World Boxing Organization’s Asia-Pacific super welterweight champion Takeshi Inoue of World Sports Boxing Gym, unleashing a barrage of combination blows to the head and body, stopped 15^th-ranked Thiranan Matsali of Thailand in the sixth round to retain the title on Oct. 12 in Tokyo.

  The technical knockout of the scheduled 12-rounder at Ariake Arena came 2 minutes and 2 seconds into the round when Inoue dropped his 23-year-old opponent with a right-hand punch for the fourth knockdown of the fight, prompting the referee to call off the fight.

  It was the 33-year-old Inoue’s second defense of the title he won last November.

  Inoue, ranked eighth in the world in the division by the WBO, 11^th by the International Boxing Federation and 13^th by the World Boxing Council, also floored Thiranan twice in the fifth and added one more knockdown early in the sixth round.

  With the victory, Inoue improved his record to 20 wins, including 12 KOs, against two losses and two draws. Thiranan fell to a 27-3 win-loss tally with seven KOs.