By Joe Koizumi
Photo by Boxing Beat Magazine

Hard-punching perennial contender Tsubasa Narai (13-2, 10 KOs), 129.5, very impressively wrested the Japanese super feather belt when he dropped defending champ Yuna Hara (14-3-1, 8 KOs), 129.75, three times and scored a fine TKO victory at 2:10 of the fifth round in a scheduled ten on Saturday in Osaka, Japan. Like a triangle, Narai previously put on a give-and-take performance with JBC 130-pound champ Kosuke Saka only to lose on a come-from-behind TKO defeat last September, and it was Hara that dethroned Saka via upset stoppage in April last year. Narai looked so sharp and powerful this night that he decked the champ with a vicious left hook in round four and twice more in the fatal fifth. Despite a five-inch height disadvantage Narai swarmed over the taller titlist and exploded touted strong shots to dispatch the prefight favorite.

Promoter: Shinsei Promotions.