Japanese middleweight champion Riku Kunimoto of Muto Boxing Gym stopped Katsuhiro Nakata of Hiroki Ioka Boxing Gym in the ninth round and captured the vacant World Boxing Organization’s Asia-Pacific middleweight title on Dec. 17 in Osaka.

  The technical knockout of the scheduled 10-round title fight at Sumiyoshi Ward Center came 1 minute and 25 seconds into the round as the referee stopped the lopsided bout.

  With the win, the 26-year-old Kunimoto improved his record to 10 wins, including four KOs, against a loss. The 32-year-old Nakata fell to a 9-5-1 win-loss-draw tally with five KOs.