The World Boxing Council’s fifth-ranked super featherweight Masanori Rikiishi of Lush Midori Gym, unleashing a barrage of right-left combinations, stopped sixth-ranked Michael Magnesi of Italy in the final round in an exciting fight for the WBC silver super featherweight title fight on March 22 (23 Japan time) in Rome.

  Japan, however, does not officially recognize the WBC silver title.

  The technical knockout of the scheduled 12-rounder at Palazzetto Romboli in the central Italian town of Colleferro came 2 minutes and 34 seconds into the round when the referee stepped in to halt the fight when Rikishii landed a barrage of unanswered combination blows to Magnesi by putting his opponent against the ropes.

  While the left-handed Rikishi was behind on points at the end of the eighth round, he connected with a sharp counter right to the head in the 10^th round, which set the stage for his final-round upset victory.

  The 29-year-old Rikiishi scored knockdowns in the final round with a right hook to the head for the first time and then with a straight left also to the head. Though Magnesi, also 29, wobbled to his feet, Rikiishi swarmed all over him by landing blows with all his might.

  With the victory, Rokishii improved his record to 15 wins, including 10 KOs, against a loss. For his part, Magnesi, who failed in his second defense of the title he captured a year ago, fell to a 23-2 win-loss tally with 13 KOs.