer opportunities. Gonzalez began loading up with big winging shots, most of which missed.

The third frame saw the bout heat up with the distance between the fighters rapidly shrinking and Gonzalez began to find a home for body shots that were affecting the champion.

Gonzalez shook the champion with a good head shot near the end of the round but Hasegawa recovered quickly and was back in force in the fourth until the challenger caught Hasegawa off balance with a perfect overhand right.

Hasegawa crumpled to the canvas and made it up in time but his wobbly legs caused referee Michael Griffin to call off the contest at 0:58 of the fourth.

Gonzalez wins the WBC featherweight strap, improving to 48-7 (42), while Hasegawa falls to 29-4 (12), having now dropped two of his last three appearances.

WBC super bantam ruler Toshiaki Nishioka, 38-4-3 (24), continued his run of five successful defenses with a ninth round KO of WBC latino beltholder Mauricio Javier Munoz, 21-3 (9).

Nishioka controlled most of the rounds, largely outboxing the counter-punching South American and chipping away at Munoz until landing a series of short shots on the inside that felled the challenger in the ninth frame.

WBC super feather supremo Takahiro Ao, 21-2-1 (10), retained for the first time by finishing off the challenge of Interim champ Humberto Mauro Gutierrez, 28-3-1 (20), in the fourth round.

Ao mounted an impressive offense from the start of this battle of southpaws, quelling much of Gutierrez’s efforts by volume punching before scoring the spearing body shot that ended matters.