CHRIS JOHN SUCCESSFULLY DEFENDS WBA FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE FOR 15TH TIME IN 8 YEARS; SINGAPORE DOUBLE-TITLE FIGHT REPORT AND PHOTOS
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 06 May 2012
Marina Bay Sands, Singapore ? Undefeated Indonesian hero and WBA fighter of the decade Chris John dominated his overmatched Japanese opponent Shoji Kimura here Saturday night in front of a packed pro-John arena to successfully defend his title for the 15th time in 8 years. The judges scorecards were 119-108, 118-109 and 118-109 all in favor to the Indonesian dragon.
John (47-0-2, 22KO) was impeccable in his punches landing right overhands and left crosses all night but thanks to the Japanese's durability and/or John's lack of power, the fight dragged on the entire 12 rounds allowing Kimura (24-5-2, 9KO) to score some solid counters of his own during the fight. The monotonous flow of the match and the passive reaction of the crowd was broken only in round seven when Kimura landed a strong counter followed by a combination that stopped the advancing champion on his tracks. The Japanese, sensing a window of opportunity to score an upset, pursued John no end as the crowd became wild but the 'Dragon' calmly weathered the storm and came back strong toward the end of the round. John tried but failed to put an end to the show in the closing rounds that resulted in a bloody nose for the Japanese in the 9th round and a cut on John's left eyebrow in the 10th. John was also deducted a point in the 9th round for successive low blows.
The Hall of Fame bound John, the WBA featherweight super champion and Ring Magazine featherweight champion, first won his title on June 4, 2004 againt Osamu Sato in Tokyo, Japan and successfully defended it against a list of veritable challengers including another HOF-bound Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez, Derrick Gainer and Rocky Juarez. John fought Juarez twice after their first meeting resulted in a controversial draw held at Juarez's hometown in Houston, Texas on Feb. 28, 2009. John soundly beat Juarez in the rematch later that year in Las Vegas.
John's superstar status in this region may greatly help establish Singapore to become the Asian mecca of boxing. The magnificent 2,500-room Marina Bay Sands in partnership with Dragon Fire Promotions put on a glitzy show Saturday night in front of a sold out 4,000 capacity makeshift arena in one of the hotel's theaters complete with dance numbers in between rounds and at every fight break that can give the boxing shows in Las Vegas a run for their money.
In the night's co-feature bout for the vacant IBO featherweight championship, Filipino knockout artist Lorenzo Villanueva showed his utter experience in big fights when he let a career-changing opportunity slipped away. Villanueva sent two-time title challenger Daud Yordan of Indonesia to the canvas in the first minute of the first round but spent all his energy throwing wild punch after wild punch trying to finish off his wily opponent. Yordan defended well from the Villanueva onslaught and recovered towards the end of the first round himself scoring crisp counters of his own. In the second round, as Villanueva lost his stamina and his defense, Yordan hit him with flush straights to the chin sending Villanueva to the canvas twice before Referee Phil Austin of Australia waived off the fight as the pro-Indonesian crowd broke into wild celebration.
Hyped up local boy Mohamad Nor Rizan frustrated his Singaporeans fans when he lost by majority decision over China's Wang Xin Hua in a 4-round superbantam contest. Rizan, who lacked proper footwork and stamina, went down to his second defeat in 6 fights while Hua upped his record to 7-4-1 in 12 starts.
Yao Yi Ma of Taiwan who now resides in Australia beat Japan's Kengo Nagashima by unanimous decision in a 6 round light middleweight contest. Ma dominated Nagashima with well timed counters in the first four rounds but Nagashima rallied in the last two rounds to make the fight interesting. Scores were 59-55 twice and 59-56 in favor of Ma.
Other results: Hong Kong's Rex Tso won by UD over Thailand's Yodpichai Sithsaithong while China's Qiu Xiao-Jun won by UD over Indonesia's Bayu Gede Prabow.
Top photo: The referee raises John's hand in another victory by the Indonesian dragon.
John and Kimura.
Villanueva (R) down on the canvas for the second time in the second round.
Rizan and China's Hua.
The ring girls add more fire in the evening.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Dong Secuya.
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