Former Japanese lightweight champion Shu Utsuki of Watanabe Boxing Gym stopped champion Masahiro Suzuki of Kadoebi Boxing Gym in the fifth round to wrest the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation lightweight title in a highly touted bout on July 19 in Tokyo.

The technical knockout of the scheduled 12-rounder at Korakuen Hall came 2 minutes and 54 seconds into the round when Utsuki landed a devastating left hook to the head, staggering Suzuki and pummeled Suzuki with a barrage of combination blows by putting him against the ropes, prompting the referee to stop the fight.

It was the 30-year-old Utsuki’s second straight victory over Suzuki as he stopped Suzuki, 29, in the ninth round to capture the then vacant Japanese lightweight title about two years and a half ago.

With the defeat, Suzuki failed in his first defense of the title he won last January with a first-round TKO win over Roldan Aldea of the Philippines for the then vacant crown.

  Utsuki well utilized straight rights to the head and left hooks to the body and was ahead on points at the end of the fourth round as all three judges scored the fight 39-37 in favor of Utsuki.

  Utsuki once lost his Japanese title to Shuma Nakazato of Boxing Club Okinawa with a third-round KO in April last year.

  Utsuki said after the fight, he wants to capture all the regional lightweight titles (the World Boxing Organization’s Asia-Pacific and Japanese).

  With the victory, Utsuki improved his record to 14 wins, including 12 KOs, against a loss, while Suzuki fell to a 10-2-1 win-loss-draw tally with seven KOs.