By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Having their baby just a fortnight ago, his wife worked the corner of Japanese flyweight champ WBA#11 Jukiya Iimura (7-1, 2 KOs; amateur mark 68-13), 111.5, who successfully kept his national belt on a nearly shutout decision (100-90, 99-91 twice) over JBC#9 Tetsuya Mimura (12-5, 3 KOs), 112, over ten heats on Friday in Tokyo, Japan.

Mrs. Iimura, former amateur lightweight boxer (retired), wrapped the husband’s hands and served as a corner-person to see Jukiya’s onesided victory. Making his third defense, Iimura, whose idol is Ricardo “Finito” Lopez, made good use of lateral footwork, confused the less skillful challenger and steadily piled up points with his hit-and-run tactics thanks to his better half’s encouragement in the corner. After the triumph they rushed back home to see their two-week old daughter.

Promoter: Teiken Promotions.

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