GUZMAN KOS WAKE TO COP IBF WORLD SUPER BANTAM TITLE

By LITO DELOS REYES

OSAKA, Japan — Orthodox Jonathan “Salomon King” Guzman mauled no. 1 contender and hometown southpaw Shingo Wake to win an 11^th round technical knockout and became the new IBF world super bantamweight world champion last Thursday night at the Edion Arena here.

Guzman hit a solid right to cut the face of Wake near his right eye in the second round. In the third canto, Guzman decked an over-confident Wake in the dying seconds.

Guzman continued to hurt Wake with his combinations on the body as the Japanese surprisingly failed to display his counter punches in the next round.

In the 5^th round, Guzman throw a left punch at the end of the bell to again knockdown Wake at his corner. But the hometown crowd kept Wake alive with their loud shouting of his name as their moral support.

Wake was rejuvenated by the crowd’s reaction as he continued to fight despite failing to land his punches. But Guzman kept Wake at bay with his stinging jabs.

Wake’s right eye was already closed and badly swollen but Guzman’s left eye too was also already starting to close.

Referee Wayne Hedgpeth of the US finally put a stop in 2:16 of the 11^th round after he saw that Wake could hardly see already while being bombarded by Guzman’s combinations.

“I had to stop the fight already since I don’t want Wake to be hurt more badly. But the guy really has the heart of the champion,” said Hedgpeth.

Guzman and Wake, earlier ranked no. 2 and 1, respectively, fought for the title left vacant by Carl Frampton.

Meanwhile, Kazuto Ioka of Japan retained his WBA world flyweight title by stopping Nicaraguan challenger Keywin Lara in 1:11 of the 11^th round.

The 27-year old Ioka now has 20 wins with 11 knockouts against one loss while Lara, 21, dropped to 18-2-1 record.

It was Ioka’s third successful title-defense. The card was co-promoted by Ioka and Kyoei Promotions and was shown live on TBS Television.