Filipino warrior, IBF interim junior flyweight champ Milan Melindo (36-2, 13 KOs), 107.75, very impressively unified the IBF belts as he dropped IBF full titlist Akira Yaegashi (25-6, 13 KOs), 107.75, Japan, three times in succession and scored a stunning TKO victory at 2:45 of the opening session on Sunday in Tokyo, Japan.
It was so surprising that Yaegashi, 35, well-known by his durability and gameness, so quickly suffered a shocking defeat at the hand of the Filipino battler who wasn?t regarded as a hard-puncher. Midway in the first round Milando, 29, connected with a well-timed left hook, which had the Japanese down on the seat of trunks. It didn?t look so damaging a knockdown, but Milando repeated a same left hook to the still unsteady Yaegashi, flooring him again.
The Japanese champ recklessly tried to fight back and absorbed a solid left-right combination, badly hitting the deck for the third time in the first session. Referee Eddie Hernandez (US) didn?t hesitate to call a halt to save the loser from further punishment.
The judges were William Lerch (US), Danrex Tapdasan (Philippines) and Takeshi Shimakawa (Japan), who didn?t tally even a round. Anything can happen in the ring, but Yaegashi?s so quick humiliation by Milando wasn?t expected by any of the spectators at Ariake Colosseum.
With Shiro Ken having acquired the WBC belt from Ganigan Lopez at the same arena on the previous night, Japan once boasted of four world champs in the same 108-pound category to force our aficionados to say, ?Who?s the best??, ?Let?s make them fight in semi-finals and then make the winners meet in the final to decide the strongest.? But such a complete domination terminated just a day with Milan Melindo?s destruction of the oldest warrior Yaegashi. Our 75% occupation of all the thrones is still satisfactory despite Yaegashi?s shocking defeat, and the Taguchi-Tanaka confrontation will still have a possibility of realization in the near future.
Melindo?s so quick stoppage had not been expected, since his last TKO victory was seen against Tommy Seran in China four years ago. Since then, Milan fought on eight occasions, but hadn?t scored any by knockout or stoppage to show he is not such a dangerous hard-puncher. But he thus did it so quickly. It is true that boxing sometimes depends on timing rather than on power.
Melindo had lost merely twice only to formidable opponents. The flat-nosed Filipino failed to win the WBO/WBA super 112-pound belt from Juan Estrada in China, hitting the deck in round eleven to lose a nearly lopsided decision in July 2013. Melindo also lost to Javier Mendoza in his quest for the latter?s WBC 108-pound belt, losing a technical decision in Mexico in May 2015.
We have no intention to underestimate Melindo?s such an impressive demolition of Yaegashi, but the Japanese old soldier might fail to warm up his engine properly. Otherwise, such a fragile chin of Yaegashi, a game and tough fighting machine, couldn?t be imagined by all.
Our Japanese press is curious enough and has presented us such data of so quick stoppages in world title bouts. In the 108-pound category, the quickest stoppage had been registered by WBA titlist Myung-Woo Yuh who halted Eduardo Tunon in just 2:46 of the first round in Korea on March 1, 1987. Therefore, the Melindo-Yaegashi encounter that ended at 2:45 remarkably renewed the record of the shortest stoppage. For your reference, the quickest finish in world flyweight title bouts was scored by then WBC champ Pongsaklek Wongjongkam, who dispatched Japanese challenger Daisuke Naito at only 0:34 of the opening session in Thailand on April 9, 2002. That?s the Asian record.
The world quickest knockout in world title bouts was scored by WBO 122-pound champ Daniel Jimenez, who dispatched Harald Geier only at 0:17 of the opening session in Austria on September 3, 1994.
Why did this reporter talk about such trivial matters so long? It?s because we had such a long recess before the main event of WBO 115-pound title bout between Naoya Inoue and Ricardo Rodriguez at Ariake Colosseum.
Also for your reference, the number of spectators of the previous show featuring a tripleheader including Ryota Murata?s world title crack was no less than 11,000, while 6,500 people were in attendance for the doubleheader of Inoue and Yaegashi.
