Lightly regarded Mugicha Nakagawa of Ichiriki Boxing Gym stopped former Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation super bantamweight champion Shingo Wake of Flare Yamagami Boxing Gym in the fourth round in a featherweight nontitle bout on Oct. 22 in Tokyo.

The technical knockout of the scheduled eight-rounder at Korakuen Hall came 29 seconds into the round when Nakagawa landed a short right to the head, sending the 35-year-old Wake to the canvas.

Though Wake stood up quickly, he appeared to have dislocated his right shoulder. The referee stopped his mandatory count midway through and declared Nakagawa’s victory. Nakagawa also floored Wake shortly before the end of the third round with a right uppercut.

It was the 33-year-old Nakagawa’s first victory in four years. He said after the fight, ‘’I couldn’t hold back my tears. I am glad that I did not quit boxing. Since I was pinning my future on this fight, I cannot think up my future ambitions right now.’’

While the left-handed Wake, currently ranked third in the Japanese super bantamweight division, got off to a good start by landing straight lefts to the body and heads, he soon had his speed reduced.
With the victory, Nakagawa improved his record to 25 wins, including 15 KOs, against nine losses and two draws. Wake fell to a 28-8-2 win-loss-draw tally with 20 KOs.

Meanwhile, second-ranked Japanese welterweight Shoki Sakai of Yokohama Hikari Boxing Gym fought to a majority draw with top-ranked Hironori Shigeta of Watanabe Boxing Gym in an eight-round fight to decide the next challenger for the Japanese welterweight title. The bout was head as one of the supporting cards of the Wake-Nakagawa fight.

They once fought in August 2020, in which Sakai decisioned him.

While Shigeta floored Sakai twice in the third round with powerful left hooks to the head, Sakai managed to survive the round and began to rally from the fourth stanza by working chiefly Shigeta’s body with left and right hooks. They fought that way for the remainder of the fight.

One of the three judges scored the fight 76-74 for Sakai. But the remaining two had it 75-75, respectively.
With the draw, the 31-year-old Sakai, who fought mostly abroad earlier in his career, has a record of 26 wins, including 14 KOs, against 13 losses and three draws. For his part, the 32-year-old Shigeta has an 8-2-2 win-loss-draw tally with five KOs.