All three judges, two Americans, and a Mexican, scored the bout 119-109, which didn’t really reflect the challenger’s effort in a cauldron of Japanese fans at the Sumo Hall.
Munroe started well, taking the center of the ring and pushing back the champion with his strength but seemed to struggle to generate enough power to hurt the WBC Champion.
After round four, Nishioka took control of the bout and picked his punches superbly, shaking Munroe in the fifth with his trademark left hand and again in the seventh with an awesome body shot.
Munroe tried to fight back, taking the ninth round to Nishioka, but the Japanese fighter’s body punching seemed to take the steam out of the “Boxing Bin Man.”
In the later rounds, Munroe’s knees dipped after another crunching shot to the ribs.
It was a sterling effort by the challenger, and I would have had it a couple of rounds closer than the judges. Still, you can’t deny the class of Nishioka, who is a worthy champion and definitely the number one in the division at the moment.
Munroe drops to 20-2, whilst the champion celebrated his 37 victories in his 44 contest and remains unbeaten since 2004.
On the under-card in Tokyo, Nicaraguan Roman Gonzalez claimed the interim WBA World Light-Flyweight Title after knocking Francisco Rosas down three times in the second round, prompting the referee stop the contest.
It was all the more impressive considering the two fighters fought hard 12 rounds in February 2009, with Gonzalez coming away with a majority decision on that occasion.
On Saturday Night, Sammy Gutierrez also claimed an interim version of the WBA world title by knocking out Luis Carillo in the third round to claim the minimumweight crown and improve his record to 26-5-2.
