Japan's traditional New Year's Eve boxing supercard saw multiple world title fights and an impressive knockout in one of those fights.
The main event saw four-division titlist Kazuto Ioka successfully retain his WBO super flyweight title against Puerto Rican contender Jeyvier Cintron. This was Ioka's first super flyweight title defense since winning the belt with a TKO win over Aston Palicte back in June.
Cintron used his jab early in the fight, but it was Ioka who quickly found a rhythm and outboxed the young Puerto Rican with hard body shots. A strong rally from Cintron in the final rounds of the fight wasn't enough to close the gap in the scorecards, giving Ioka another win in a world title fight under his belt.
In another world title fight, rising pound-for-pound star Kosei Tanaka had perhaps his best performance ever since he moved up to flyweight by knocking out Wulan Tuolehazi in the third round. Tanaka established his aggression early and ended things with a big left uppercut that sent Tuolehazi to the canvas and Tuolehazi never got back up.
Tanaka has teased a possible move up to super flyweight in an attempt to become the latest Japanese fighter to win a title in four different weight classes. A move up in weight could potentially mean a domestic showdown with Ioka down the road.
The lone women's world title fight saw Miyo Yoshida successfully retain her WBO Female super flyweight title against Li Ping Shi with a one-sided victory on the scorecards. Yoshida won with scores of 99-90, 98-91 and 97-92 for her first world title defense. One fighter who elevated himself into becoming a world title contender is rising minimumweight star Ginjiro Shigeoka, who knocked out Rey Loreto in the fifth round to score a victory in his fifth pro bout.
Below are the full results of the December 31 boxing card from the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan:
- Kazuto Ioka defeated Jeyvier Cintron by unanimous decision (116-112, 116-112, 115-113) to retain the WBO super flyweight title
- Kosei Tanaka defeated Wulan Tuolahazi by KO, round 3 to retain the WBO flyweight title
- Miyo Yoshida defeated Li Ping Shi by unanimous decision (99-90, 97-92, 98-91) to retain the WBO Female super flyweight title
- Ginjiro Shigeoka defeated Rey Loreto by KO, round 5 to retain the WBO Asia Pacific minimumweight title
- Jhunriel Ramonal defeated Yusaku Kuga by KO, round 1 to win the WBO Asia Pacific super bantamweight title
- Yume Hirayama defeated Marina Sayama by unanimous decision (59-55, 59-55, 59-55) to win the Japanese Female flyweight title
- Keigo Kawase defeated Izadpanahhir Mohammadreza by unanimous decision (39-37, 39-37, 39-37)
- Tatsuya Tsuge defeated Beverly Tsukada by unanimous decision (39-37, 40-36, 39-37)
