18.12.06 – By Scott Frake: In Jin Chi (31-3-1, 18 KO’s) regained his Featherweight title yesterday, winning a 12-round unanimous decision over Rodolfo Lopez (19-3-1, 13 KO’s), at the Chungmu Art Hall, in Seoul, South Korea. Lopez had briefly held onto the title after winning it against Takashi Koshimoto, whom he knocked out in the 7th round on July 30th, 2006. Previous to this, Koshimoto had defeated In-Jin Chi, winning a 12-round split decision to snatch away Chi’s featherweight title. Chi, 33, was able to use his busy style to control much of the action, often forcing the younger 23-year old Lopez into the ropes, where Chi would pound away with brutal combinations. The crowd was sparse, with possibly only as much as 300 in attendance. However, it seemed to be much more, as they screamed loudly whenever Chi would go on attach, which, as it turns out, was quite often.
In rounds 1-4, Chi constantly stalked Lopez, hitting him with hard combinations. When the action would get in close, Chi would occasionally land uppercuts, some of which seemed to effect Lopez and make him cautious. Chi finished the fourth round strong, landing a left, right combination before the bell.
Early in the 5th, however, Lopez landed a big right hand that briefly hurt Chi. However, the Korean continued firing back with punches, though not as effective as the hard shots Lopez was landing. This round perhaps, was Lopez’s best round of the fight.
In the 6th round, Chi came out immediately with a strong two-fisted attack, which seemed to surprise Lopez, who appeared to have Chi hurt and ready to go in the previous round. Chi dominated most of the 6th, although Lopez had his moments, landing some excellent hooks.
In the 7th and 8th rounds, Lopez started strong in the early portion of the rounds, backing Chi up with beautiful hooks. However, Chi kept coming forward and smothering Lopez’s power, and forcing him to fight on the inside.
In rounds 9-12, Chi was the much busier fighter, as he snowed Lopez under with an innumerable amount of punches for which the Mexican fighter could not match. Though Lopez occasionally landed some good shots during this time, he was for the most part outworked. Chi’s uppercuts on the inside were the most damaging, as they caught Lopez again and again, snapping his head back.
I was somewhat surprised that Lopez didn’t have an uppercut of his own to use during this time, since he seemed reduced to landing mainly hooks. Chi showed a lot of determination, especially coming back after being hurt in the 5th round. Most fighters would back off and go into a shell, but not Chi. He came right back immediately and fought Lopez to a standstill for the remainder of the round.
The final judges’ scores were 117-112, 116-112 and 116-113.