By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Former Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation super bantamweight champion Jimrex Jaca regarded as one of the Philippines most promising young fighters has been held to a majority draw by former Japanese champion Kinji Amano on Tuesday at the famed Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
Jaca who is currently ranked No. 18 by the WBC lost the OPBF title when he failed to make the weight in a title defense against Yasuo Kunimi and eventually suffered a seventh round KO because of his poor condition on May 30, 2004. Jaca’s handlers decided to move him up to the featherweight division where he won his first bout, a fifth round technical decision over Isamu Sakashita last October 17.
Matchmaker and journalist Joe Koizumi in a report to Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today said the 21 year old Filipino southpaw "was aggressive in the first three rounds but took a left hook to the chin and suffered a flash knockdown in the closing seconds of round four."
The 30 year old Amano pressed the initiative and took command in the fifth round but Jaca fought back furiously to take the next three rounds. Amano was bloodied due to an accidental head-butt but the Japanese came back with a final surge in round ten and connected with a series of solid body shots in what was described as "a crowd-pleasing bout."
Two judges scored it even at 95-95 and 96-96 while the third judge gave it to Amano by a point 96-95. Jaca who came in at 124.5 pounds has a ring record of 23-1-1 with 9 knockouts while Amano’s record is 22-8-5 with 12 KO’s.
