- Title: JAPAN: BOXERS PRACTICE FOR BANTAMWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT
- Date: 22nd February 1968
- Summary: 1. SV LIONEL ROSE - WEARING WHITE SHORTS - SPARRING. 0.09 2. SV DITTO (2 SHOTS). 0.26 3. CU HIS MANAGER. 0.29 4. CU ROSE GETS OUT OF RING, HARADA ENTERS. 0.37 5. SV SPECTATORS. 0.39 6. SV & CU HARADA - WEARING SHORTS - SPARRING (2 SHOTS). 0.56 7. CU ROSE WATCHES FROM RING SIDE. 0.59 8. SV HARADA SPARRING. 1.09 9. GV SPARRING CONTINUES. 1.12 Initials ERW/V/MR/SC Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 8th March 1968 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: TOKYO, JAPAN
- Country: Japan
- Reuters ID: LVAD7PFGGRDH7CR8Z9CZEGI8XP0N
- Story Text: IN TOKYO, LAST NIGHT (WEDNESDAY) THE WORLD BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMPION, FIGHTING HARADA OF JAPAN, AND THE CHALLENGED, LIONEL ROSE OF AUSTRALIA, HELD THEIR FIRST PUBLIC PRACTICE IN PREPARATION FOR THEIR FIGHT NEXT TUESDAY (27 FEBRUARY) AT THE TOKYO BUDOKAN HALL. THE SCENE FOR LAST NIGHT'S PRACTICE WAS THE KORAKUEN GYMNASIUM AND SPORTSWRITERS AND COMMENTATORS CROWDED IN FOR THE UNUSUAL EXPERIENCE OF SEEING CHAMPION AND CHALLENGER PRACTICE IN THE SAME RING WITHIN MINUTES OF EACH OTHER.
THE BOXERS THEMSELVES HAD THE OPPORTUNITY OF STUDYING EACH OTHER'S STYLE.
LIONEL ROSE WAS THE FIRST TO ENTER THE RING, FOR SPARRING MATCH WITH HIS OPPONENT'S YOUNGER BROTHER, USHIWAKAMARU. HIS MANAGER, JACK RENNIE, WATCHED CLOSELY AS HIS CHARGE WENT THROUGH HIS PACES. ROSE, THE 20-YEAR-OLD AUSTRALIAN BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP AND RATED NUMBER 6 IN THE WORLD, WAS BEEN TRAINING AT KILCUNDA, NEAR MELBOURNE, AND HIS MANAGER SAID HE IS NOW IN TOP SHAPE. THE YOUNG ABORIGINE IS CONFIDENT HE WILL BEAT HARADA AND BECOME WORLD CHAMPION.
FIGHTING HARADA IS 24-YEAR-OLD AND HAS SUCCESSFULLY DEFENDED HIS TITLE FOUR TIMES, SINCE HE WRESTED IT FROM EDAR JOFRE OF BRAZIL IN MAY, 1965. HIS LAST TITLE DEFENCE WAS IN JULY LAST YEAR, WHEN HE MET BERNARD CARABALLO OF COLOMBIA, IN TOKYO. HARADA IS NORMALLY A WELTER-WEIGHT, WEIGHING ABOUT 145 POUNDS, AND HAS TO UNDERGO A STRENUOUS WEIGHT-REDUCING PROGRAMME BEFORE EACH BOUT. HOWEVER, HIS MANAGER, SASAZAKI, SAID HE SHOWS NO SIGN OF STRAIN BECAUSE OF HIS YOUTH.
SYNOPSIS: LIONEL ROSE, THE TWENTY-YEAR-OLD AUSTRALIAN BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMPION, WEARING WHITE SHORTS, LIMBERS UP IN A SPECIAL PRACTICE MATCH IN TOKYO. HE'S DUE TO MEET THE WORLD CHAMPION, FIGHTING HARADA, NEXT TUESDAY NIGHT AT THE TOKYO BUDOKAN HALL. HERE, HE SPARS WITH HIS OPPONENT'S YOUNGER BROTHER, USHIWAKAMARU, BEFORE SPORTSWRITERS AND COMMENTATORS, WHO CROWDED THE KORAKUEN GYMNASIUM LAST NIGHT (WEDNESDAY) TO WITNESS THE UNUSUAL SIGHT OF CHALLENGER AND CHAMPION PRACTISING IN THE SAME RING WITHIN MINUTES OF EACH OTHER.
FIGHTING HARADA HAS SUCCESSFULLY DEFENDED HIS TITLE FOUR TIMES SINCE HE WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP FROM EDAR JOFRE OF BRAZIL IN MAY, 1965. HIS LAST TITLE DEFENCE WAS IN JUNE LAST YEAR, WHEN HE MET BERNARDO CARABALLO OF COLOMBIA.
ROSE WATCHED CLOSELY AS THE CHAMPIONSHIP WENT THROUGH HIS PACES IN THE RING. HARADA, WHO IS NORMALLY A WELTERWEIGHT, WEIGHING ABOUT 145 POUNDS, HAS TO UNDERGO A STRENUOUS WEIGHT-REDUCING PROGRAMME BEFORE EACH BOUT.
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