Chrisjon to defend WBA title against Sato<\/p>\n
Suherdjoko, Semarang<\/p>\n
World featherweight champion Christian John of Indonesia will
\ndefend his World Boxing Association (WBA) title against Osamu
\nSato in Tokyo next week.<\/p>\n
He left for Japan on Wednesday, accompanied by trainer Sutan
\nRambing and promoter Daniel Bahari.<\/p>\n
\"I will fight to the best of my ability out there. Sato is
\nundeniably a tough opponent. He had been the junior featherweight
\nchampion before,\" said Chrisjon, as the 24-year-old is familiarly
\nknown, prior to his departure on Monday.<\/p>\n
It will be Chrisjon's first match after he was declared the
\nworld champion last year. He has booked 33 wins, 19 of which came
\nby way of KOs.<\/p>\n
Ahead of his Sato match, which is scheduled on June 4,
\nChrisjon participated in an intensive 45-day training regime on
\nthe mountainous plateau of Lembang, north of Bandung, West Java.<\/p>\n
He spent his time in Lembang practicing with three sparring
\npartners.<\/p>\n
As part of his preparations, Chrisjon said that he had been
\nassessing Sato's strengths and weaknesses by watching video
\nrecordings of the Japanese fighter's previous matches.<\/p>\n
He found that Sato was good at hooks and left uppercuts.<\/p>\n
\"Together with my trainer, I have been looking for the
\nweaknesses that I will be able to exploit to defeat Sato. We have
\nassessed his strengths. I definitely never underestimate my
\nopponents. I take all of them seriously,\" said Chrisjon, who will
\nhave to reduce his weight by 2.2 kilograms to reach the required
\n57.1 kilograms.<\/p>\n
Chrisjon's march to the world championship began when he
\ndefeated Oscar Leon of Colombia in an 'interim' fight in Bali on
\nSept. 28 last year.<\/p>\n
He had to wait for two months before he was declared the world
\nchampion after reigning champion Derrick Gainer of the United
\nStates failed in his bid to unify his WBA title with the
\nInternational Boxing Federation (IBF) title on Nov. 1.<\/p>\n
Chrisjon is Indonesia's second world champion boxer after
\nEllyas Pical, who was the IBF champion in the super flyweight
\ndivision between 1985 and 1989.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/chrisjon-to-defend-wba-title-against-sato-1447893297",
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