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Home > Match Information > Yoshino retains 2 regional lightweight titles with technical decision over Ito as undercard of Murata-GGG clash

Yoshino retains 2 regional lightweight titles with technical decision over Ito as undercard of Murata-GGG clash

Apr 10, 2022 9:45 am

Undefeated Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization’s Asia-Pacific lightweight champion Shuichiro Yoshino of Misako Boxing Gym retained the titles as he stopped challenger Masayuki Ito of Yokohama Hikari Boxing Gym, former WBO super featherweight champion, with an 11th-round technical decision in Saitama Prefecture on Apr. 9.

The end of the scheduled 12-rounder at Saitama Super Arena came 2 minutes and 6 seconds into the round as Ito’s left eyelid injury he suffered due to an accidental head-butting in the eighth round became worsened. Referee Michiaki Someya stopped the fight after consulting with a ringside doctor.

At the time of the stoppage, all of the three judges had the 30-year-old Yoshino ahead by three to five points. It was Yoshino’s second successful defense of the titles.

While Ito, 31, got off to a good start by exchanging fierce blows at close range while sticking out left jabs, Yoshino worked Ito’s body, which gradually sapped Ito’s strength.

At the end of the fourth round, only one of the three judges had Yoshino ahead by two points. The two fighters continued their exchange of punches and were almost even at the end of the eighth round as one of the judges scored the bout even while the remaining two had Yoshino ahead only by two points.

Ito looked slightly tired because the nose bleeding he suffered in the second round became visibly worsened as the fight went by, which appeared responsible for Ito’s sluggish performance from the ninth round.

After the fight, Yoshino said, ‘’I feel sorry for Mr. Ito for the accidental head-butting. I heaved a sigh of relieve because I was able to win even by the technical decision. I will set my sights on a world title challenge.’’

With the victory, Yoshino improved his unbeaten streak to 15, including 11 knockouts. For his part, Ito fell to a 27-4-1 win-loss-draw tally with 15 KOs.

The fight was held as the first main undercard of the title unification fight between World Boxing Association ‘’super’’ middleweight champion Ryota Murata of Teiken Boxing Gym and International Boxing Federation middleweight ruler Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin, nicknamed GGG, of Kazakhstan.

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