Japan Update

By Joe Koizumi

KYOGUCHI RENOUNCES IBF 105LB BELT

IBF 105-pound champ, unbeaten Hiroto Kyoguchi (10-0, 8 KOs), still 24, renounced his belt to move up to the 108-pound category. His first campaign after renouncing the belt will take place on September 25, and his opponent will be announced by Watanabe Promotions soon.OKUDA DETHRONES JAPAN’S 115LB CHAMP KUDAKA

Fast-moving southpaw Takayuki Okuda (20-7, 10 KOs), 114.75, wrested the Japanese super-flyweight belt by a close but unanimous decision (all 96-94) over veteran defending champ Hiroyuki Kudaka (26-18-2, 11 KOs), 114.75, over ten rounds in Osaka, Japan, last Friday (August 10). Simply it was a close affair with a slower but more powerful Tom and a fast-moving and quick-punching Jerry. Kudaka (previously named Hiroyuki Hisataka) sustained a gash over the right eyebrow in the fifth, and it kept him from catching up with the shifty southpaw.

On the undercard, hard-punching Masao Nakamura (24-3, 23 KOs), 131.5, proved too pugnacious and powerful for Filipino Marbon Bodiongan (14-8-2, 11 KOs), 130.25, and had him retire on the stool after the fifth round in a scheduled ten. Former OPBF 154-pound titlist Yuki Nonaka, 163.25, outhustled Thai middleweight champ Natthawut Masamin over eight. Nonaka, skillful southpaw, is the oldest active Japanese boxer at 40, and will go on campaigning for another glory.YADA KEEPS JAPANESE 147LB BELT

Muscular hard-puncher Ryota Yada (17-4, 14 KOs), 146.25, made his initial defense by scoring a fine TKO victory over top contender Kazuyasu Okamoto (14-6, 4 KOs), 147, at 2:03 of the seventh round in a scheduled ten on Saturday (August 11) in Osaka, Japan. Yada, who lately dethroned Toshio Arikawa on a stunning stoppage this April, floored Okamoto in the first round, but the more skillful challenger came back fighting with sharper jabs. Though losing the sixth, Yada became pugnacious to have Okamoto turn his back to the aggressor, when the ref promptly called a halt.