By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda
Former WBC flyweight champ, currently WBC#8/WBA#9 bantam Daigo Higa (19-1-1, 19 KOs), 117.75, struggled to salvage a majority draw (95-95 twice, 96-94 for him) with unbeaten ex-amateur rival JBC#13 Seiya Tsutsumi (5-0-2, 4 KOs), 117.5, over ten hard-fought rounds on Monday in Tokyo, Japan. Having tasted a couple of defeats when they were amateurs, Higa attempted to avenge his setbacks as professional but Tsutsumi, whose amateur mark was 84-17, 40 stoppages, was too durable for the ex-champ to conquer. The novice Tsutsumi took the initiative with his aggressiveness, but suffered a gash over the left eyebrow in round two. The third saw both streaming blood after an accidental collision of heads, and it became such a gory affair for the remainder of the contest. Higa occasionally scored with solid shots at a time, but Tsutsumi retaliated hard with busier combinations. It was a hard-fought draw though Higa was a prohibitive favorite before the bout.
Higa, when reigning as WBC 112-pound champ, looked invincible as he wrested the belt from Juan Hernandez (TKO 6) and kept it twice against Thomas Masson (TKO7) and Moises Fuentes (KO1), then with an unblemished mark of 18-0, 18 KOs. Daigo, however, shamefully failed to make the weight at the next defense against Cristofer Rosales, forfeited his on the scale and also suffered his career-first shellacking via ninth round stoppage in April 2018. He was the very first Japanese boxer unable to make the weight in world title bouts in history, and was penalized a one-year suspension. It took Higa twenty-two months to overcome various personal troubles and returned to the ring warfare this February, when he demolished Filipino Jason Buenaobra in six. His former manager and ex-WBA champion Yoko Gushiken closed his gym after they pitifully parted company. The COVID-19 pandemic thus delayed his next bout for eight months since like this.
Attendance: 782 (because of the JBC’s regulations at the Korakuen Hall).
Promoter: Dangan Aoki Promotions.
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