Boy still eying world title

Boy still eying world title

JAKARTA (JP): Flyweight Boy Aruan's defeat by world title- holder Hiroshi Kawashima of Japan will not weaken his spirit to keep struggling for the title, he says, "even though this means that I will have to start from scratch again."

The 24-year-old Indonesian was floored by Kawashima in a technical knock-out just one minute, 56 seconds into the third round of a world title bout sanctioned by the World Boxing Federation at the Ryogoku Kokugikan stadium, Tokyo, on Wednesday evening. Boy received US$20,000 as the loser.

Boy's style of bending his body while boxing made it difficult for him to handle Kawashima, who kept locking Boy's head with his hands, according to Boy's manager Setijadi Laksono. Laksono said the referee was not fair, often stopping Boy's attacks. Kawashima, on the other hand, expressed discontent over Boy's punching him twice after the referee had stopped the bout. (arf)