By Ronnie Nathanielsz
South Korea’s Injin Chi has regained the WBC featherweight title with a comfortable unanimous decision victory over Mexico’s Rudy Lopez at the Chungmu Art Hall in Seoul on Sunday.
The 33 year old Korean is managed by well-known businessman-sportsman Kusung Lee, a former outstanding amateur as well as pro boxer who has a home in Makati City in the Philippines. With his victory Injin Chi regained the title he lost to Japan’s Takashi Koshimoto via a split decision last January 29. Koshimoto in turn lost the title in his first defense against Lopez by a seventh round TKO last July 30.
Injin Chi who at one time was being considered as an opponent for Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao reportedly fractured a finger in the eighth round but battled furiously in the later rounds to ensure victory. All three judges, Stephen Blea, Lou Filippo and Raul Nieves scored it for the South Korean by margins of 117-111,116-112 and 116-113.
Injin Chi lost a unanimous decision to Erik "El Terrible" Morales in July 2001 in an action-packed bout in Las Vegas where Morales who was battered and bruised looked like the loser even though he won handily on the scorecards of the judges.
With the win over Lopez, Injin Chi improved his record to 31-3-1 with 18 knockouts while the 23 year old Lopez dropped to 19-3-1 with 13 KO’s.
Earlier this year Injin Chi trained at the famed ALA Gym of respected boxing patron Tony Aldeguer in Cebu City in preparation for his world title fight
