June 8, 2015
TOKYO, JAPAN
Unbeaten Japanese super-feather champ, fast but light-punching Rikki Naito (13-0, 5 KOs), 135, engaged in a non-title bout and defeated former world challenger and ex-OPBF lightweight ruler Nihito Arakawa (25-6, 16 KOs), 135, by a unanimous decision (97-94, 97-93, 98-92) over ten speedy rounds on Monday in Tokyo, Japan. A highly-touted confrontation of the southpaws resulted in a disappointment?Naito’s lack of convincing power and Arakawa’s deteriorated precision despite his usual aggressiveness. With more power Naito could have hurt the veteran campaigner, ten years his senior at 35, more effectively, but he only occasionally countered Arakawa with southpaw uppercuts, which were well-timed but failed to damage him and keep him from coming forward. Arakawa, in round eight, accelerated his trademark non-stop rallies and continually pinned him to the ropes with a flurry of punches, but his lack of precision didn’t hurt Naito so decisively and couldn’t have the tide turn. WBC#13 Naito, the son of ex-Orient 160-pound champ Cassius Naito, will need to gain more power to remain unbeaten and zoom up in the future.
The semi-windup witnessed OPBF flyweight titlist, WBC#7/WBO#11/IBF#4 Koki Eto (17-3-1, 13 KOs), a tall and lanky Japanese, 112, retained his regional belt as had a tough time with the opening do-or-die attack of Yuki Fukumoto (17-10, 5 KOs), 111.75, and finally chalked up a TKO victory at 1:39 of the eighth session in a scheduled twelve. The desperate challenger often caught up with the flat-footed champ with persistent body bombardments with the champ to the ropes. After the fourth, the open scoring system indicated 38-38 by all the officials, which showed it was a very competitive fight despite Eto having been a prefight favorite. Eto started his engine in the sixth, dropped Fukumoto in the seventh and had him prone with a barrage of punches in the fatal eighth. Thugh it was a clearcut finish, Eto, formerly WBA interim 112-pound champ, will have to improve his defensive skills if he wishes to regain a world throne.
Promoter: Reason Promotions.
(6-8-2015)