Boxing In Asia: Weekend Results

The only genuine action this past weekend took place in Asia and we crack open the first results report of 2009 with a quick trip to the Pacifico in Yokahama, Japan where there were two world title fights on Saturday night.

Yusuke Kobori put his WBA Lightweight crown at risk for the first time since winning the belt with a third round stoppage of Jose Alfaro in May, but the Tokyo man wasn’t ready for what challenger Paulus Moses brought to the table.

The 30 year old Namibian earned his stripes by winning the WBA Pan African and Intercontinental titles in 2006 but truly earned his “Hitman” nickname on Saturday by generally beating the champion to the punch over twelve tough rounds.

When the dust had settled, Moses took the WBA title by scores of 119-109 and 115-113 twice, keeping his perfect record intact to climb to 24-0 (17).

Former Japanese and OPBF Super Feather kingpin Kobori saw a 15 fight no loss streak go up in flames and the 27 year old sees his record drop to 23-3-1 (12).

In other action on the bill, another Tokyo resident fared better as Toshiaki Nishioka saw his status as WBC Interim Super Bantam Champ improve to the full WBC Champion with a dramatic 12th and final round stoppage of Mexico’s Genaro Garcia.

For Nishioka, it was a sweet triumph as the 32 year old southpaw had fought Thailand’s WBC Bantamweight Champion Veeraphol Sahaprom four times between 2000 and 2004, drawing twice and losing twice over 48 rounds of combat.

Nishioka brought a nine bout winning streak into the ring in Yokohama and overcame 31 year old Garcia of Puebla, Mexico, who brought his own hard luck story into the ring, having recently lost bids for the WBC and IBF Bantamweight titles.

Nishioka improves to 33-4-3 (20), while Garcia falls to 36-7 (20).

On the undercard, OPBF Middleweight Champ Koji Sato, 14-0 (13), stopped yet another opponent, knocking out former Mexican Light Middleweight boss Martin Avila, 9-4 (3), in the second and local flyweight southpaw Go Onaga, 13-0 (9), stayed perfect with a sixth round technical decision over durable South Korean Jin-Ki Jung, 6-6 (0).

Also on Saturday, Maragin “Dinamita” Marbun, 16-5 (6), pounded out a ten round split decision over Carlos Lopez, 18-4 (6), in a see-saw battle to capture the vacant Indonesian Super Bantamweight title at TVRI Studio in Jakarta.

On Friday, the Rimbung Market in Bangkok, Thailand saw longtime WBC Asian Boxing Council Featherweight Champ Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo, 28-0 (14), continue his march toward a shot at full WBC honors with a 12 round UD over seasoned Filipino veteran Jaime Barcelona, 36-42-1 (8), in the third contest between the two combatants.