By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Newly crowned Japanese 105-pound champ Norihito Tanaka (19-7, 10 KOs), 105, kept his belt by winning a comfortably unanimous nod (97-92 twice, 96-93) over Naoya Haruguchi (15-11, 6 KOs), 104.5, over ten fast rounds on Thursday in Tokyo, Japan. Tanaka, who had tasted a setback to Haruguchi in 2017, avenged his previous defeat by his gutsy performance, dropping his grudge rival in round five.

In the main event, former WBO Asia Pacific welterweight ruler Keita Obara returned to action after his bitter loss to Kudratillo Abdukahkorov in the IBF eliminator in Philadelphia last March, and halted Indonesian Yosmar Kefi at 0:58 of the fourth session in a scheduled ten.

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