Top-ranked Masataka Taniguchi of Watanabe Boxing Gym, utilizing his speed and power advantage fully, stopped third-ranked Hizuki Saso of T&T Boxing Sports Gym in the 10th round and captured the vacant Japanese minimumweight title at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall on Dec. 3.

It was the 26-year-old Taniguchi’s second title as he once captured the World Boxing Organization’s Asia Pacific crown in 2018. He relinquished the title without defending it to challenge a world title. He failed to win the world title though.

The technical knockout came 37 seconds into the final round when southpaw Taniguchi staggered Saso by landing a barrage of right-left combinations, prompting the referee to call off the bout.

Taniguchi put Saso on the seat of his trunks with a straight left to the body in the first round for a mandatory eight count and put pressure on his game but one-dimensional fighter, piling up points as the fight went by.

After the fight, Taniguchi said, ‘’I am simply happy. True I won the WBO Asia Pacific title two years ago and was happy. But it was in Thailand. This time, I am happier because I won the traditional Japanese title before fans at the Korakuen Hall, the mecca of boxing. My final aim is to win a world title. But before that, I really wanted to get the honor of the best in Japan.’’

World Boxing Association light flyweight super champion Hiroto Kyoguchi, also of Watanabe gym, was among Taniguchi’s cornermen.

With the victory, Taniguchi, the WBO’s third-ranked minimumweight, improved his record to 13 wins, including eight KOs, against three losses. The 25-year-old Saso sagged to a 12-7-2 win-loss-draw record with four KOs.