Seasoned veteran Kenichi Horikawa stopped Daiki Tomita in the 10th round and captured the vacant Oriental-Pacific Boxing Federation light flyweight title on July25 in Kobe, western Japan.

The scheduled 12-rounder at the Kobe Central Gymnasium, which had originally been planned with some spectators, ended up with a closed-door event given a recent increase in the number of coronavirus infections.

The bout ended 1 minute and 47 seconds into the round when the 40-year-old Horikawa severely staggered Tomita, 22, with straight rights to the head, prompting the referee to step in to call the halt to the lopsided match. Tomita crashed to the canvas soon after.

With the victory, Horikawa upped his record to 41 wins, including 14 knockouts, against 16 losses and a draw. Tomita sagged to 14-2 with five Kos.

Tomita became the second oldest Japanese to win an OPBF title.
The bout had been rescheduled time and time again due to prevalent coronavirus.