By Joe Koizumi

Former WBA 105-pound champ Ryo Miyazaki (25-2-3, 16 KOs), 113.5, returned to action after a five-year inactivity and was victorious over overmatched Takayuki Teraji (9-20-1, 4 KOs), by a fine stoppage at 2:11 of the third round in a scheduled six on Thursday in Osaka, Japan. Hanging his hands low, Miyazaki kept whipping Teraji from the outset, and had him at bay so that the referee made a well-timed halt midway in round three.

The 5’1” ex-champ Miyazaki once held the WBA belt and scored a couple of defenses, but after he moved up to the 108-pound category his fate went downwards to be badly knocked out by Thailand’s Fahlan Sakkreerin Jr. in December 2013 and lost a unanimous nod to Ryoichi Taguchi for his WBA light-fly belt in August 2016. Since then, he had been inactive for five years and four months.

His name became notorious when his car, while his driver’s license was suspended, made a collision with a bicycle ridden by a policeman, and he was arrested therefore during his hiatus in 2017. Miyazaki, now 33, is willing to face world-rated national flyweight champ Yuri Akui in the near future, which may be a crowd-pleasing confrontation, should Miyazaki regain his old form.

Masanori Rikiishi (10-1, 6 KOs), 138, halted a Filipino residing in Japan, Roli Gasca (27-12-2, 9 KOs), 138, at the end of the fourth round in a scheduled eight. Rikiishi’s real name is Masanori Sato, and he is a younger brother of the newly crowned WBC 108-pound ruler Masamichi Yabuki (whose real nombre is Masamichi Sato). Rikiishi, a hard-punching southpaw, is also a prospect.

Promoter: Midori Promotions.

Attendance: 900 (with the JBC’s regulation at the Mielparque Osaka).