HIGA TKOS DIALE TO WIN OPBF TITLE

By LITO DELOS REYES

JAPANESE challenger Daigo Higa knocked out Ardin “The Jackal” Diale of the Philippines to become the new Orient Pacifiic Boxing Federation (OPBF) flyweight champion on Saturday night at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

The undefeated Higa stopped Diale in 2:39 of the fourth round to score his 10^th straight win and 10th knockout.

Diale, a native of Malungon, Sarangani Province suffered his 10^th defeat against 31 wins and 3 draws.

The 20-year old Higa is also the reigning WBC Youth world flyweight champion. He won the title by knocking out then undefeated Jakkrawut Majoogoen (14-0) in the seventh round last July 24, 2015 at the Siam Paradise Entertainment Centre in Bangkok, Thailand.

Higa successfully defended it via a 10th round TKO win over another Filipino challenger Renren Tesorio last November 7 in Tokyo. Higa retained his crown in his second title-defense via a second round technical knockout win against Filipino challenger Romel Oliveros last March 5 at the Korakuen Hall.

The 27-year old Diale won the vacant OPBF crown by a unanimous decision win over Renoel Pael last December 2 in Mandaluyong City.

He recently retained it by a UD victory against Jonathan Francisco last February 20 at the Taguig Sports Complex in Taguig City.

Diale is also a former IBF Pan Pacific Youth flyweight, WBO Oriental flyweight and Philippine flyweight champion.

The other results:

Junki Sasaki def. Reiko Sugiyama by UD

Riku Nagahama stopped Tetsuya Kawabata by TKO

Hokuto Kawana stopped Shintaro Nakamura by TKO

Ryota Toyoshima stopped Yusaku Minami by TKO

Junpei Tsujimoto settled a majority draw with Kazuhiro Baba