Champion Seigo ‘’Yuri’’ Akui of Kurashiki Moriyasu Boxing Gym hammered out a lopsided 10-round decision over top-ranked Takuya Kogawa of Kadoebi Boxing Gym to retain his Japanese flyweight title in Okayama Prefecture, western Japan, on Feb. 27. It was the 26-year-old Akui’s third successful defense of the title he captured in October 2019.

Fighting at Santopia Okayama Soja in the prefecture’s Soja City, Akui took control of the fight from the opening bell by landing a variety of punches, including left and right body blows, straight rights and right uppercuts, with the head bent forward.

While Akui, 26, failed to score a knockdown against the 36-year-old Kogawa, a former Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation super flyweight champion as well as a former two-time Japanese flyweight kingpin, all three judges scored the fight 100-90 in favor of Akui.

Akui said after the fight, ‘’Since I was able to come this far, my next target is to win a world title. I want to take a crack at the title within this year.’’

With the victory, Akui improved his record to 16 wins, including 11 knockouts, against two losses and a draw. Kogawa impaired to a 32-71 win-loss-draw tally with 14 KOs.