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Philippines, 04 Feb 2026 |
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WBC DISPUTES ELORDE'S CLAIMS, SAYS SATO OUT-BOXED LOPEZ By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Tue, 10 Jul 2012 The World Boxing Council believes super flyweight champion Yota Sato outboxed Filipino challenger Sylvester Lopez, the WBC Silver champion in Yokohama last Sunday disputed claims by promoter Gabriel "Bebot" Elorde Jr that Lopez failed in his title bid because the Japanese "didn't want to go toe-to-toe." The WBC said while there were no knockdowns Sato dominated the fight from the beginning with his great handling of his jabs combined with uppercuts and right hooks. WBC president Don Jose Sulaiman told the Manila Standard "I am sorry for Lopez and Elorde" but pointed out that boxing is "where you have to defeat your rival regardless of his style. Boxing excellency and punching have been historical traditional action." The WBC clearly supported the judges decision as was also evident from the Philippine television coverage over AKTV IBC 13 that Lopez couldn't handle the tactics of the taller Sato who was a clear winner on points with two of the three judges giving it to the champion by a comfortable margin while the third judge had it much closer. Lou Moret scored the fight 119-109 for the defending champion while David Bilocerkowec scored the fight for Sato 118-110. However, South Korea's Chan Soo Kim had Sato ahead by a much closer 116-113 margin. The 24 year old Lopez had earned the title shot with a stunning 8th round TKO over highly favored Mexican Oscar Ibarra in a title eliminator in Mexico on September 24, 2011 but failed to come close to duplicating that winning performance against the shifty Sato. Sato used his right hook to catch Lopez several times in the early rounds and was up by a shutout 40-36 after the first four rounds on the scorecards of Moret and Bilocerkowec while Kim had Sato ahead by a slim 39-38 margin. The Japanese out-boxed Lopez who had no lateral or head movement and often fell short with his punches while he failed to work to the body and instead went head-hunting. The loss dropped Lopez to 19-4-1 with 15 knockouts while his 28 year old opponent Yota Sato improved to 25-2-1 with 12 knockouts. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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