By Joe Koizumi
Photos: Naoki Fukuda

Unbeaten prospect Hironori Mishiro (6-0, 2 KOs), 130, impressively captured the OPBF (Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation) super-featherweight belt as he kept jabbing the shorter but sturdy defending champ Carlo Magali (23-8-3, 11 KOs), 130, Philippines, all night to earn a close but well-received split verdict (115-113 twice for Mishiro, 113-115 for Magali) over twelve hard-fought rounds on Wednesday in Tokyo, Japan.

The lanky 5’9.5” challenger, four inches and a half taller than the champ, made good use of his stinging lefts, withstood Magali’s furious assault in round five and was in command in later rounds. The 23-year-old ex-amateur boy at Chuoh University, a Howard Winstone stylist, kept sticking the hard-punching champ who had dispatched Masatoshi Kotani in his previous defense here this January, and overcame the prefight favorite except in the fifth, when Magali, 31, had him in great trouble with his furious attack. Carlo, however, might consume his energy too much in his best round, and apparently slowed down in the second half. Mishiro who followed his Watanabe gym’s senior ex-WBA/OPBF champ Takashi Uchiyama may be worth watching.