GOLD COAST, Australia, 19 December 2004 — Australian Shannan Taylor won the vacant World Boxing Federation super middleweight title Friday with a second-round knockout of Thailand’s Sakda Sorpakdi. Taylor ended the scheduled 12-round bout with a sharp right-hand upper cut that knocked Sorpakdi to the canvas before 1,500 spectators at the Royal Pines Resort.
The fight was a warmup for Taylor’s scheduled challenge next month for an International Boxing Federation title. He will fight IBF junior middleweight champion Kassim Ouma in Las Vegas on Jan. 29. Taylor’s only previous world title fight was in 2001, when he was stopped by World Boxing Council welterweight champion Shane Mosely. Taylor, 32, has 41 wins, three losses and two draws.
Bustos Beats Den to Become WBC Straw-Weight Champion
In Tokyo, Isaac Bustos of Mexico defeated Thailand’s Den Junlaphan by a technical knockout in the fourth round to become the new World Boxing Council (WBC) straw-weight champion yesterday. The Japan-based Thai boxer with the ring name of Eagle Kyowa injured his right shoulder in the third round and abandoned the title-match 39 seconds into the fourth round. “I didn’t know what happened,” Bustos, 29, said of Den’s injury.
A speedy Den had taken control from the very beginning and overwhelmed Bustos, connecting with several punches before the injury.
All three American judges scored it 29-28 in favor of the Thai boxer for the four rounds.
Bustos, ranked top in the WBC, kept his winning streak to 17 straight wins for a total of 24 wins including 13 KOs, six defeats and three draws.
It was Den’s second defense of the title he wrested from Jose Antonio Aguirre of Mexico in January. It was also his first defeat in his professional career after winning 13 times, including five KOs.
