Mayol tormentor may not fight again

It was a high price to pay for victory.

World Boxing Council (WBC) minimumweight champion Eagle Kyowa may be forced to retire if he is unable to recover from a cracked right orbital bone suffered in beating Filipino challenger Rodel Mayol to retain his title in Tokyo last Saturday.

Mayol told The STAR upon returning home yesterday that Kyowa is still confined in the Japan University Hospital where doctors are determining whether or not to perform surgery to repair the eye socket damage. If surgery is necessary, Kyowa will be required to rest for at least six months and Mayol will be tapped to dispute the interim championship with No. 2 contender Oleydong Sithsanerchai of Thailand.

Kyowa staged a late comeback to overcome Mayol’s early lead and scored a 12th round knockdown to seal the verdict. But he wound up the fight with his right eye nearly swollen shut and a cut over his left eye.

Mayol said about an hour after the fight, he vomited the coffee he drank in the dressing room and was rushed to the hospital by his manager Yasuo Matsuoka as a precautionary measure. Doctors cleared him of any brain injury after examining his CT-Scan and MRI results. Mayol was confined for a night in the hospital and checked out early the next morning.

To Mayol’s surprise, he saw Kyowa in the same hospital. Kyowa vomited repeatedly in the dressing room and was brought to the hospital for immediate confinement.

When they crossed paths in the hospital, Kyowa congratulated Mayol for a furious challenge. "Sabi niya, magaling ako," said Mayol. "Ang sabi ko naman sa kanya, higit na magaling siya kasi siyang nanalo."

Mayol took his wife Lira Mendoza, on her first overseas trip, sightseeing in Tokyo before they returned home yesterday.

Mayol said he may fight Munetsugu Kayoh for the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation lightflyweight crown in October while awaiting a rematch with Kyowa.

Matsuoka and his Filipina wife Gina are arriving from Tokyo on May 17 after which they will meet to plan his future.

Mayol refused to blame anyone, except himself, for the loss.