Undefeated Shuichiro Yoshino of Misako Boxing Gym stopped challenger Shuma Nakazato of Nakazato Boxing Gym in the sixth round to retain his Japanese lightweight title at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall on Aug. 12.

It was the 29-year-old Yoshino’s seventh successful defense of the title he won in October 2017. While Yoshino also holds the Oriental-Pacific Boxing Federation lightweight and World Boxing Organization Asia-Pacific lightweight titles, those titles were not at stake this time.

The technical knockout of the scheduled 10-rounder came 2 minutes and 20 seconds into the round when Nakazato’s left eyelid injury he initially suffered in the fourth round became visibly worsened, and the ringside doctor ordered the fight be stopped.

While Yoshino, who is ranked seventh in the WBO’s lightweight world rankings, pressed forward with left jabs, straight rights and left hooks from the opening round, the gutsy 10th-ranked challenger responded by unleashing a barrage of left and right combinations.

Yoshino, only slightly ahead halfway through the fight, stepped up his pace in the sixth round, landing his vaunted punches to the head and body, leading the referee to have the ringside doctor look at the injured part. The doctor ordered the stoppage of the fight.

With the victory, Yoshino improved his record to 14 straight wins, including 11 KOs. For his part, the 24-year-old Nakazato sagged to a 10-2-3 win-loss-draw record with seven KOs.
After the bout, Yoshino said, ‘’I want to take a crack at a world title as early as possible.’’