WBO fly and superfly champions Kosei Tanaka and Kazuto Ioka successfully kept a grip on their respective crowns during the annual Japanese title fest to bring in 2020.
Tanaka, for his part, dominated and halted Wulan Tuolehazi to defend his lighter version. Tanaka proved too powerful and ended the fight in the third session.
A three-time WBN Young Fighter of the Year, Tanaka is now 15-0 and has already won world straps in three weight divisions.
The Tuolehazi victory adds to Tanaka’s victories over Jonathan Gonzalez and Ryoichi Taguchi. It caps another fine year for the rising star.
At the higher limit, Ioka made it two wins on the spin with a unanimous decision triumph over Jeyvier Cintron.
A close and competitive contest ended with Ioka gaining the W 116-112 twice and 115-113 on the scorecards.
Boasting a record of 25-2 and himself a four-weight ruler, Ioka has only been defeated at the very top level.
Coming into his prime at 30, it will be interesting to see if Ioka aims for a fifth division belt in the New Year.
OTHER RESULTS
A super bantamweight contest saw Yusaku Kuga blown out inside a round by Jhunriel Ramonal. In the process, Ramonal picked up the vacant World Boxing Organisation Asia Pacific Super Bantamweight Title.
Minimumweight prospect Ginjiro Shigeoka improved to 5-0 by stopping former world champion and veteran Rey Loreto in five rounds. Shigeoka remains in possession of a WBO ranking belt.
In a female super flyweight contest, Miyo Yoshida scored a points win over Li Ping Shi to push to 14-1.
Yoshida proudly still wears the Women’s World Boxing Organisation Super Flyweight Title.
Flyweight Yume Hirayama stayed undefeated and claimed the vacant Japanese crown thanks to a six-round decision against Marina Sayama.
In a rare heavyweight offering, Keigo Kawase recorded the third win of his early pro career after carding a four-round win against debutant Izadpanahhir Mohammadreza.
Finally, at featherweight, Beverly Tsukada lost to Tatsuya Tsuge over four.
