By Joe Koizumi Photos by Naoki Fukuda
Chiba shocks Kurihara and wins the OPBF 118-pound belt
The unannounced Kai Chiba (15-3, 9 KOs), 117.75, stunned the crowd when he shockingly dethroned #11 WBC, #11 IBF, WBO #15 OPBF Bantamweight Champion Keita Kurihara (16-7-1, 15 KOs), 118, by unexpected stoppage at 0:50 of the twelfth and final round on Thursday (September 22) in Tokyo, Japan. The hard hitting champion got off to a good start, leading in points – all 39-37 after the quarter. When the underdog Chiba mixed things up from the fifth, he overcame a points deficit to pull back to 76-76 after the eighth. Chiba impressively accelerated his attack to hurt the champion in the eleventh and finally caught up with him with one last push to prompt the referee’s intervention in the final session.
Saka barely holds on to Japanese 130-pound belt in a game of see-saw
Hard-hitting Japanese champion Kosuke Saka (22-6, 19 KOs), 130, barely held on to his 130-pound national belt when he came off the canvas twice, leaving behind Tsubasa Narai (8-2, 7 KOs), 129.5, two times and finally stopped it at 0:55 of the sixth session in Osaka, Japan on September 17. The ambitious challenger had the champion on deck in the first and fourth, but Saka retaliated with a perfectly timed right hand to Nara. in the fifth. The champion again knocked down the seriously injured challenger in the sixth round, when the referee stopped him to save the loser. Narai deserves a rematch soon.
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The JAPAN UPDATE post appeared first on fightnews.com.
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