By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Hard-punching ex-champ Goki Kobayashi (7-1, 5 KOs), 104.75, regained the WBO Asia Pacific 105-pound belt as he dropped compatriot Yuri Kanaya (5-2, 1 KO), 105, three times and finally halted him at 2:27 of the third round in a schedule twelve on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan. Having been in a boxing team of the same high school, they were more than intimate friends but Kobayashi, two years his junior at 25, exploded a vicious left hook to floor the game senior in the second, and decked him twice more with furious combos in the fatal third. Kobayashi forfeited his WBO AP belt by an upset decision to Filipino Jake Amparo last August. Though aiming to regain it from Amparo in a direct rematch, the newly crowned champ renounced the belt to decline a rematch with the Japanese. Kobayashi looked sharp and speedy enough, and we wondered why he had lost his belt to Amparo. Kobayashi is worth watching.

Promoter: Shinsei Promotions.

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