ONE down, two to go! This is the newest battle cry of the Randy “Kumo’ng Bato” Suico team after the Mandaue City-native warrior successfully defended his Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) lightweight belt with a unanimous decision win over Tomonori Nakagawa at the Prefectural Gym in Osaka, Japan last Monday.
Nakagawa withstood Suico’s power punches and was able to stay in the fight until the final bell before realizing that he has been badly punished by the Filipino pug in the scorecards.
Realizing the power of Suico, Nakagawa fought a nip-and-tuck game in the early rounds that gave Suico a hard time early. But the Filipino champion quickly adjusted to Nakagawa’s gameplan and, using his powerful punches, mauled the Japanese challenger to eke out 116-111 scores each from judges Masahiro Noda and Salven Lagumbay and a 116-114 from Ukrid Sarasas to win his first title defense.
Suico fell into Nakagawa’s trap as the former aimed to end his opponent early.
The Japanese opted to use his superior agility in beating Suico to the punch but Suico countered by changing his strategy in beating Nakagawa.
Nakagawa, who was rated as the no.5 contender entering the fight, has decided to hang up his gloves for good after dropping to 15-6-4 with four knockout wins in his credit.
With Nakagawa out of the way, Suico (26-3, 22KOs), is now setting his eyes against no.2 challenger Koji Samejima in July.
Samejima holds an impressive 15-1-1, 6KOs record. His last two victims, both beaten via knockout, were former RP lightweight champion Dexter Delada and Thai champion Songnarong Kiatsingnoi.
If Suico hurdles Samejima, his next title defense will be against the equally strong-punching Keita Manabe by the last quarter of the year.
Manabe holds a record 26-3, win-loss card including 22 knockouts.
