By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Jeven Villacite scored a stunning upset over World Boxing Council Asian Boxing Council flyweight Silver champion Masazumi Furukawa of Japan with a majority decision at the air-conditioned Strike Revilla Gym in Bacoor C avite.
The 23 year old southpaw Villacite was in command most of the eight round bout against the 40 year old Japanese and won by a majority decision.
Danilo Lopez scored it 79-72 for Villacite while Elmer Costillas had it 78-73 for the Filipino but Monika Ortega scored the fight even at 76-76
Furukawa tried his best but age appeared to tell on the Japanese champion who couldn’t match the controlled aggression of Villacite.
In a six round super flyweight bout Naoto Iwai from the Morioka Boxing Gym in Osaka, Japan scored a comfortable win over Juan Purisima of General Santos City to score a second straight victory with all three judges having Iwai the winner.
Judges Gil C o and Elmer Costillas turned in identical 59-55 scorecards while Jojo Llanera had Iwai the winner by a 58-56 margin.
Iwai was coming off a 4th round TKO of South Korea’s Tae Jun Mark while Purisima had lost h is last fight by a 9th round TKO to Richard Claveras last June 10 in Mandaluyong City.
The Japanese used his 2 ½ inch reach advantage to good effect and kept Purisima at bay with his jabs.