Yoshiki Takei of Ohashi Boxing Gym, the winner of a former K-1 super bantamweight grand prix, stopped Shingo Kawamura of Sakai Haruki Boxing Gym in the second round of a scheduled 10-round super bantamweight bout on Apr. 22 at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall.

The fight served as the chief supporting card for the World Boxing Organization minimumweight championship fight.

The technical knockout came 1 minute and 22 seconds into the round when southpaw Takei connected with a sizzling right hook to the head while getting inside, sending Kawamura, also a southpaw, down flat on the canvas. The referee immediately stopped the fight without bothering to count. The 31-year-old Kawamura, ranked 16th in the Japanese super bantamweight division, was sent out of the ring on a stretcher.

Southpaw Takei, 25, got off to a fast start as he landed variety of punches to Kawamura in the first round.

After the fight, Takei said, ‘’My real battle will begin from now on. I will try my best so that I can live up to the expectations of boxing fans.’’

It was Takei’s fourth straight KO victory since turning pro in March last year. This was the first time that Takei had entered the second round. For his part, Kawamura impaired to a 15-9-4 win-loss-draw tally with eight KOs.

Earlier, hard-hitting Jin Sasaki of Hachioji Nakaya Boxing Gym stopped American Marcus Smith of Hiranaka Boxing School Gym in the fifth round of a scheduled eight-round welterweight fight.

The TKO came 2 minutes and 49 seconds into the round when Sasaki landed a left hook to the head, which prompted the referee to call off the fight. Southpaw Smith could not throw many punches before Sasaki’s wild but hard blows, including body shots.

It was Sasaki’s first bout since he was stopped by Andy Hiraoka of the Ohashi gym in the 11th round last October in the vacant WBO’s Asia-Pacific super lightweight and the vacant Japanese super lightweight titles.

With the victory, Sasaki improved his record to 12 wins, including 11 KOs, against a loss. Smith fell to a 7-2-1 win-loss-draw tally with seven KOs.