By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Japan’s 122-pound champ, Gakuya Furuhashi (28-8-2, 16 KOs), 122, barely kept his national belt as he was held to a majority draw (95-95 twice, 96-94 against him) with former titlist Yusaku Kuga (20-5-2, 13 KOs), 122, over ten hard-fought rounds on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan.

It was a grudge fight since Furuhashi, 34, a game brawler, withstood the then champ Kuga’s assault and finally dethroned him via ninth-round come-from-behind stoppage just a year ago. The muscular ex-champ Kuga, 31, had an upper hand with more accurate attacks in the first half, leading on the open scoring system—49-46, 48-47 twice. Furuhashi, however, turned loose to accelerate his retaliation in the second half to overcome his early deficits on points. Kuga, a prefight favorite, almost regained the belt, but failed to recollect it from the pugnacious champ.

On the undercard, there happened a stunning upset as former world challenger and ex-national two-division champ Masayuki Kuroda (30-9-3, 16 KOs), 114.5, dropped an unexpected unanimous decision (79-73, 78-74, 77-75) to unheralded novice Kantaro Juri (4-0, 2 KOs), 114.75, over eight.

The southpaw Juri, 25, whose amateur mark was 41-17, took the leadoff and comfortably piled up points. Kuroda attempted his desperate retaliation in round six, which was too late to overcome points he had lost in earlier rounds. It was two years and eight months ago that Kuroda, 35, previously fought Moruti Mthalane in quest of the IBF flyweight belt, losing a unanimous but hard-fought decision (112-116 twice, 111-117) here at the Hall. He, 35, looked ring rusty this time, but may come back soon.

Promoter: Kawasaki Nitta Promotions.

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