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REPORT

Sato scores knockout in pro debut at Orleans 
By Kevin Iole; Las Vegas Review-Journal Saturday, April 09, 2005[1](Link Disabled)
"Teaching a dog to walk on a leash" is how trainer Miguel Diaz described the boxing education of  
Koji Sato. 
The hard-punching Sato made his professional debut Friday at The Orleans, needing only 56 seconds 
to dispatch Francisco Valdez. 
Sato landed a combination to the head, followed by a straight right that floored Valdez. He got up 
but didn't appear to want to fight and referee Kenny Bayless stopped it. 
Sato, 24, had 150 amateur fights in Japan but never received any formal training until he turned pro 
and met Diaz and co-trainer Mike McCallum. Sato was pleased with the victory, however it came. 
"I was just looking to win, but the knockout was nice," he said. 
McCallum, a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, said Sato could become a factor as a 
middleweight but needs to learn the North American style of fighting. 
Sato's tendency is to square up to his opponent and throw wide punches, which is a sure way to 
become an easy target. 
"He needs to tighten up and give more angles, but the thing I like about the kid is that he's a real 
quick learner," McCallum said. 
Sato began his training in Los Angeles, where he started sparring with power-punching WBA super 
middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler. Diaz and McCallum raved about the way Sato hung in and 
said he's more than held his own since moving his base to Las Vegas. 
But Diaz wants to see more of Sato before he's willing to predict greatness. 
"The kid has a lot of things going for him, but it's hard to say what he's going to become," Diaz said.  
"He's got good people working with him and he's a smart kid who works very hard. You like to see 
that. He listens and he learns. Plus, he can punch. 
"We just need to keep working in the gym and getting better. In a few months, after he's fought a few 
times, we'll have a better idea of what we have here."

Salado Cruises Past Paredes in Vegas!
By Mike Sloan; FightNews April 10, 2005 [2](Link Disabled)
Las Vegas, NV: After watching a handful of moderately entertaining opening bouts inside the Mardi  
Gras Ballroom in the Orleans Hotel and Casino, most in attendance expected the main event between  
Omar Salado and Francisco Paredes to follow suit. Unfortunately for the bloodthirsty capacity 
crowd, the fight fell short on the action side, leaving most in their seats rummaging for spare change 
to grab another beer or six. 
But on the bright side, Salado displayed enough growth as a prospect to keep things interesting as he 
impressively picked apart his opponent round after round. When everything was said and done,  
Salado eventually had his hand raised as the victor, displaying to everyone in the house that Paredes 
was not on the same level as the fighter from Tijuana, BC, Mexico. 
Salado, who now stands at 14-0-1 with 7 KOs, struggled in the first few rounds as Paredes’ aggressive 
style offset his initial rhythm. But once Salado figured out the key to unlocking Paredes’ style, the 
fight was all but over. Salado displayed the best defensive skill set thus far in his blossoming career, 
thwarting Paredes’ offense with shoulder shrugs, a tucked jaw and subtle head movements. From the 
fourth round on, Paredes could do virtually nothing against his slippery foe. 
While the fight left much to be desired in terms of all-out action, Salado was impressive enough to 
keep things interesting and definitely deserved the lopsided unanimous decision. He won the fight via 
tallies of 100-90 and 97-93 (twice). Fightnews.com also favored Salado by the margin of 97-93. The 
game Paredes, though he was never actually hurt in the bout, must be given credit for hanging in 
there for ten rounds and keeping his composure when things became sticky. For his efforts, the 
junior bantamweight from Mexico City fell to 13-10 (12). 
In the co-main event, most in attendance felt that rugged lightweight Antonio Wong, from Tijuana, 
was gypped of victory when the three ringside judges all favored his opponent, Cristian Lopez. Wong 
survived an early scare as Lopez almost dropped him roughly a minute or so into the contest, but the 
overzealous Lopez shot his load within a few minutes, allowing Wong to not only clear the cobwebs 
from his head but also opened the door and let him back in the fight. By the end of the explosive first 
round, Lopez was wobbly and bloody and appearing to be completely finished. 
The taller, muscular Lopez tried to implore an aggressive style again in the second, but he was still 
shaky from the previous round’s action. Wong seized the opportunity and attacked his woozy 
nemesis and scored a knockdown a few moments later (even though Lopez was clearly hit in the 
family jewels). From that point forward, it seemed as though Wong’s ring generalship and effective 
punching were enough to win the fight. Fightnews.com scored the fight even at three rounds apiece, 
but with the 10-8 second round in favor of Wong, he should have been awarded the decision as the 
score was 57-56. However, the judges all favored Lopez 57-56, somehow giving him four rounds. 
The raucous crowd vehemently booed the decision as they all felt Wong got wronged. Wong, who fell 
to 9-5-1 (6), was cheered as he stormed back to his locker room and Lopez, from Guasave, Mexico, 
was pelted with jeers. Lopez improved to 3-0 (2). 
In the first of the two swing bouts, Detroit’s James Countryman slugged his way to a workmanlike 
unanimous six round decision over the taller Freeman Taft. The two middleweights swatted at each 
other for six full rounds but neither fighter was ever truly in danger of being dropped or stopped.  
With that said, Taft, a resident of Phoenix, AZ, was a little too passive with his offense and allowed a 
few key rounds to slip away. Countryman won it via scores of 60-54 (thrice) and boosted his unbeaten 
pro ledger to 6-0 (4). Taft dipped to 3-1-2 (1). 
And lastly, the evening’s most exhilarating battle was the bantamweight thriller between Guasave’s 
Jesus “Chito” Rios and Cuidad, Obregon, Mexico’s Jose “Kinke” Tamayo. About a minute into the 
war, Tamayo was knocked off his feet. Seconds after he beat the count and was allowed to continue, 
he floored Rios. From that point forward, it was a nonstop slugfest. 
Tamayo (1-2 with 1 KO) tasted the canvas seconds into the second round thanks to a perfect straight 
left, but he quickly bounced back up to his feet. Once again, he plugged away and created another 
stirring series of exchanges, but the fun eventually turned into a bloody mess. During the final toe-to-
toe exchange, Rios (3-2 with 2 KOs) inadvertently crashed his dome into Tamayo’s face, creating a 
severe laceration on Kinke’s cheek and another gash in his mouth. The cuts were too deep, 
prompting referee Kenny Bayless to heed the ringside physician’s advice and halt the bout. The 
battle was deemed a “No Contest,” bringing an anticlimactic ending to what was such a thrilling war. 
There absolutely must be a rematch between these two little warriors. Maybe next time… 
More action!
By Javier Molina
It was all blood and guts as Local Super FeatheWeight Vince O'Neal from Las Vegas made his pro 
debut against Jesus Carlos Sanchez from Tijuana Mexico who was not new to the sport with a record 
of 2- 2- 2 KOs. Vincent was knocked down in the first round but fought valiantly to score his own 
knockdown as he dropped Sanchez in the last round. Both fighters thrilled the fight fans to the end.  
The judges scored the bout 37-37, 37-37, and 38-36 for Vincent for a majority draw. 
New middleweights to the sport Jeremy Arnold from Witchita, Kansas, with a record of 0-0-0-1 No 
contest and Aaron Edgette from Los Angeles California 0-1-0-0 fought an evenly matched bout that 
resulted in a entertaining majority decision 40-36, 40-34, 38-38 in favor of Edgette.
Highly regarded middleweight Koji Sato from Tokyo, Japan made his pro debut with an explosive 
sixteen second knockout of Francisco Valdez from Ogden, Utah who was also making his pro debut.   
Koji is Being managed by legenday trainer and cutman Miguel Diaz who promises a big future for  
the twenty year old Japan native.