Konishi, Nakamura win WBO AP title bouts

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Boxing Beat

Aggressive body puncher Reiya Konishi (17-1, 7 KOs), 107.75, kept his WBO Asia Pacific junior flyweight belt when he pummeled game Filipino Charles Rosales (14-7-2, 8 KOs), 106.75, into submission with the towel tossed in at 2:32 of the eighth round in a scheduled twelve of the night show on Saturday in Osaka, Japan.

Having failed to win the WBA 108-pound belt via decision to current titleholder Carlos Canizales this March—which was his first and last setback—Konishi acquired the WBO regional belt by halting Filipino Orlie Silvestre last July.

In his initial defense the muscular small man Konishi exclusively attacked Rosales to the breadbasket, but was penalized for his occasional low blows in the sixth, while the Filipino was deducted a point for repeated holding in round seven. Konishi, less sophisticated but physically strong, is gunning for a world title shot again next year.

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With current WBO 130-pound ruler Masayuki Ito having renounced his regional belt, a title bout for the vacant WBO Asia Pacific junior lightweight belt took place in the semi-windup with hard-punching Japanese Masao Nakamura (25-3, 24 KOs), 130, awarded a TKO victory due to bad bleeding of ex-OPBF titleholder, Filipino Carlo Magali (23-10-3, 11 KOs), 128.75, with the referee’s intervention for safety at 2:39 of the tenth session.

It wasn’t an easy night, as Nakamura, despite his accumulation on points, suffered a knockdown with Magali’s solid right early in the fifth, though he quickly regained his feet and whipped Magali with solid and fast combinations. The much shorter but sturdy Magali sustained a bad gash over the left eyebrow and kept streaming blood that looked to hamper his vision to be examined by the ring physician time and again. Finally the ref Nobuto Ikehara decided to halt the badly gory Carlo from further bleeding. Nakamura, formerly OPBF ruler, this time acquired the WBO AP belt in the same 130-pound category.