Veteran Kenta Nakagawa of Misako Boxing Gym hammered out a 10-round decision over top-ranked challenger Hayate Kaji of Teiken Boxing Gym to retain his Japanese super flyweight title on Aug. 9 at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall.

It was the 37-year-old Nakagawa’s first successful defense of the title he won by beating Hiroyuki Kudaka of Nakazato Yoshitatsu Boxing Gym for the vacant Japanese title in April this year.

Though there were no knockdowns throughout the fight, it was Nakagawa who controlled the fight all the way.

The left-handed Nakagawa got off to a good start by landing straight lefts to Kaji, 24, who failed to land effective punches as he could not get inside.

After leading the first half of the fight, Nakagawa moved side to side, preventing Kaji from landing his favored combination blows.

While Kaji landed an effective left hook to the head in the 10th and final round, Nakagawa managed to fend off Kaji’s attack the rest of the way.

After the fight, Nakagawa said, ‘’Though I wanted to beat him more decisively, I think I was able to do the minimum possible. I want to train myself harder so that I can take a crack at a world title.’’

With the victory, Nakagawa improved his record to 22 wins, including 12 KOs, against four losses and a draw. For his part, Kaji fell to a 15-2 win-loss tally with nine KOs.