Champion Seiya Tsutsumi of Kadoebi Boxing Gym, unleashing a barrage of right and left combinations, stopped topped-ranked Jin Minamide of CELES Sports Boxing Gym in the seventh round to retain his Japanese bantamweight title on March 20 in Tokyo.

It was Tsutsumi’s second successful defense of the title he captured from Kyosuke Sawada of JB Sports Boxing Gym last June.

The technical knockout of the scheduled 10-rounder at Korakuen Hall came 1 minute and 41 seconds into the round when the 27-year-old Tsutsumi connected with unanswered left and right blows to the head and body by putting Minamide against the ropes, prompting the referee to call off the fight.

The right-handed Tsutsumi, who fought mostly in the southpaw stance, dropped left-handed Minamide in the first, second and fifth rounds, all with well-timed right hooks. But Minamide, 27, beat the count each time, although the accumulation of his damage was apparent.

After the fight, Tsutsumi said, ‘’I am happy that I was able to win the fight in this fashion because my opponent was strong. Since I lost to Takuma Inoue, a younger brother of Naoya ‘’the Monster’’ Inoue as an amateur during my high-school days, I want to revenge a defeat as a pro.’’ Takuma will face Liborio Solis of Venezuela on Apr. 8 in Tokyo for the vacant World Boxing Association bantamweight title.

With the win, the undefeated Tsutsumi improved his record to eight wins, including seven KOs, with two draws. For his part, Minamide fell to a 7-3 win-loss tally with five KOs.

Nigerian Ridwan Oyekola, the fourth-ranked Japanese featherweight, fought to a split draw with Jinu Lee of Kadoebi gym in a super featherweight eight rounder in one of the supporting cards for the day.

With the draw, the 25-year-old Oyekola, who has been fighting out of Okinawa’s Hiranaka Boxing School Gym since last September, now has a record of 11 wins, including six KOs, against a loss and two draws. For his part, the 26-year-old Lee remained undefeated with a 9-0-1 win-loss-draw tally with four KOs.