Sato, Yashiro keep belts!
Saturday, September 6 2008
By Joe Koizumi
Unbeaten WBC#12 ranked OPBF middleweight champ Koji Sato (13-0, 12 KOs), 159.25, kept his regional belt as he came off the canvas and halted OPBF#1 Japanese national ruler Keiji Eguchi (18-2, 12 KOs), a hard-hitting southpaw, with a flurry of punches to prompt the referee’s intervention at 1:52 of the opening session in a scheduled twelve-round mandatory title bout on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan. The highly anticipated encounter of the champs resulted in such a quick fashion in just 112 seconds. The shorter but sturdy challenger’s southpaw looping left hook had the champ staggering to the ropes and Sato fell down for a compulsory eight count. But Eguchi had hit him when the champ was down, so referee Vinny Martin deducted a point from the southpaw. Sato displayed a furious retaliation and had him in trouble with solid and accurate combinations that had him look helpless and defenseless. Then the ref declared a halt to the unexpectedly short affair.
In a supporting Japanese 130-pound mandatory title go, unbeaten lanky lefty Yoshimitsu Yashiro (21-0-1, 12 KOs), 129.75, flattened game top contender Hiroyasu Matsuzaki (18-3, 9 KOs), 130, with a smashing southpaw left at 1:30 of the fourth round. Yashiro sustained a bad laceration at the forehead, streaming blood from the second on. Though the audience expected a technical draw within the first four rounds, the champ showed such a spectacular one-punch knockout. Promoter: Teiken Promotions.
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