SULAIMAN ASSAILS WBO ATTEMPT TO IMPOSE ITSELF IN HASEGAWA-MONTIEL TITLE FIGHT
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 29 Apr 2010
World Boxing Council president Don Jose Sulaiman has assailed the announcement that the WBO had assigned its Asia Pacific chairman Leon Panoncillo as supervisor for the April 30 showdown between WBC bantamweight champion Hozumi Hasegawa and WBO champion Fernando Montiel.
The Japan Boxing Commission has made it clear that it does not recognize the WBO and that Montiel?s belt will not be at stake in Friday?s fight and that even if Hasegawa wins he will not accept the WBO title.
The showdown, as far as the JBC and the WBC are concerned is not a unification bout although if Montiel wins he will also become the WBC champion.
Sulaiman told insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports that the presence of Panoncillo as WBO supervisor ?is some kind of an imposition by this guy (Panoncillo) who I guess is trying to get involved in Japanese boxing. But that is not right.?
Sulaiman said ?I sincerely have no idea why the WBO is sending an official supervisor when the WBO belt is not at stake. So I don?t think that?s an official thing. They should not have any representation at the fight at all. I had no idea that this was happening. ?
Meantime, Hasegawa has vowed to do everything possible to defend his title against Montiel at the Nippon Budokan. He said ?I think it will be an amazing fight. I will do my utmost to win any which way I can.?
Montiel for his part stressed ?I haven?t come all this way to lose? and confidently predicted ?I will take the WBC belt back to Mexico.?
The 31 year old Montiel (40-2-2, 30 KO?s) is coming off a 1st round stoppage of Filipino Ciso ?Kid Terrible? Morales who had to reduce 12 pounds in 6 days to make the 118 pound limit and virtually starved himself to death to make the weight.
Panoncillo hasn?t up to now answered our query on how Morales was ranked No. 5 WBO bantamweight when he had all along fought in 2008-2009 as a super bantamweight neither has there been any response to the fact that although Morales was supposedly undefeated, Ray Las Pinas said he had knocked him out in the 2nd round in his pro debut in Morales? hometown of Talibon, Bohol on July 13, 2006.
Montiel also scored a hugely controversial split decision win in a super flyweight title defense against stylish southpaw Z ?The Dream? Gorres of the Philippines before some 25,000 fans at the Cebu City Sports Complex on February 24, 2007. He also had a rough time against Colombia?s Luis Melendez eventually winning by a 12th round TKO.
Melendez was the same fighter over whom Gorres scored a smashing 12th round unanimous decision last November but later collapsed and had to undergo brain surgery which ended Gorres? career on the threshold of a rematch with Montiel for the WBO bantamweight crown. Melendez faces WBO Oriental champion Michael Domingo in a blockbuster card at the plush ballroom of the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu on May 23 to be telecast by the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN .
Hasegawa, the 29 year old southpaw with a record of 28-2 with 12 knockouts won the title with a twelve round unanimous decision over Thailand?s Veeraphol Sahaprom on April 16, 2005 and in his last fight showed he had developed his punching power by scoring his fifth straight TKO with a 4th round stoppage of Alvaro Perez (18-1-1, 12 KO?s) in Kobe, Japan in a fight refereed by respected international referee Bruce McTavish. Hasegawa?s last five fights have lasted a total of 10 rounds.
McTavish told us that he believes Hasegawa should win by knockout and that the Japanese is an excellent fighter and has developed amazing power in his recent fights.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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