Second-ranked Gakuya Furuhashi of Kawasaki Nitta Boxing Gym earned a split decision over top-ranked Ryoichi Tamura of JB Sports Boxing Gym in a hard-fought battle and won the vacant Japanese super bantamweight title on Dec. 26 at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall.

The title was left vacant by Takuma Inoue of Ohashi Boxing Gym as Inoue will move down to bantamweight to aim at a world title challenge.

This was the second time for the 35-year-old Furuhashi to beat Tamura, also 35, as he won the fight to decide the challenger to then Japanese super bantamweight champion Yusaku Kuga of Watanabe Boxing Gym in September 2019. Furuhashi won the title in January 2021 by stopping Kuga. After successfully defending the title twice, he lost the title to Inoue in June this year.

In the day’s fight, while there were no knockdowns in the fight, they exchange blows throughout the fight. Tamura got off to a good start time as he put pressure on Furuhashi by throwing various punches. Furuhashi, however, rallied strongly from around the fourth round.

Though Furuhashi suffered a cut above his left eyelid, both fighters exchanged punches in the 10th and final round.

After the fight, Furuhashi said, ‘’Since I failed to move forward in the ninth and 10th rounds in my second fight with Kuga (which ended in a draw), I thought I would move forward at all costs this time. It paid off.’’

With the victory, Furuhashi improved his record to 29 wins, including 16 knockouts, against nine losses and two draws. Tamura fell to a 15-7-1 win-loss-draw tally with seven KOs.