Former World Boxing Organization minimumweight champion Masataka Taniguchi of Watanabe Boxing Gym eked out a majority decision over veteran Kenichi Horikawa of Misako Boxing Gym in a light flyweight 10-rounder on Aug. 5 at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall.

  It was the 29-year-old Taniguchi’s first fight since losing his world title to Melvin Jerusalem of the Philippines with a second-round technical knockout in his second defense in Osaka last January.

  While the left-handed Taniguchi controlled the fight earlier in the fight chiefly with left body shots, the 43-year-old Horikawa, a former Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation light flyweight kingpin, rebounded from the fifth round by landing left-and-right hooks to the body.

  Both exchanged fierce blows the rest of the way with Taniguchi having his jaw injured while Horikawa suffering a cut in the front part of the forehead.

  After the hard-fought fight, two of the three judges scored the fight 96-94 in favor of Taniguchi, whereas the remaining judge had it even at 95-95.

  Taniguchi refrained from doing the customary winner’s interview due to the jaw injuries.

  With the victory, Taniguchi improved his record to 17 wins, including 11 KOs, against four losses. For his part, Horikawa, who had also held many other regional titles, fell to a 49-19-1 win-loss-draw tally with 14 KOs.