WBO #9 Okada halts #8 Pagara to win vacant WBO ASPACT 140lb belt

By Joe Koizumi

Unbeaten Japanese prospect, WBO#9 Hiroki Okada (17-0, 12 KOs), 140, very impressively acquired the vacant WBO Asia Pacific 140-pound belt when he kept throwing stinging lefts to the face of WBO#8 Filipino Jason Pagara (40-3-1, 25 KOs), 142.5, and Pagara abruptly turned his back for surrender at 0:59 of the sixth round in a scheduled twelve on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan. Pagara, a bright prospect from Cebu, had failed to make the junior welter limit by two pounds and a half, and didn’t seem to be in best shape, but Okada’s Larry Holmes-like jabs were obviously effective enough to hurt the loser. Before he quit going on midway in the fatal session, all the judges had it 50-45 in Okada’s favor.