LARIOS WON A CLOSE FIGHT
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 18 Oct 2008
There?s been some criticism over the split decision victory of WBC featherweight champion Oscar Larios over undefeated Japanese youngster Takahiro Aoh, a sparring partner of Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera when the Mexican was preparing for his rematch with Pacquiao.
www.insidesports was informed that influential businessman-sportsman Akihiko Honda was angry over the decision and reportedly stormed out of the venue.
Honda who owns the Teiken Gym where Larios trained before his July 2006 fight against Pacquiao promoted the world title double-header.
While Larios was dropped in the fourth round and looked wobbly after he beat the count, it seems that Aoh didn?t follow-up his advantage and instead decided to stay away which gave Larios a chance to use his experience and get out of trouble using his left jab and his speed.
Japanese boxing writer, matchmaker and manager Joe Koizumi was very critical of the decision because Koizumi reportedly works for Honda.
The Japan times on the other hand reported that Aoh who was ranked No. 9 hurt Larios in the fourth round sending the champion to the canvas with a stinging right and caught him with another counter at the end of the fifth that caused Larios to stagger back to his corner.
But the newspaper reported that Larios who had cuts above both eyes continued to rack up points with his power-laden jab and his punches outnumber the 24 year old southpaw.
Larios? face was a bloody mess after Aoh opened up a cut above his eye with an accidental headbutt. Larios threw a series of hard body shots in the ninth that stunned the challenger.
Aoh never relented in the slugfest which was decided by a close margin.
After the fight Aoh said ?after I sent him down I was aiming too much for another shot. I was wondering why I hadn?t finished him off. I wasn?t hurt by his punches. I am shocked by the loss but he was the better fighter today.?
Respected New Zealand referee/judge Bruce McTavish who was a judge in the WBC bantamweight title fight where Hozumi Hasegawa scored a second round knockout over No. 2 rated Alejandro Valdez of Mexico told us that the Larios-Aoh fight was close but he felt that Larios won.
However, McTavish said that if Aoh had been given the decision it would have been acceptable.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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