By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Unbeaten hard-puncher Kazuto Takesako (13-0-1, 12 KOs), 159.25, retained his Japanese middleweight belt as he quickly caught up with JBC#1 Riku Kunimoto (4-1, 2 KOs), 159.25, decked him twice and for the count at 2:46 of the opening session in a scheduled ten on Wednesday in Tokyo, Japan.

Having made his fourth defense, Takesako, 29, dedicated his victory to his late father Kazuyoshi, 55, who had pitifully passed away due to a coronavirus infection just eleven days before.

Kazuto connected with a vicious left hook to floor the willing mixer, and had him on the canvas again with a flurry of punches with the ref tolling the fatal ten. Takesako, after a long hiatus of sixteen months, also had the OPBF (Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation) 160-pound belt, but didn’t put it on the line but only his national belt (that he acquired by a first round demolition of defending champ Hikaru Nishida in 2018).

Promoter: World Sports Promotions.

Attendance: 628 (with the JBC’s regulation at the Korakuen Hall the capacity of which is approximately 1,600).

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