The World Boxing Council’s eighth-ranked featherweight Hayato Tsutsumi of Shisei Boxing Gym knocked out former World Boxing Association bantamweight champion Anselmo Moreno of Panama in the third round in a featherweight nontitle bout on Apr. 17 in Tokyo.

The fight was marred by Tsutsumi’s failure to clear the official weigh-in held on the preceding day as the 24-year-old Tsutsumi exceeded the featherweight limit of 57.15ｇ(126 lbs) by as much as 1.6 kg.

Since Tsutsumi weighed in at 60.95 kg on the morning of the fight day, less than 61.12 kg both sides agreed upon after Tsutsumi’s failure in making the weight. The 38-year-old Moreno tipped the scales at 56.8 kg in his official weigh-in.

The knockout of the scheduled 10-rounder at Korakuen Hall came 2 minutes and 45 seconds into the round when Tsutsumi dropped the left-handed Moreno with a left uppercut. While Moreno struggled to his feet, he was decked again before Tsutsumi’s barrage of combination blows and a right uppercut, and the referee counted him out.

After the fight, Tsutsumi apologized to Moreno, spectators and persons concerned with the event by saying, ‘’I am really sorry for my failure (to make the weight). I damaged this traditional sport of boxing.’’

In his dressing room, Tsutsumi said he was found to have been inflicted with coronavirus after returning to Japan on March 25 from training in the United States, which Tsutsumi said was the chief reason for his not being able to take care of himself.

Tsutsumi also said he might move up in weight to super featherweight division in the future.

  Tsutsumi turned pro in July 2022 with a class-A license, a rare treatment for an amateur boxer turning pro, as he won as many as 13 amateur titles, including the all-Japan amateur championship in the bantamweight division in 2017 for the first time as a high-schooler since Naoya ‘’The Monster’’ Inoue of Ohashi Boxing Gym.

  With the victory, Tsutsumi extended his unbeaten streak to five, two by KO, while Moreno, currently ranked ninth in the featherweight division by the WBA, fell to a 43-7-1 win-loss-draw tally with 15 KOs.