Il Duce wrote:Too Much Sushi,,,,,,,, :P
The Fight,
The Champion (127 3/4 lbs.) made weight, but looked somewhat dried-out. From the outset, Villaflor chased and
Apollo flew. In Rounds 1 and 2, Apollo made no effort to throw a punch, as he stayed on his bicycle and
cirlcled to his left.
In Round 3, there was some action, as Yoshio leaped in a few times with quick right-hands, and one of them
opened a small cut over the Champion's left eye.
Villaflor continued to chase in Rounds 4, 5 and 6 - as Apollo stood on the outer-edge circling. Each time that
the Champion did get close to the Japanese Challenger, Apollo would clinch, and lock up Villaflor's arms.
As Villaflor continued to stalk in the middle-rounds (7 thru 11), Apollo was 'happy' to avoid any exchanges, as
his fight-plan appeared to be 'to survive' rather than win. Several times the Referee - Shoichi Kato had to instruct
both combatants to pick up the action, but neither obliged.
The speed-and-clutch philosophy for Apollo seemed to work, as the Champion looked tired after the 11th-Round.
Apollo was then able to land a few right-hands in Round 12, while darting in quickly, before bouncing back out into
a safe-zone where Villaflor was not quick enough to throw his hard left hands.
Rounds 13 thru 15 were the same pattern, as Apollo circled and occassionally darted in to throw a quick right-hand,
while Villaflor stalked and landed glancing left hands on an ever-moving Challenger.
Scorecards;
* Referee - Shoichi Kato........73-73 (2-2-11 in Rounds) 'Even'
* Judge - Hideo Ikoma..........74-73 (2-1-12 in Rounds) Apollo Yoshio
* Judge - Hachiro Aki............74-73 (2-1-12 in Rounds) Ben Villaflor
'FILI BOXER RETAINS TITLE WITH DRAW'
'VILLAFLOR KEEPS TITLE ON DRAW'
'VILLAFLOR - YOSHIO, UNPOPULAR DRAW'
'VILLAFLOR - YOSHIO, ONE CHASED, ONE RAN'
Larry Inchonise (Ben Villaflor's Manager) 'This was the most bizarre fight that I have ever been involved in.
The fight was not in anyway close. I have never seen such bad scoring, Ben won this fight by at least 5-Points.
Ben threw more punches, and he was a lot more effective. I'll admit, it wasn't one of his better performances,
and quite possibly the fast weight loss did hamper his performance, as he was tired in the 11th Round.
UPI; The 5000 pro-Yoshio supporters at the City Gymnasium seemed to think that if their Hometown Fighter
went the distance, that he would automatically be crowned Champion. But, Ben Villaflor was much more effective
over the first 10-Rounds, as the Challenger looked to avoid any exchanges and did not appear to 'earn' a round
on the scorecards. The Champion did tire after Round 11, and Yoshio was able to mount a minor offense by scoring
with snappy, but infrequent right hands in Round 12.
UPI Scorecard......74-69 (6-1-8 in Rounds).
12 even rounds?
