By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Elongated Japanese southpaw, 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, WBC#11/IBF#13 Satoshi Shimizu (5-0, 5 KOs), 125.75, successfully kept his OPBF featherweight belt as he floored Filipino Eduardo Mancito (15-8-2, 9 KOs), 125.75, four times and finally stopped him at 2:08 of the seventh rounds in a scheduled twelve on Saturday in Yokoyama, Japan. Making his initial defense since his coronation in his previous bout, the 5’10.5” champ Shimizu, 31, couldn’t show his best performance despite his victory. The Olympian decked Mancito with a southpaw chopping right hook in the first round, and floored him twice in round seven, but couldn’t bring home the bacon early due to his less satisfactory precision. Mancito showing his durability and determination, Shimizu finally caught up with him with a southpaw right hook to down him for the fourth time and then the ref called a halt. After the fourth, the open scoring system indicated 40-35 by all the judges. Shimizu may need more technical sophistication as he looked too rough and reckless. He is looking forward to a rematch with Luke Campbell to avenge his setback in the Olympic Games in London.