Concepcion wins WBA 115lb belt from Kono

By Joe Koizumi
Photos: Sumio Yamada

Panamanian Luis Concepcion (35-4, 24 KOs), 114.75, captured the WBA super-flyweight belt as he maintained the initiative, withstood the retaliation of defending champ Kohei Kono (32-9-1, 13 KOs), 115, in later rounds and earned a unanimous decision over twelve hard-fought rounds on Wednesday in Tokyo, Japan. The official tallies read: Stanley Christodoulou (South Africa) and Philippe Verbeke (Belgium) both 116-112, and Melva Santos (Puerto Rico) 115-113, all for Concepcion. Kono, making his fourth defense, failed to show his usual zip, and Concepcion, formerly WBA interim flyweight titlist, took the leadoff from the outset, sweeping almost all in the first half. Kono might forget the utility of his left hand and only tried to counter him with a right shot at a time. Occasionally Kono’s right counters were effective, but Concepcion endured the champ’s retaliation and kept on fighting more aggressively than Kono. It’s a gory affair as Kono sustained a cut over the left eyebrow in the seventh and kept streaming blood from then on, while Concepcion suffered a gash over the left option in the eleventh. We saw them put on a give-and-take performance especially in later rounds, but it was the much shorter Concepcion that controlled the affair with his aggressiveness. It was a night for “El Nica.”

12►