By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda
Unheralded southpaw puncher Ryoji Fukunaga (12-4, 12 KOs), 115, impressively captured the WBO Asia Pacific 115-pound belt when he withstood constant assaults of defending champ Froilan Saludar (31-4-1, 22 KOs), 114.5, and finally caught up with the Filipino sharpshooter to halt him at 1:40 of the seventh session in a scheduled twelve on Friday in Tokyo, Japan.
It was a sizzling see-saw battle with split tallies after the sixth: 58-56, 56-58, 57-57. Fukunaga’s persistent body bombardments paid off with Saludar finally sinking to the deck with the referee Someya’s well-received intervention.
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The 100% KO win or lose ratio, makes Ryoji Fukunaga an immediate fan favorite, would’ve to see more of Ryoji