By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Jonel Alibio has lost his Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation featherweight title in his first defense against Hiroshige Osawa in Osaka, Japan.
The 27 year old Filipino dropped a split decision to the taller 26 year old Osawa in what was a fairly close bout.
Korean referee/judge Wan Soo Yuh had Osawa the winner by a 115-113 margin, Japanese judge Jun Kawakami gave it to the hometown boy by a slightly wider 115-112 margin.
However, Filipino judge Edward Ligas gave Alibio the edge 114-113.
Osawa was coming off a 7th round TKO victory over Mexico’s Gabriel Perez.
With the win the newly crowned OPBF champion improved his record to 20-3-3 with 9 knockouts while Alibio who won the title with a rousing 6th round knockout of another Japanese boxer, Naoki Matsuda, which took place on November 6, 2010, dropped to 16-11-2 with 7 knockouts.