KITANO UPSETS YOKOYAMA TO WIN
JAPANESE 108-POUND TITLE
March 16, 2002
TOKYO, JAPAN-Soft-punching Jun Kitano (12-1-1, 1 KO), 108, amazingly captured the Japanese light-fly belt as he scored an upset unanimous decision over WBC #14 ranked hard-puncher Keisuke Yokoyama (17-9-2, 9 KOs), 108, over 10. Scored: 97-95, 97-94 and 99-94, all for the Japanese top contender who is a twin of #2 ranked Ryo Kitano (7-2). We wonder Jun will have to meet the next mandatory challenger Ryo, though it may not actually happen a la Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko. Kitano, an underdog, scored light jabs and light straight rights with better precision, while the champ kept missing heavier punches. Yokoyama sustained a cut at the left eyebrow in the first and another at the right optic in the 5th, which hampered his usual aggressiveness.
Japanese #4 ranked bantam Hisataka Ikemori (16-5-3, 8 KOs), 120.25, disposed of unranked Ryuta Ohmori (7-4, 4 KOs), with a vicious right at 2:52 of the 7th in a semi-final 10. Ikemori, in the previous year, lost a very controversial decision to an unbeaten defending champ Nobuaki Naka in his first shot at the Japanese 118-pound belt in February, won a 7th technical decision over Korean 115-pound champ Keungshik Lee in June, but failed again to win the national belt on a 7th round technical nod to Naka in their grudge fight in October.
Promoter: Kokubunji Saito Promotions.
(3-16-02)
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