By REY DANSECO
In a battle of national champions, Nihito Arakawa of Japan and undefeated Jay “Rapido” Solmiano of the Philippines are both ready to fill the vacant OPBF lightweight title in a Tuesday night show at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan on Oct. 4.
OPBF MAP
This will be Arakawa’s second attempt to win the coveted regional title after he drew with defending champ Randy “Kamaong Bato” Suico three years ago also at the fabled Korakuen Hall.
The 29 year old Japanese is unbeaten since 2007 and has menacing record of 20-1-1 with 11 knockouts in his seven-year campaign.
Arakawa enjoys the mental advantage being rated No. 7 by the WBC after making three successive JBC lightweight title defenses, all by stoppages.
Solmiano, rated No. 1 by the OPBF, also recorded his last three fights by TKOs, two by way of first round annihilations of veteran Dante Paulino to defend his Philippine lightweight title for the first time last year and Jaypee Ignacio in a non-title bout.
In Solmiano’s latest fight in May, he stopped his second challenger Jovie Merca in round 4 before his hometown crowd in Catanduanes province. His unblemished ledger stands 11-0, 7 KOs.
The 29-year old Arakawa is a southpaw and five-year older than Solmiano, who is ranked No. 32 by the WBC. They both stand 5-foot-8.
Other bout for the vacant OPBF title will be contested by top contender and reigning Philippine champion Merlito “Tiger” Sabillo (15-0, 7 KOs) and third ranked Rodel Tejares (10-19-3, 2 KOs) on Oct. 8 at the University of St. La Salle Gymnasium in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, Philippines.
They will fight for the minimumweight crown.
OPBF’s other vacant title is in super lightweight division. The throne was declared vacant due to ex-champion Motoki Sasaki’s challenge to the WBC Lightweight title on June 25 in Mexico.
Sasaki, who dethroned Suico with split decision, went down once in the fifth and deducted a point in the tenth round on his way to technical decision loss in the 10th round to defending champ Humberto Soto.
Japan and the Philippines are the most dominant countries in the OPBF. There are seven Japanese champions while four Filipinos are reigning titlists.
The Japanese champs are light flyweight Ryo Miyazaki, super flyweight Ryo Akaho, featherweight Hiroshige Osawa, welterweight Akinori Watanabe, super welterweight Charlie Ota, middleweight Koji Sato, and super middleweight Yuzo Kiyota.
The list of Filipino champions includes flyweight Rocky Fuentes, bantamweight Rolly “Matsushita” Lunas, super bantamweight Roli Gasca, and super featherweight Ronald Pontillas.
After the title fight between Sabillo and Tejares, the Philippines will have five OPBF titlists at the same time. This belt was relinquished by also a Filipino, Michael Landero after he decided to sign last July 12 for a world title fight in a little-known boxing body.
Light heavyweight Jameson Bostic of New Zealand is the only other nationality with OPBF title belt while the remaining weight divisions, the cruiserweight and heavyweight are vacant since 2008 and 2009, respectively.
The OPBF was formed in 1954 by the Filipino, Japanese, at Korean boxing commissions. It was originally named the Orient Boxing Federation, but changed to the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation when Australia joined in 1977.
Members of the OPBF regional group are Australia, Fiji, Guam, Hawaii, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, PAMA, Philippines, Republic of China, Samoa, Taiwan, Thailand and Tonga.
The OPBF, through the leadership of Filipino Justiniano N. Montano, Jr. helped form the World Boxing Council in 1963.
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Rey Danseco is the Boxing Judge of the Year 2010 in the Philippines at the 11th Gabriel ”Flash” Elorde Memorial Boxing Awards-Banquet of Champions in March 2011. He is the Sports editor of one of the Philippine leading newspapers called Bagong Tiktik (Spy), television boxing commentator and a proud one and only Filipino with license as judge under WBC in the last four years.
EMAIL: reydanseco@yahoo.com
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