By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

WBA light-flyweight champ Ryoichi Taguchi (26-2-2, 12 KOs), 108, impressively kept his belt when he positively kept battering mandatory challenger Robert Barrera (18-2, 12 KOs), 108, Colombia, from the outset and finally halted him with the referee’s intervention at 0:24 of the ninth round on Sunday in Tokyo, Japan.

Taguchi, making his sixth defense, had the upper hand over the switch-hitting challenger, who occasionally retaliated with light but fast combinations. Taguchi, however, remained more aggressive, pinning Barrera to the ropes with persistent body attacks that apparently weakened the fading Colombian.

The 5’6” taller champ, in round seven, turned loose to hurt Barrera with furious combinations but the game challenger refused to go down by showing his heart. Having overwhelmed and overpowered Barrera, 24, with his accelerated attacks, Taguchi, 30, had him in great trouble in the eighth. The referee Russell Mora, US, gave a strong warning to Barrera for his repeated holding to avert the champ’s hot rallies in the closing seconds of the eighth session. As Taguchi went for a kill in round nine, the third man finally called a halt to stop the one-sided proceedings even without a knockdown.

The official tallies after the eighth round were as follows: Roberto Ramirez (Puerto Rico), Stanley Christodoulou (South Africa) and Alfredo Polanco (Mexico) all 78-74 in favor the defending champ, who showed his improvement in physical power and aggressiveness.

Taguchi said after his fine victory in the ring, “I wish to face WBO champion Kosei Tanaka for unification, so I strongly hope him to successfully keep his belt on September 13.” Tanaka was in attendance as a guest commentator, and said, “If we fight, it will certainly a crowd-pleasing fight since we’ll mix it up with our full power.”

Defeated and dejected close to exhaustion, Barrera was carried with a wheel chair to his dressing room. But he was all right despite absorbing much punishment and tasting a bitter defeat. Barrera, a talented Colombian, is still young, and will have another shot in the near future if he keeps winning on his comeback trail.

The victor Taguchi reviewed his triumph, saying, “I had my stock dropped with my last defense that ended in a draw with Carlos Canizalez, and this time strongly wished to show my real power, so I started fighting with my full power from the first round. It paid off well.”

His grudge rival Kosei Tanaka, WBO champ in the same category, climbed up to the ring to celebrate Taguchi’s victory. Both are eager to engage in a unification title bout, but it may be difficult to materialize it because of their television situation as Taguchi belongs to TV Tokyo, while Tanaka to CBC TV. Each may insist to stage the unification bout in Tokyo (TV Tokyo) and in Nagoya (CBC TV). Only with a high guarantee from either to the other, it may be possible to realize the much anticipated confrontation. Time will tell.

Japan has produced fourteen world 108-pound champions, and the greatest on the number of title defenses was WBA ruler Yoko Gushiken who reigned in 1976 through 1981. Taguchi became the second to Gushiken, having scored six defenses and surpassing another WBA ruler Katsuo Tokashiki’s five.

When he captured the WBA belt by beating defending champ Alberto Rossel of Peru in 2014, Taguchi just looked a lanky kid whose Japanese national belt had been dethroned by upcoming Naoya Inoue in the previous year. Having kept his WBA belt on six occasions, Taguchi physically became strong and more powerful than previously. Now we have three world champs in the 108-pound category—WBA champ Taguchi, WBO ruler Tanaka and WBC titleholder Ken Shiro. Taguchi is leading on their race of title defenses.

Promoter: Watanabe Promotions.
WBA supervisor: Alan Kim (Korea)