Champion Riku Kano of Taisei Boxing Gym, surviving two knockdowns earlier in the fight, stopped top-ranked Takumi Sakae of Orio Boxing Gym, in the ninth round and retained his World Boxing Organization Asia-Pacific light flyweight title on July 23.

It was the 23-year-old Kano’s first successful defense of the title he won in November last year.
The technical knockout of the scheduled 12-rounder at EDION Arena Osaka annex came 2 minutes and 12 seconds into the round when Kano put the 27-year-old Sakae against the ropes and unleashed a barrage of right-left combinations to the head, prompting the referee to call off the fight. Immediately before the stoppage, Kano chased Sakae around the ring by landing his vaunted right uppercuts and straight lefts.

Though Sakae decked Kano with right-hand blows both in the second and fifth rounds, he failed to land follow-up punches, and Kano soon recovered from the damage.

After the fight Kano said, ‘’I am determined to become a world champion by the time I become 26 years old.’’

With the victory, Kano improved his record of 18 wins, including nine KOs, against four losses and a draw. For his part Sakae fell to a 22-4-1 win-loss draw tally with 16 KOs.