Former amateur star Taiga Imanaga of Ohashi Boxing Gym decked John Lawrence Ordonio of the Philippines in the fourth round in a lightweight nontitle bout on Aug. 26, achieving his second straight knockout victory since making a professional debut two months ago.

The knockout at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall came 3 minutes into the round when the 23-year-old Imanaga dropped his 25-year-old opponent for the count with devastating left hooks to the body after putting his foe against a corner.

The left-handed Imanaga overpowered Ordonio from the opening bell chiefly by sharp right jabs and accurate straight lefts.

Imanaga, who captured a total of 10 amateur titles, including a record eight crowns when he was a high-school student, said after the fight, ‘’While I had thought my opponent would come in more, he turned out to backpedal, which confused me a little bit. But I am happy that I was able to topple him by landing my punches.’’

‘’I am also happy that I was able to have a fight at short intervals. I will try harder in my training. Because winning a world title is not easy at this rate. I am determined to win a world title,’’ he added.
With the defeat, Ordonio fell to a 7-4-1 win-loss-draw tally with four KOs.