By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda
Southpaw Japanese Katsuya Yasuda (12-1, 7 KOs), 134.75, kept his WBO AP lightweight belt when he displayed improved counterpunching, battered Korean Min-Ho Jung (15-5-2, 4 KOs), 134.5, with counters and scored a nearly shutout decision (119-109 twice, 118-110) over twelve fast rounds on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan. Jung, in his previous bout, had upset then world-rated Japanese Hironori Mishiro in Korea this April, and ambitiously wished to wrest the regional belt from Yasuda, a less powerful speedster. But it was Yasuda that often countered him with vicious left uppercuts to the liver, effectively weakening the Korean down the stretch. Continue reading “Yasuda beats Jung, keeps WBO AP 135lb belt”