Lionel Rose vs. Takao Sakurai

Lionel Rose 118 lbs beat Takao Sakurai 118 lbs by MD in round 15 of 15

• Date: 1968-07-02
• Location: Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan
• Referee: Nick Pope 72-71
• Judge: Takeo Ugo 72-72
• Judge: Ko Toyama 72-70

"Dropped for a flash knockdown in the 2nd round, world bantamweight champion Lionel Rose of Australia rallied to win a majority decision over Japan's Takao Sakurai in a 15 round title bout Tuesday night. The 20 year old aborigine chased the 26 year old challenger through most of the fight to earn the edge. The 7,000 fans for the nationally televised fight had visions of an upset when the left-handed Japanese floored Rose with a hard right to the face in the 2nd round. But the champion jumped up immediately and took the mandatory eight-count. Sakurai couldn't land another damaging blow. Rose landed more punches and missed less. Outside of the knockdown, the fight was not spectacular." -Associated Press

• Unofficial AP scorecard - 71-65 Rose

Post fight comments

• "I evened it up in the 7th round and after that I chased him and chased him some more. The knockdown punch surprised me but didn't really hurt me." -Lionel Rose

• "I thought I won on points." -Takao Sakurai