By Jeff Zimmerman at ringside
WBA light flyweight champion Hiroto Kyoguchi (15-0, 10 KOs) out of Tokyo, Japan came to the U.S. to defend his title against Axel Vega (14-4-1, 8 KOs) based in Ensenada, Mexico and was heating up to be a battle of wills into the 5th round of the scheduled twelve, before it was abruptly stopped due to an apparent hand injury suffered by Vega after throwing a big right hand. Kyoguchi jumped on the wounded Vega and threw a punch as Vega turned his back before referee Raul Caiz Jr. jumped in to wave it off.
It was an entertaining scrap to that point as both guys fought toe to toe in a phone booth. The 5’4” Kyoguchi used his reach early to fend off the 4’9” Vega, but that didn’t last long as Vega easily found his way inside by the 2nd round and Kyoguchi obliged and also seemed comfortable in close quarters. Vega, though, was landing heavy left hooks to Kyoguchi’s body and an overhand right to the head that sent Kyoguchi backward. Kyoguchi landed some solid right handed uppercuts on Vega as well to counter the attack.
It was unfortunate to see such a great fight end so suddenly due to injury as Kyoguchi retained his WBA and Ring title with a TKO victory at 1:30 of the 5th round. This was the Matchroom debut on the card for Kyoguchi as he stated before the fight, he wants to dominate the 108lb division. The 27-year-old was hoping to unify the titles with fellow champions Ken Shiro, Felix Alvarado and Elwin Soto but may end up in a rematch with Vega first once he heals considering the way this fight ended.
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Good debit for Kyoguchi who has a lot of title fights in such a short # of fights. Fighting in US will give him more world exposure. I knew he was a titleist in 2 divs but was unaware he is already the RING champ, #1. Vega was also a pleasant surprise because based on only knowing his record pre-fight I thought this was merely a “showcase” for Kyoguchi. (Vega having a 14-3 record). Vega was moving very quickly and giving his all to make the inside fight, very entertaining when you have both guys battling mostly with body shots. Too bad to see the freak hand accident but thats part of boxing.
Vega was winning the fight