By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

It was a customary Japan-China confrontation, and the Japanese team was victorious over Chinese team, but it is remarkable that Chinese boxers showed their rapid progresses and their good performance fully entertained the crowd at the Korakuen Hall on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan.

Hard-punching super-light prospect Hiroki Horiike (3-0, 2 KOs; amateur mark 21-7, 5 stoppages), 139.75, proved more powerful and skillful than China’s Le-Quan Wang (8-2, 5 KOs), 139.25, winning a unanimous decision (78-73 twice, 77-74) over eight. The southpaw Chinese hit the deck midway in round six, but he displayed his admirable recovery and resilience to demonstrate his last surge. The victor Horiike became cautious and defensive in the last round when Wang turned very loose down the stretch.

Unbeaten bantam prospect Sento Ito (2-0, 2 KOs; amateur mark 20-1, 4 stoppages), 117.75, had a tough time with the durability and fighting spirit of Chinese Guang-Heng Luan (3-8-2, no KO), 117.75, but finally caught up with him to prompt the referee’s intervention at 1:16 of the eighth and final session of the semi-windup. Ito, 19, may be worth watching his future.

Unbeaten feather Yuichiro Taka (3-0, 2 KOs; amateur 22-14, 6 stoppages), 125.75, swept almost all rounds with his constant aggressiveness, scoring a unanimous nod (79-73 twice, 78-74) over Lite Dawuxi (7-1, 5 KOs), 126, over eight. For the Chinese Lite it was his first professional defeat with his absorption of much punishment to the midsection.

Xin-Qiang Zhao (5-0, 2 KOs), 134.75, was the sole Chinese winner of the night as he was awarded a technical decision (58-55 twice, 59-54) over Japan’s Kenshin Kidoguchi (1-2-2, no KO; amateur 52-23, 8 stoppages), 134.5, at 2:34 of the sixth round in a scheduled eight. Zhao’s bad bleeding caused by an accidental butt in the third eventually caused the referee’s call of a technical decision to be taken with his continual streaming ribbon.

Promoter: Shinsei Promotions.

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