By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda
In the first title bout of a tripleheader, unbeaten 19-year-old prodigy Ginjiro Shigeoka (4-0, 3 KOs), 105, acquired the vacant WBO Asia Pacific 105-pound belt when he demolished Filipino Clyde Azarcon (15-3-1, 5 KOs), 103, in agony with a single southpaw left to the midsection at only 1:12 of the opening session in a scheduled twelve on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan.
The very short Ginjiro standing just 5 feet, whose amateur mark was 56-1, registered the new Japanese record that he won the title in just 10 months and 10 days since his professional debut.
Having won many national high school championships, Shigeoka entered the paid ranks with great sensation and thus gain the regional belt faster than Naoya Inoue, Kosei Tanaka, Kazuto Ioka and/or Hiroto Kyoguchi. His vicious body shot was a haymaker that sank Azarcon for the count at his first visit to the deck.
His promoter/manager Hitoshi Watanabe said in jubilation, “I wish to cultivate Shigeoka so carefully that he will be more experienced as a professional for another year.” That will be a good policy.
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