The World Boxing Organization’s Asia-Pacific featherweight champion Kenji Fujita of Teiken Boxing Gym, overcoming his left wrist fracture late in the fight, eked out a unanimous decision over third-ranked Rodex Piala of the Philippines on June 1 in Tokyo.

  It was the 30-year-old Fujita’s first successful defense of the title he captured in this past January.

  After the 12-round fight at Korakuen Hall, all three judges scored the fight for Fujita by margins of 1 to 5 points.

  The left-handed Fujita, who had fought 174 bouts as an amateur, got off to a good start by landing straight lefts to the head and body. He added a light knockdown in the second round with a counter left and piled up points earlier in the fight.

  But the previously undefeated Piala, 29, rebounded in the fifth round as he staggered Fujita with a right-hand punch, and Fujita suffered a slight cut above his left eyelid.

  While Fujita worked Piala’s body and forced his opponent to backpedal midway through the fight, Fujita apparently lacked the number of punches from around the ninth round as he allowed his opponent to move forward and ended the fight that way.

  After the fight, Fujita said, ‘’I broke my left wrist in the eighth round. I tried hard too much. I want to show my best performance in my next fight.’’

  With the win, Fujita improved his unbeaten log to seven, including three knockouts, while Piala now has a 10-1 win-loss tally with one KO.