By Joe Koizumi
Photos by The Won Promotions, Ohashi Promotions
Former champ Deok-No Yun (9-2, 7 KOs), 167.25, impressively regained his WBO Asia Pacific super middleweight belt when he avenged his previous defeat and forfeiture of the title in Japan, battered defending titlist Tyson Koki (17-6-3, 14 KOs), a 6’3” southpaw Japanese at 168, all the way and finally halted him with a towel fluttering in from the dethroned champ’s corner at 2:02 of the seventh round in a scheduled twelve on Friday in Seoul, Korea.
It was Koki in their first encounter that survived a bad visit to the deck with Yun’s opening solid right, resumed fighting and quickly landed a countering southpaw left, pulverizing the Korean in the first give-and-take round this June. It was such a shocking scene that the flattened loser Yun got a cramp in his legs like Ingemar Johansson against Floyd Patterson in 1961. The sturdy Korean, in this rematch, maintained the pressure and outhustled the awkward champ, steadily piling up a point in every round. The seventh saw Yun accelerate his attack to batter him from pillar to post, prompting the champ’s corner throwing in the towel. After the well-received stoppage the bloodied Tyson Koki stayed flat on the canvas for minutes.
The semi-windup saw a bright feather speedster Ha-Nok Shim (12-2, 5 KOs), 125.75, floor Khusniddin Marimov (4-3-1, 2 KOs), 125, a Uzbekistani southpaw, in the first and tenth rounds, and acquired the vacant Korean national featherweight belt by a unanimous decision (97-91 98-90 twice) over ten hard-fought rounds. The WBO AP supervisor Leon Panoncillo was impressed with Shim’s tremendous hand speed and talent in this eye-catching victory. Shim, with a brightening hand speed, may be worth watching.
Promoter: Hong-Kyun Shin’s The Won Promotions in association with Japan’s Ohashi Promotions (Hideyuki Ohashi was in attendance).
BoxRec: Deok No Yun
BoxRec: Ha Nok Shim
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