By Ronnie Nathanielsz
The Philippines Marnelle Verano gave it everything she had but fell just short of dethroning Japan’s Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation female flyweight champion Asami Shikasho in a title fight at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on Wednesday.
All three judges scored the fight for the 30 year old champion by close margins with two judges turning in 96-94 scorecards and the third an even closer 96-95.
With the win Shikasho improves to 4-1 with 2 knockouts according to boxrec.com while the 22 year old Verano, nicknamed “Shark 2" drops to 4-2-1 with 1 knockout.
The game and gutsy Shikasho battered Thailand’s O.A. Lookkaerai who is currently ranked No. 2 to win the vacant title with a TKO at 45 seconds of the 8th round on October 12, 2009 while Verano who was rated No. 5 lost by a 4th round TKO to another Japanese fighter, Naoko Yamaguchi, on the same date.
