JAPANESE JUDGE HELPS BARDON WIN OPBF TITLE
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 20 Mar 2007
A Japanese judge who was described by internationally respected referee/judge Bruce McTavish a good official and a man of integrity helped the Philippines Jojo Bardon win the OPBF flyweight title by beating hitherto undefeated Japanese Masaharu Naganawa by a split decision in Nagoya, Japan on Sunday.
McTavish who was at ringside since he was the referee for the earlier OPBF minimum weight title bout in which Japan’s devastating puncher Toshikazu Waga knocked out Thailand’s Chansaknoi Sakrungruang in the second round said that he had Bardon winning by a margin on at least two points since he controlled at least seven of the twelve rounds after Naganawa took the first two with his quickness.
McTavish said he thought Bardon would suffer the fate of another hometown decision when the ring announcer first gave the score of the Korean referee/judge who scored it for the Japanese 116-113 after which Filipino judge Ben Necessario’s scorecard of 115-113 for Bardon was announced. However, when everybody thought the Japanese judge would score it for the hometown boy they were pleasantly surprised when his scorecard read 115-113 for Bardon which was identical with that of the Filipino judge.
McTavish said he couldn’t remember the name of the judge but said he congratulated him after the fight for being fair to the Filipino boxer.
Bardon, the Philippine champion who is managed by Rex "Wakee" Salud benefited from a solid training regimen and with the big win improved his record to 22-9-2 with 9 knockouts while Naganawa dropped to 11-1-2 with 2 knockouts.
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