Veteran Ayaka Miyao of Watanabe Boxing Gym eked out a 10-round majority decision over Eri Matsuda of TEAM10Count Boxing Gym and won the vacant International Boxing Federation female atomweight title on Feb. 25 at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall. The title was left vacant by Saemi Hanagata of Hanagata Boxing Gym as she retired recently.

The 38-year-old Miyao, who is a former World Boxing Association atomweight champion and successfully defended the title five times, controlled the early part of the fight by keeping her distance from the left-handed Matsuda while landing effective straight rights to the body and left-right hooks to the head.

Though Matsuda, who has an ample career as an amateur boxer, came forward from the fifth round with her southpaw right hooks and straight lefts, fleet-footed Miyao held on to end the fight.

Two of the three judges scored the fight 96-94 for Miyao while the third judge had it even at 95-95.
It was Miyao’s first title since losing her World Boxing Association atomweight interim crown in September 2019 to Montserrat Alarcon of Mexico in the WBA title unification match.

With the victory, Miyao improved her record to 25 wins, including six knockouts, against nine defeats and two draws. For her part, Matsuda, 27, suffered her first loss as a pro after racking up four wins, including a KO, and a draw.

Meanwhile, Nanae Suzuki of Shu Boxing Gym, ranked 14th in the division, pounded out a split decision over Mika Iwakawa of Himeji Kinoshita Boxing Gym to wrest the World Boxing Organization female atomweight title as the co-main event fight.

It was their direct rematch. Iwakawa, 38, beat Suzuki with a split decision to retain the title for the first time in September in 2020. But neither Iwakawa nor Suzuki had a fight since then.

In the Feb. 25 fight, neither boxer failed to land decisive blows throughout the 10-round bout. Two of the three judges scored the fight 96-94 for Suzuki while the third judge saw it 96-94 for Iwakawa.

With the victory, the 29-year-old Suzuki has an 11-4-1 win-loss-draw tally with one KO, while Iwakawa has 10 wins, including three KOs, against six losses and a draw.