Thailand’s unbeaten Amnat Ruenroeng defeated former world champion Kazuto Ioka by split decision on Wednesday to retain his IBF flyweight title and deal the Japanese his first loss.
Amnat — taking advantage of a longer reach — employed a variety of blows that prevented Ioka from boring in with a high guard, leaving him to contemplate his first defeat in 15 matches as a professional.
There was no knockdown in the 12-round bout at the Prefectural Gymnasium in the western Japan city of Osaka as Amnat defended the 50.8kg class title for the first time.
Photo: AFP
The 34-year-old became champion in January, when he outpointed Filipino Rocky Fuentes in a bout for the title vacated by South African Moruti Mthalane.
Polish and US judges Pawel Kardyni and Eddie Hernandez scored the fight 119-108 and 115-112 in the Thai champion’s favor. Hilton Whitaker saw Ioka as the winner by 114-113.
“I was convinced of victory. Ioka came out fighting but could not come inside possibly because he was afraid of my uppercuts as I kept attacking,” Amnat said.
The Thai’s unblemished record stretched to 13 wins, five of them by knockout.
A win would have made 25-year-old Ioka, the ninth IBF contender, the winner of world titles in three different divisions.
Instead, he had his first defeat after winning his last 14 matches, nine of them inside the distance. In 2011, he won the unified WBC and WBA minimumweight title, as well as the WBA light-flyweight crown.
“I did not sense a huge difference in our strengths,” the Japanese said. “But I realized anew how difficult it is to reign in three divisions. There must be lessons I can learn from defeat. I will use them and definitely come back.”
With a 9cm reach advantage, the Thai champion kept Ioka at bay with sharp left jabs, right uppercuts and other kinds of blows from the opening bell.
At times, Amnat switched from conventional to southpaw style, lowered his guard and danced around to outfox the Japanese, whose punches did not seem to carry much steam.
In the third and fourth rounds, the Thai’s sharp right uppercuts caught Ioka’s jaw.
The champion slowed down and often resorted to crafty clinches in the later rounds.
In the 10th round, Amnat was slapped with a one-point deduction for clinching. Ioka’s left body blow in the 11th round was one of his few punches that surprised the champion.
In another IBF bout on Wednesday, Japan’s Katsunari Takayama retained his minimumweight title by beating compatriot Shin Ono with a unanimous decision.
Takayama knocked down Ono twice in the 10th and 12th for his second successful defense of the 47.6kg class title.
Whitaker and Hernandez scored the fight 115-111 for Takayama, while Kardyni scored it 117-109.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS