By Rey Danseco
 
THE Philippines has dropped the number of its Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) champions to four when Jojo Bardon of Cebu failed to retain his crown.

Bardon lost to Japanese challenger Masaharu Naganawa via split decision over 12 rounds in their OPBF flyweight championship bout Sunday afternoon at Industrial Hall in Gifu, Japan.

Bardon, who fought without his manager Rex “Wakee” Salud, was the harder puncher but Naganawa was busier in the bout, according to OPBF bantamweight champ Rolly “Matsushita” Lunas, who watched the fight at ringside.

Lunas said, Naganawa deserved to win and he was surprised that the Filipino judge Sev Necesario scored the fight 115-112 for Bardon. Bardon and Necesario both hail from the Cebu province in the Philippines.

The other judges, were from Japanese and the Korean scoring-referee saw the fight 108-119 and 113-116 for the challenger, who avenged his loss to Bardon in their previous bout.

The native of San Carlos City captured the regional crown of the World Boxing Council with the same split decision win over Naganawa in Nagoya last March 18.

Aside from Lunas, other Filipino OPBF champions are light flyweight Juanito Rubillar, lightweight Randy Suico and welterweight Rev Santillan.

Salud opted to stay in Cebu to personally attend Manny Pacquiao’s training at his gym in Labangon, Cebu City. Pacquiao is working out along with trainer Freddie Roach for his scheduled Oct. 6 return bout against Marco Antonio Barrera in Las Vegas.
 

COMPLAINT AGAINST SEV NECESARIO

Lunas verbally complained to this writer about Necesario’s decision as referee-judge when he defended his crown by knockout against Japanese national champion and previously undefeated Masayuki Mitani in Takasago, Hyogo, Japan last Aug. 12.

Lunas could not believe when he learned that he was leading by only a point on Necesario’s scorecard, 105-104 at the time of stoppage. When compared to the scorecards of Japanese judges, Nobuaki Uratani and Shogo Sakamoto, Lunas was leading comfortably 107-102 and 106-103, respectively.

“I feel bad and seems lost my energy when I hear his (Necesario’s) tally,” said Lunas, rated No. 9 by the WBC.

“(Despite the announcement) We checked the score cards after the fight. I knew I was leading comfortably. But we confirmed that this guy officiated some other bout,” said Lunas.

Last January 13, Lunas captured the crown from then WBC No. 3 contender Malcom Tunacao with technical decision in round 10 in his base, Kanazawa, for more than a year.

Lunas has kept insisting that he must also acquire Tunacao’s ranking. In February's rankings, the WBC installed Lunas outside top 10.