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12/12/2005 Archived Entry: "Unbeaten Arinaga keeps OPBF belt"
Unbeaten Arinaga keeps OPBF belt
By Joe Koizumi
Tokyo, Japan -- Unbeaten Japanese 115-pound prospect Kuniyuki Aizawa (10-0-1, 7 KOs), 115.5, defeated WBC#7 ranked ex-WBC flyweight champ Chatchai Sasakul Singwangcha (52-3, 33 KOs), 116, by a unanimous decision (97-95 twice and 96-95) as he came off the canvas in the third and maintained the pressure to outhustle him and sweep the second half of a ten-round bout on Monday in Tokyo, Japan.
It was a very good technical bout, as they exchanged sharp rallies throughout the contest. After they felt out in the first two rounds, the 35-year-old Thailander connected with a well-timed countering right for Aizawa to taste a flash knockdown in the third. Chatchai, however, suffered a bad gash caused by a collision of heads midway in the fifth, and it kept bleeding badly to hamper his vision until the end.
Aizawa, ex-amateur star, aimed at the ex-champ's breadbasket, which paid off so effectively that Chatchai became visibly tired and slowing down as the contest progressed. The Japanese boxer-puncher, 26, accelerated his attack to keep stalking the fading opponent, overcoming his early deficit on points to convincingly pile up points enough to win.
Chatchai once captured the WBC 112-pound belt from previously unbeaten Russian Yuri Arbachakov in Japan in 1997, but lost it to Manny Pacquiao via eighth round KO in Thailand (when Pacman was still a 112-pounder) in the next year. Since his second and last defeat by Pacquiao, Chatchai had scored 19 wins straight to maintain his strength. Despite his upset loss to Aizawa the Thai veteran, in later rounds, had the crowd surprised at his still sharp attack that showed staying young.
The joyful victor Aizawa is scheduled to fight Shin Ogata in a national elimination bout for the vacant belt lately renounced by world-rated Nobuo Nashiro next spring. The Japanese fistic map in the 115-pound category has become hot and entertaining behind the WBC ruler Masamori Tokuyama.
