By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda
JBC #1 super fly Kantaro Juri (7-1-1, 2 KOs), 114.5, and JBC#2 Jinya Yamaguchi (6-0, 2 KOs), 114.75, battled to a split draw (77-75, 75-77, 76-76) in an eliminator for #1 over eight busily see-saw heats on Thursday in Tokyo, Japan, but Yamaguchi was awarded a right to advance to the Japanese 115-pound mandatory shot against national champ Suzumi Watanabe (8-0, 7 KOs) in the Carnival of Champions next year. It was a give-and-take encounter of the southpaws, and Juri at first had the upper hand with solid left crosses, but it was Yamaguchi that displayed his last surge to take the initiative down the stretch. The 76-76 judge was forced to take one out of the contestants and took Yamaguchi due to his superior aggressiveness.
WBA #15 flyweight Daiya Kira (2-0, 2 KOs; amateur 46-6, 16 stoppages), 112, scored a one-punch knockout over Venezuelan Orlando Pino (15-3, 9 KOs), 111.5, with a wicked left to the belly at 1:19 of the opening session in a scheduled eight.
Former WBO AP 130-pound champ Musashi Mori (15-1-1, 7 KOs), 134.5, was awarded a technical decision (all 79-72) over Chinese bull fighter Peng Huang (10-10-3, 5 KOs), 134.5, at 0:58 of the eighth and final session. After a long layoff since last June Mori bled so profusely from a gash at the right cheek caused by an accidental butt that the referee called an intervention to eventually take a technical decision.
Promoter: Shisei Promotions.
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