Earlier today we had an interesting card at Korakuen Hall, headlined by a regional title fight, and featuring two notable, unbeaten prospects.
The first of the notable supporting bouts saw a sharp looking Yuichiro Taka (2-0) [高優一郎] take a clear 6 round decision win over Chinese visitor ShunCai Hou (3-3-1, 1). The visitor came to fight, and was giving a good account of himself, but the extra class, and skill of Taka saw him racking up the rounds to a clear unanimous decision to notch his second professional win.
In another of the supporting bouts #1 WBO Asia Pacific Super Bantamweight contender Katsuya Fukui (8-0, 6) [福井勝也] scored a stoppage of experienced Filipino visitor Ben Mananquil (19-5-3, 6) in the 4th round. Throughout the bout Fukui pressured, and pressed the smaller Mananquil, who showed some good defensive skills and caught Fukui with some nice left hands. Sadly for the visitor his shots didn’t have the power needed the phase Fukui who kept coming, despite looking frustrated at times. In round 3 however a body shot from Fukui dropped Mananquil, and seemed to be the start of the end for Mananquil who was dropped again, several times, in round 4, with more body shots from Fukui.
In the chief support bout Junpei Tsujimoto (11-2-3, 7) [辻本純兵] made light work of Riku Nagahama (13-6-1, 4) [長濱陸] Tsujimoto dropped Nagahama with a hard right hand, scoring a knockdown. Nagahama recovered to his feet but a follow up attack saw him being cornered and then dropped a second time, for the finish.
In the main event we saw a repeat outcome, as Masahiro Suzuki (10-2-1, 7) [鈴木 雅弘] was dethroned of the OPBF Lightweight title, and suffered his second career defeat to Shu Utsuki (14-1, 12) [宇津木秀]. The two men, who had clashed back in 2022 with Utsuki stopping Suzuki to win the Japanese Lightweight title, had both come into this knowing it was an important bout. For Suzuki it was a chance to avenge his first loss whilst for Utsuki it was a chance to call himself a champion again, following an upset loss last year to Shuma Nakazato. Both fought like they needed to prove a point from the opening bell.
After a short battle of jabs both began to stand their ground and trade big shots up close, with both exchanging shots through much of the opening round, which didn't resemble a typical opening round of a fight. The action continued to be fought at a high tempo in round 2, with both landing powerful hooks, and switching between head and body. It was thrilling action to start the fight.
In round 3 Utsuki began to show his versatility, using his legs more, establishing his jab, and neutralising the left hook of Suzuki. The more rounded skills of Utsuki had done enough to have him up on the scorecards, with all 3 judges having Utsuki up 39-37 on the opening scoring after 4 rounds. In round 5 the power of Utsuki told as he landed some solid shots, before rocking him with a left hook of his, and then he went for the finish, land some huge shots that forced the referee to step in and save Suzuki, who was unable to avoid the onslaught.
After the win Utsuki stated "I'm really happy to have the belt in my hands. I was fighting with the intention of starting over from here. I felt that Suzuki would be coming from the beginning. I tried not to get involved, but Trainer Kobayashi scolded me. I want to unify the regional titles,"
