Iida dethroned by Rojas with injured shoulder
WBA super flyweight champion Satoshi Iida failed to defend his belt by being defeated by No. 7 ranked challenger Jesus Rojas of Venezuela with a unanimous decision on December 23, 1998 at Aichi prefectural sports hall, Nagoya City, Japan. It was Iida's third defense of the title that was obtained on the same day of 1997. Rojas captured his second world title following his first belt in WBA flyweight in 1989.
In the fifth round, a bad luck loomed over
southpaw champion Iida. Iida's right shoulder suddenly got dislocated (picture on
the left) in the late part of the round while both fighters were holding. Iida
momentarily dropped his right hand down, inviting Rojas' combination blows but saved by
the the bell.
Iida got his dislocated shoulder back to its normal position in the interval. However, Iida could not use his right hand any more but as a defense instrument throughout the rest of the rounds. Iida fiercely attacked Rojas with left straight in the 6th, but Rojas effectively protected himself from the desperate champion's punches.
Rojas, keeping his advantage, constantly threw his left jab and sharp right straight to the champion's face. Seriously handicapped Iida tried to nail Rojas with mainly his left hand, but Rojas was too slick and fast to be an easy target for Iida.
Single-handed Iida absorbed Rojas' crisp
straight blows that shook Iida's knees in the 11th. In the final round, Iida threw himself
into an all-out war against Rojas with a determination to knock the challenger out in
order to retain the title. Couple of Iida's left straight hit Rojas on his head, but the
slick challenger never allowed damaged champion to stay in a good position to throw
effective blows.
Although Rojas was two points deducted for throwing low blows in the 6th and 12th, it did not affect the score cards that showed a unanimous decision in favor of the challenger - 116-113, 115-111, and 116-112.
Iida reportedly said to his corner men from the 2th round that his shoulder was hurt by Rojas holding his arm strongly.
After the bout, Iida said, "I tried to get one chance (to knock Rojas out) no matter what happens to my arm," On a question of his future career, he commented, "I don't think I am burned out because I could not do what I should have done."
Iida (29) suffered his second loss in his professional career, falling to 25-2-1 with 11 KOs. Rojas improved his record to 32-7-2 (one no-contest) with 16 KOs.
Follow-up story: On December 24, Iida held a press conference, saying that he will pursue his professional career as long as he has a chance to regain a world title. Since Iida has difficulty to make super flyweight, there is a possibility to move up to bantamweight. His dislocated shoulder was diagnosed as an injury that should take one month to be cured.