SEOUL — South Korea’s Injin Chi reclaimed the World Boxing Council featherweight title on Dec. 17, 2006, at Chung Mu Art Hall. While it was a struggle for Chi who fractured a finger on his right hand in the eighth round, he beat Mexico’s Rudy Lopez by unanimous decision.

At 33 years old, Chi is 10 years Lopez’s senior, and showed it in the beginning of the match, getting off to a sluggish start. Lopez came out with a series of jabs and aggressive punches, managing to back Chi into the ropes. But the veteran and hometown favorite who first won the WBC title after beating Michael Brodie in England in 2004, showed up after the third round, when Lopez’s energy dropped. Chi connected with a right cross that had Lopez staggering, and later was able to avert many of Lopez’s punches by bobbing and weaving. He then counterattacked with several good jabs and scored with several solid combinations.

Lopez’s inexperience showed toward the end, when he clearly hadn’t paced himself for such a hard battle. While Chi was visibly tired in the eighth round, he dominated the last three rounds, earning him the win.

The WBC featherweight title back around the waist of Injin Chi.

The official judges’ scores were all in favor of Chi: Lou Filippo (United States), 116-112; Stephen Blea (United States), 116-113; and Raul Nieves (Puerto Rico) 117-111.

It was Chi’s first time fighting since last January, when he lost the belt to Takashi Koshimoto on a split decision. Lopez then took Koshimoto’s title with a seventh-round technical knockout in July, and was defending it for the first time.

Despite being inactive for quite some time, Chi managed to whittle himself down to 126 pounds to make the weight class again. He even trained at the famed ALA Gym of respected boxing patron Tony Aldeguer in preparation for the fight. The win makes his official record 31-3-1, with 18 KOs. After beating Lopez, he was taken to the hospital to address his mangled finger.

Chi is most known for the action-packed fight against Erik “El Terrible” Morales in Las Vegas on July 28, 2001. He lost a unanimous decision, despite both boxers walking away severely battered and bruised. Morales’ eye was purple and blood spewed from a gash on his forehead, while Chi’s own eye was swollen shut, his head puffed up like a pumpkin. At the time Chi was the No. 1 rated contender from South Korea and was vying for the featherweight title.

According to Chi’s promoter, Poon San Promotions, Chi next plans to defend his title against official challenger Oscar Larios.

 

 

-Compiled from wire reports