WBO#1 MINIMUMWEIGHT MOISES CALLEROS ARRIVES IN KUMAMOTO, JAPAN

By Joe Koizumi

February 21, 2017
KUMAMOTO, JAPAN
WBO#1 minimum Moises Calleros (25-6-1, 14 KOs) from Mexico arrived yesterday (Monday) in Kumamoto City, Japan, where he will dispute the interim WBO 105-pound championship with local prospect Tatsuya Fukuhara (18-4-6, 7 KOs) on this coming Sunday.

In the begining, the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) won’t accept an Interim Title bout to take place here in Japan, but the legitimate WBO champ Katsunari Takayama had his notorious scar tissues operated last year and needs more time for recovery, so the Calleros-Fukuhara interim title bout received a special permission of the JBC.

The lefty fighter from Japan, Fukuhara acquired the vacant national 105-pound belt by defeating Hiroya Yamamoto in November 2015 and kept his belt three times by beating Takumi Sakae (W10), Genki Hanai (TKO7) and being held to a technical draw with veteran Shin Ono.

Calleros, with the same age as Fukuhara at 27, recently scored five victories in a row since his KO defeat at the hand of Samuel Gutierrez in 2014. The winner is supposed to have a long-anticipated shot at the full champ Takayama upon his recuperation, the WBO has put the time of a 180 days for the Interim Champion faces the WBO Minimumweight Champion Katsunari Takayama.
(2-21-2017)

By Salven L. Lagumbay –

Chuncheon, KOREA–In a fast-paced action fight, Japan’s Mako Yamada outhustled and outpointed defending WBO minimum weight champion Su-Yun Hong over ten rounds at the city gymnasium here.

The shorter Yamada fought with laser-guided precision, sweeping the first three rounds to befuddle the taller defending champion who was heavily breathing starting in the second frame.

By the fourth, and egged on by hometown crowd, Hong upped his tempo a bit, making the fight exciting with both fighters taking and giving punches.

Yamada’s speed and volume-punching proved too much, however, as she cruised to a split decision victory.

Neutral judge Salven Lagumbay of the Philippines scored it 96-94 for Yamada, Japan’s Katsuhiko Nakamura saw it 97-93 for Yamada, while Korean judge Joint Sum Kwon had it 97-96 for Hong. The Korean judge scored three of the rounds a 10-10.

Referee Danrex Tapdasan observed that the defending champ Hong was already breathing heavily as early as the second round.

A possible rematch can be worked out, according to WBO Asia Chairman Leon Panoncillo who supervised the bout. Hong’s handlers own an option to Yamada’s next defense.

Yamada’s handlers, meanwhile, can also bid to hold the fight in Japan, which has recently affiliated itself to the WBO in a special ceremony last year with no less than WBO President Paco Valcarcel in attendance.

With the win, Yamada now boasts of 7 wins, no loss with 2 KO’s while the dethroned Hong tastes her first defeat against 9 wins.

NOTES: Former ALA fighter and RP champion Bart Abapo took time off from his job as a boxing trainer here to visit this writer and WBO chief Leon Panncillo and referee Tapdasan…Chuncheon is just two hours away from communist country North Korea…JBC’s Aaron Ning is probably the hardest-working boxing official in Korea…

http://philboxing.com/news/story-91891.html

By Ronnie Nathanielsz –

WBO minimum weight champion Merlito “Tiger” Sabillo will make the first defense of his title on July 6, possibly at the plush Solaire Resort and Casino in the Entertainment City along Manila Bay.

Sabillo is undefeated with a record of 21-0 with 11 knockouts and will face No. 6 ranked Jorle Estrada of Colombia in a voluntary defense.

The 24 year old Estrada who is five years younger than Sabillo has a record of 16-6 with 5 knockouts.

The hard-hitting Sabillo won the WBO Interim title with a stunning 8th round TKO over heavily favored Luis De La Rosa who was fighting before his hometown fans in Colombia but couldn’t handle the aggressive Filipino.

Sabillo was elevated to full champion after Moises Fuentes, who was struggling to make the 105 pound limit, relinquished the title and moved up to light flyweight where he failed to wrest the title from long-reigning champion Donnie “Ahas” Nietes who retained his title in a majority draw.

Fuentes wanted an immediate rematch but ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer said they couldn’t accede to the request because Nietes suffered a nasty cut above the eye in that title defense and it took some time to heal.

Fuentes has been guaranteed a mandatory rematch sometime in November following conversations between Aldeguer and Zanfer Promotions of Mexico who wish to stage the title fight in Mexico.

However, Fuentes is scheduled to have a tune-up fight before then while Nietes will make a voluntary defense of his title in August although no deal has been finalized with his possible opponent as yet.

http://philboxing.com/news/story-83741.html