In the much anticipated WBC Super Bantamweight title fight Toshiaki Nishioka retained his crown for the fifth time when he outpointed game English challenger Rendall Munroe at the Kokugikan, Tokyo in Japan. Nishioka started fast and dominated the first 3 rounds though to his credit Munroe dug in and pressured the champion, he seemed to break through with an impressive fourth round. It looked as though the tide was turning in the fifth when Munroe again started out well, until he walked into a big left hand that landed high on Munroe’s head. The Englishman covered up and though shaken wasn’t in danger of going down. From then on Nishioka was just a shade busier and more active especially with bodyshots which landed consistantly. One of those bodyshots landed in the solar plexus of the brave Leicester bin man causing him to go backwards during the seventh. In the championship rounds Nishioka again showed his edge in power stunning the challenger.
When all was said and done all three judges James Jen-Kin, David Sutherland, Alejandro Rochin Mapula scored identically 119-109. It was a thoroughly impressive performance by the 34 year old Japanese champion who reaffirmed himself as the number one 122 champion in the world. The humble challenger will head home and back to his day job as a bin man. He showed enough to prove he can come again with many of the rounds closer than the scores suggest.
On the undercard Roman “El Chocolatito” Gonzalez 27-0(23) proved he can carry his power up to Light Flyweight when he stopped Francisco Rosas 21-8-2(12) in the second round to win the Interim WBA 108 title. It was a rematch from 18 months ago when Gonzalez barely edged Rosas in Mexico. This time Gonzalez wasn’t to have nearly as tough a time dropping a stunned Rosas three times to gain a very impressive win at 1.38 of the second. The loss was the first inside the distance loss for Rosas.
Also on the card Jorge “El Nino De Oro” Linares 30-1(19) forced tough veteran Jesus “The Matador” Chavez 44-8(30) to retire on his stool before the fifth round. Linares had controlled the action behind his jab and fired combination’s picking apart Chavez. He seems to of recovered his confidence from the loss a year ago to Juan Carlos Salgado and will now be primed for another title shot either at Super Featherweight or Lightweight. For this fight Linares weighed 133 the same as Chavez.
Current Japanese Light Welterweight champion Yoshihiro Kamegai improved his unbeaten record to 17-0(15) stopping Nicaraguan former Lightweight World champion Jose Alfaro at 2.36 of the sixth round.
In Bantamweight action Shinsuke Yamanaka 13-0-2(9) forced Mexican Jose Silveira 11-3(4) to retire at 3.00 of the ninth. Yamanaka is the current Japanese Bantamweight champion
