2 PINOY BOXERS SUFFER CONTROVERSIAL DECISIONS IN JAPAN

Argie Toquero (right) and Rikki Naito after their 8-rounder bout. (Photos by BRICO SANTIG)

By LITO DELOS REYES

FILIPINO boxers Argie “Bomba” Toquero and Rey “Stingray” Laspinas both suffered controversial decisions against their Japanese rivals last Saturday night at the Yano Fitness Center in Zama, Kanagawa, Japan.

Toquero lost to lightweight Rikki Naito by a technical decision after the Japanese could no longer continue to fight due to two nasty cuts on his eyebrows.

The Japanese referee declared that both wounds were made by accidental head butts in the 4^th and 6^th round. But Toquero’s trainer Ericson Asilo denied it saying both cuts were inflicted by the solid left hooks thrown by Toquero. And so the fight was decided on the three judges’ scorecards.

The 24-year old Naito won on points due to the one point deduction against Toquero in the 4^th and 6^th round to improve his record to 15 wins against 1 loss.

The 22-year old Toquero suffered his 5^th loss against 9 wins and 2 draws.

“Dapat talo ang Hapon by TKO at kami ang panalo,” (The Japanese should have lost by a TKO and we should have won.) said Asilo.

Taishi Aoshima, the Japanese handler of the female boxer from Thailand – Sophita Nuetkrathok – also said that it was a punch and not really a head butt.

A lot of Filipinos also saw the fight and they also cheered for their two fellow countrymen. After the main event, they went to Toquero to cheer him up and take photos.

The case of Laspinas, however, was also different for he lost by a split decision to Junpei Toriumi in their 6-ronder bout.

But he was also robbed of victory according to Japanese matchmaker Kei Nidaira, who sent a text message to Laspinas after the fight.

“I was there in Zama and I thought you won the fight,” said Nidaira, also assistant manager of Japan-based Ricky Sismundo, a former WBO Asia Pacific Youth featherweight champion.

Nidaira also said: “All of my friends said that you (Laspinas) won by unanimous”.

Laspinas, who is managed by Monique Santig, dropped to 21-13-6, while Toriumi improved to 14-12-2.

The boxing card was presented by the US Army Garrison Japan and Katsumata Promotion. as their Independence Day Special event.

The other results:

Charles Bellamy def. Elfelos Vega

Tenkai Tsunami def. Sophita Nuetkrathok

Miyo Yoshida def. Chisa Tanaka

Joji Kobayashi def. Toshio Ozawa

Yuta Nakayama def. Kazuma Takahashi