Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation super featherweight champion Hironori Mishiro of Watanabe Boxing Gym pounded out a hard-fought 10-round majority decision over former World Boxing Organization super featherweight ruler Masayuki Ito of Yokohama Hikari Boxing Gym in a highly-touted lightweight nontitle bout on Dec. 26 in Tokyo.

The 26-year-old Mishiro utilized his sharp and well-timed left jabs throughout and prevented Ito’s counterattack from around the middle rounds at the Sumida City Gymnasium.
While one of the three judges scored the fight 95-95, the remaining two judges both had it 96-94 in favor of Mishiro.

Although there was no knockdown in the fight, Mishiro’s left jabs reddened Ito’s face with his eyes puffed up.

After the fight, Mishiro said, ‘’Mr. Ito was really strong. But I think I would be able to win more easily if I fight with Mr. Shuichiro Yoshino (reigning Japanese, OPBF and WBO Asia-Pacific lightweight champion).

With the victory, undefeated Mishiro improved his record to 10 wins, including three knockouts, while the 29-year-old Ito fell to 26 wins, 14 by KO, against three defeats and a draw.

The bout conducted by A-SIGN BOXING Com., a crowd-funding platform via YouTube operated by the Yokohama Hikari gym, was originally scheduled to be held on Nov. 5 but was postponed due to Ito’s acute appendicitis.

Veteran Ryo Akaho of the Yokohama Hikari gym stopped Yuto Nakamura of Ichino Boxing Gym in the second round of an eight-round super bantamweight nontitle bout held as the chief supporting card.

The technical knockout came 1 minute and 52 seconds into the round when Akaho connected with a strong right uppercut, sending Nakamura to the canvas near a neutral corner. The referee called off the fight without bothering to count.

With the victory, the 34-yrar-old Akaho, the WBO’s 11th-ranked contender, improved his record to 36 wins, 24 by KO, against two losses and two draws. The 23-year-old Nakamura fell to a 11-6-1 win-loss-draw tally with eight KOs.

Hard-hitting Jin Sasaki of Hachioji Nakaya Boxing Gym, unleashing devastating left hooks almost at will, stopped Aso Ishiwaki of Neyagawa Ishida Boxing Club in the third round of a scheduled eight-rounder and captured the vacant Japanese youth super lightweight title in one of the undercards. Sasaki also decked Ishiwaki twice with heft hooks to the head.

With the technical knockout, the 19-year-old Sasaki improved his undefeated record to 10 wins, nine by KO, while the 21-year-old Ishiwaki fell to an 8-3-1 win-loss-draw record with six KOs.

Eighth-ranked Japanese welterweight Shoki Sakai of the Yokohama Hikari gym, who fought almost all of his bouts in Mexico and the United States until this year, pounded out a an eight-round unanimous decision over Takeru Kobata of Dash Higashiho Boxing Gym.

With the victory, Sakai, 29, upped his record to 25 wins, including 13 KOs, against 11 losses and two draws. With the loss, southpaw Kobata impaired to eight wins, five losses and a draw with three KOs.