By Joe Koizumi
Photos: Joe Koizumi, Boxing Beat

Former WBC Youth super-welter champ, JBC#3 Ryosuke Maruki (14-4-1, 9 KOs), 153.75, displayed a quick one-punch demolition of Indonesian #2 Rocky Irawan (9-3-1, 3 KOs), 151, at 2:42 of the opening session on Sunday in Kariya, Japan. Though he failed to win the national 154-pound belt from tricky southpaw veteran Yuki Nonaka last July, Ryosuke showed his improvement in halting the Indonesian with a devastating right with good follow-through in his second comeback go since.

In a supporting ten, his elder brother Kazuya Maruki (20-5, 13 KOs), 147, also scored an eye-catching stoppage in halting Indonesian #1 welter Yosmar Kefi, 145.5, at 2:52 of the sixth round. Kefi was such an unorthodox stylist that he greatly frustrated Kazuya with his bizarre and comic mobility, but Kazuya kept stalking him with left-right combinations—regardless of precision—and finally caught up with him with a well-timed right counter. With a thud did he go down. The ref immediately called a halt and the still unsteady loser was carried out of the ring on a stretcher.

It was in 1978 that their father Takao Maruki lost a unanimous fifteen-round decision to then WBA 130-pound champ Samuel Serrano to fail to win the world belt in Nagoya. Next year will be the fortieth anniversary since Papa Maruki’s first and last world title crack, and either of the brothers wishes to acquire the national belt to dedicate it to their manager/trainer.

Before the main event ten gongs were dedicated to Suehiro Tsuchiya, a Japanese referee/judge who lately passed away on May 27. Tsuchiya, 58, engaged in his last assignment as judge for the Japanese super-bantam title bout where Shota Hayashi defeated ex-world champ Akifumi Shimoda in Gifu on New Year’s Eve last. May his soul rest in peace.