Undergoes brain operation after TKO loss
by Nick Giongco
Filipino featherweight Renerio Arizala, still in coma, underwent a craniotomy (brain operation) at the Yokohama Minato Sekijuji Hospital on Sunday after suffering a sixth-round stoppage at the hands of Tsuyoshi Tameda at the Osanbashi Hall in Yokohama, Japan.
Arizala, 24, was taken “to a hospital in an ambulance”, said Japanese boxing agent Makoto Okaniwa, adding that Arizala sustained a “right acute subdural hematoma.”
There were no knockdowns in the scheduled six-rounder that was held in the undercard of the Orient-Pacific Boxing Federation minimumweight title fight between Japanese Tsubasa Koura and Filipino Lito Dante that ended with Dante winning the crown on a 12th-round TKO.
Arizala, originally from Masbate, came into the fight with a 13-8-3 win-loss-draw record with five KOs.
However, Arizala had lost seven of his last ten fights and his last victory happened in July 2015, a technical decision over Romnick Magos at the Cuneta Astrodome.
Tameda, 25, entered the fight armed with an 18-4-2 slate with 16 KOs but was coming off a KO loss.
The Games and Amusements Board (GAB) confirmed on Monday that the agency cleared Arizala to fight in Yokohama.
Arizala’s fight in Japan was arranged by former boxer Art Monis, who now moonlights as a boxing agent.
Okaniwa said that Arizala “is now under observation”, according to an officer of the Japan Boxing Commission, who stressed that the Temada-Arizala fight was competitive.
Two-division world champion Gerry Penalosa, now a fight promoter, revealed that Arizala had approached him a few times looking for fights.
