ANOTHER body shot, another loss in Japan for Philippine boxing.
Jake Amparo was the recipient of a left straight to the body courtesy of Ginjero Shigeoka, who retained his IBF mini-flyweight title with a second-round knockout of his Filipino challenger Sunday at the International Conference Hall in Nagoya, Japan.
The Japanese champion connected with the liver shot just as the two fighters exchanged blows in the middle of the ring.
The Filipino went down following a delayed reaction, and tried to get up on his knee but obviously couldn’t continue as referee Charlie Fitch counted him out.
The end came at the 1:15 mark of the second round.
It was the fourth straight fight a Filipino fighter lost through a body shot in Japan after former world champions Marlon Tapales and Jerwin Ancajas, and one-time world title challenger Jonas Sultan suffered the same fate the past few months.
A last-minute replacement for ArAr Andales, Amparo had his moments in the opening round when he backed off Shigeoka with a couple of rights to the head and body.
But it was just a matter of time before the Japanese champion would end the fight with that lethal body shot.
The 24-year-old Shigeoka, the younger brother of another world champion Yudai Shigeoka, improved his record to 11-0 with 9 KOs in his first defense of the IBF title.
Amparo’s record now stands at 14-6-1 (3 KOs) after taking the fight on just a week’s notice in his first-ever bid for a world title.
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