By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Filipino sharpshooter Joe Noynay (18-2-1, 7 KOs), 129.75, impressively kept his WBO Asia Pacific 130-pound belt as he battered previously unbeaten 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Satoshi Shimizu (8-1, 8 KOs), 129.75, from the outset, dropped him twice in the first round, kept whipping the damaged Japanese and finally halted him at 2:18 of the sixth round in a scheduled twelve rounder on Friday in Osaka, Japan.

The encounter of southpaws took place beneath the WBA middleweight title bout of Rob Brant and Ryota Murata at the Edion Arena Osaka, where people gloomily witnessed an unexpected massacre.

Noynay, 23, had been regarded as Shimizu’s stepping-stone en route to his world title crack within this year, but the Filipino was such a great obstacle that he completely destroyed his dream. The fatal sixth saw Shimizu, probably due to his deteriorated eyesight, abruptly quit by himself to be declared a TKO loser. It was a shocking scene.

Satoshi Shimizu, a 5’10.5” tall southpaw, represented Japan in the Olympic Games in London in 2012, and participated in the bantamweight (56 kg) tournaments. Shimizu, in the semi-final, dropped a 20-11 decision to Luke Campbell of UK, who eventually won the gold medal. Satoshi, the bronze medalist, made a late professional debut four years after the London Olympic Games, but he made a remarkable progress and improvement in the paid ranks, scoring an unblemished ledger of 8-0, all knockouts, through which he acquired the OPBF featherweight throne and kept it three times prior to his encounter with Noynay.

Shimizu had no weight problem as a 126-pounder, but it had been promised that upon Shimizu’s victory over Noynay he would be given an opportunity to have a shot at Masaharu Ito’s WBO 130-pound throne. Ito, however, lost his belt to unheralded southpaw speedster Jamel Herring in Florida this May, and Shimizu’s plan to have a crack at Ito disappointingly disappeared.

The dejected ex-Olympian, ten years Noynay’s senior at 33, said, “I’d like to take a rest and will talk with my manager (Hideyuki Ohashi of Ohashi Promotions) on my future.” Also for Ohashi, it was a shocker as he had planned to have Shimizu participate in the year-end boxing show.

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