Top-ranked Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation super flyweight Masayoshi Hashizume of Kadoebi Boxing Gym pounded out a unanimous decision over second-ranked Akio Furutani of Muto Boxing Gym to win the vacant OPBF title on Feb. 28 at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall.

With the victory, the 28-year-old undefeated Hashizume also captured the vacant World Boxing Organization Asia-Pacific crown. Both titles were left vacant by Hashizume’s stablemate Ryoji Fukunaga last year as Fukunaga had to concentrate on his challenge to WBO super flyweight champion Kazuto Ioka of Shisei Boxing Gym for the latter’s title on Dec. 31, which resulted in Ioka’s unanimous decision victory.

In the day’s fight with Furutani, southpaw Hashizume got off to a good start with his long right jabs and left punches to the head and body. While Furutani rallied with his big punches, Hashizume kept his distance, piled up points with his jabs and straight rights and ended the 12-round fight on top.

After the fight, Hashizume said, ‘’I am happy. But I’m a little tired after going the 12-round distance. After defending the title for some times, I hope I can take a crack at a world title.’’

With the victory, Hashizume improved his record to 19 wins, including 11 knockouts, against two draws. For his part, Furutani, 24, fell to a 9-5 win-loss tally with three KOs.

The fight was held as the chief supporting card for the WBO Asia-Pacific-cum-Japanese super lightweight title bout between champion Andy Hiraoka of Ohashi Boxing Gym and top-ranked Japanese super lightweight Cristiano Aoqui of Kadoebi gym.