Unheralded Ryosuke Nishida of Muto Boxing Gym pounded out a one-sided decision over champion Daigo Higa of Ambition Gym to capture the World Boxing Organization Asia-Pacific bantamweight title on Apr. 24 at Okinawa Convention Center in the city of Ginowan in Japan’s southernmost prefecture of Okinawa.

The 24-year-old left-handed challenger, ranked fifth in the Japanese super bantamweight division, landed right jabs and left hooks and uppercuts to the head and body from the long distance. Higa, a former World Boxing Council flyweight kingpin who hailed from Okinawa, failed to land his big punches cleanly against his much taller opponent throughout the 12 rounds.

Two of the three judges scored the fight 117-111 and the remaining judge saw it 118-11 all in favor of Nishida, who was fighting his fourth professional bout after turning pro in October 2019. He won all the four bouts, including one knockout. He had fought at Kindai University during his amateur era.

Nishida made his name when he decisioned former Japanese bantamweight champion Shohei Omori of WoZ Boxing Gym last December. He also revenged for his former stablemate and now-retired former WBO Asia-Pacific champion Yuki ‘’Strong’’ Kobayashi, who lost his title after being knocked out by Higa on Dec. 31 last year. Photo by Okinawa Times