‘Crank’ makes short work of Japanese foe

Frank “The Crank” Camacho scored an emotional win against Miura Yasuaki last Friday night, making short work of his Japanese foe in the main event of the Rites of Passage 18: Warpath at the Saipan World Resort’s Royal Taga Hall.

Frank “The Crank” Camacho, top, overpowers Japan’s Miura Yasuaki as referee Alverick Alvarez looks on in their scheduled three-round fight in the main event of last Friday’s Rites of Passage 18: Warpath at the Saipan World Resort’s Royal Taga Hall. (Jon Perez)

Camacho needed only 34 seconds to dispatch the flamboyant Yasuaki to earn the knockout win in the non-title bout serving as the main fight of the triple main event that also featured nine undercard contests and a jiu-jitsu exhibition match between cousins “Shiska” Bob Alvarez and Roman “Boom” Alvarez.

Camacho was coming off a first round defeat to another Japanese, Yusuke Kasuya, in the Pacific Xtreme Combat 47 last March in Guam, losing by rear-naked choke submission.

“This was a truly emotional fight and win for me. I always want to challenge myself of what more I could bring in a fight, especially after coming off a loss,” said Camacho after the match.

He improved his record to 16-3 with 12 of his wins by KO, and two each by submission and decision, while suffering two defeats by KO and one by submission.

Yasuaki, on the other hand, absorbed his fourth straight setback to drop to 7-6. His previous loss before challenging Camacho was against New Zealand’s Luke Jumeau (8-3, with 3 KOs) in the Pacific Ring Organized Fighting Championship last May 9 by technical KO.

Camacho said he watched Yasuaki’s past fights since six of the Japanese bet’s seven wins were by way of submission.

“I’ve prepared hard against him. I’ve done my research since we learned that he’s a known submission fighter that’s why as much as possible I kept a safe distance from him so he won’t take me down that easily,” said Camacho.

He added that Yasuaki’s height also did not pose any problem as he had his game plan set inside his mind. Standing at six feet, Yasuaki was three inches taller than the 5-foot-9 Camacho.

“He is also taller than me that’s why I tried to stay not too close since he is a good grappler and might use his height advantage against me. Our plan was for me to avoid being taken down,” added Camacho.

Both fighters spent less than 15 seconds in trying to size up each other before Camacho faked in an attempt to take down Yasuaki and the Japanese took the bait, bringing his guard down.

“When his right hand came down, after faking him, I quickly took advantage and pounced on the opportunity. That has been what I’ve been training for the past four weeks and it paid off.”