FILIPINO Benjie Suganob was beaten by World Boxing Council’s No. 11-ranked Japanese undefeated champion Shun Kobo, who retained his Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation super bantamweight title with a unanimous 12-round decision in Kobe, Japan.
It was Kubo’s first title defense of the crown he won with a fifth-round knockout over another Filipino, Lloyd Jardeliza, also in Kobe last Dec. 26.
Hall-of-Fame awardee Joe Koizumi reported that the No. 6-ranked Suganob lost to the southpaw champion Kubo over what he described as “12 hard-fought rounds.”
“Kubo, a tall puzzling lefty, had him (Suganob) at bay with solid southpaw lefts in Round 6 and took the initiative,” said Koizumi.
Kubo led on the open-scoring system after eight rounds by margins of 78-73, 78-74 and 77-75.
Suganob put on a surge in the last four rounds, but the Japanese champion was able to maintain his lead en route to the unanimous decision.
Suganob was coming off an eighth-round majority decision over Seizo Kono last Dec. 11.