OPBF 130lb, 140lb title bouts

By Joe Koizumi

On the same night of “Monster” Naoya Inoue’s successful title defense against Aran Dipaen at the Ryogoku Sumo Arena, an OPBF (Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation) title doubleheader took place on Tuesday at the Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan. Each ended in an upset result to see a couple of new champions to our great surprise.

Unheralded OPBF#3 Yoshimitsu Kimura (13-2-1, 8 KOs), 130, seized the vacant OPBF super-feather belt when he scored an upset TKO win over Japanese national champ and OPBF#2 Kosuke Saka (21-6, 18 KOs), 130, at 0:27 of the third round in a scheduled twelve. Kimura, in round two, connected with a well-timed left hook to have the prohibitive favorite Saka fall on the back, though he quickly jumped up to regain his feet. The third witnessed Kimura explode a wicked right to have him staggering to the corner, where he lopsidedly battered Saka from all angles. The ref then waved it off and raised the upset winner’s hand. The newly crowned champ Kimura, 25, said on the microphone to the crowd after the fight, “Thank you for your coming to see our fights instead of going to see Inoue’s title bout.”

In the semi-windup, 35-year-old underdog OPBF#11 Koichi Aso (25-9-1, 15 KOs), 139.75, captured the OPBF 140-pound belt as he kept peppering sluggish and slow defending champ Rikki Naito (23-3, 8 KOs), 140, all the way, downed him to the ropes in round seven, and finally accelerated his incessant attacks en route to an upset stoppage at 2:50 of the ninth round in a scheduled twelve. It was exactly four years ago that Aso, 35, had forfeited his national 140-pound belt to Valentine Hosokawa via hairline but unanimous nod at the same venue. The shaven skulled Aso really stunned the audience with his impressive performance.

Promoter: Dangan Aoki Promotions.