Ryoji Fukunaga Overpowers Nakagawa in Tokyo Thriller

By Carlos Costa

Japanese 🇯🇵 Ryoji Fukunaga (13-4, 13 KO’s) of Takatsuki, Osaka, successfully defended his WBO Asia-Pacific super flyweight crown and also captured Japan’s National 115-pound title as well as the vacant OPBF belt by defeating via 10th round TKO in National champ Kenta Nakagawa (19-4-1, 12 KO’s) at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, 🇯🇵 Japan. 👍

In the exciting battle between the two high-caliber Japanese contenders, the heavy-puncher Fukunaga and the refined boxer Nakagawa delivered a memorable ring war. 💥💥

From the get-go, the slugger Fukunaga pushed the action forward, landing hard power blows against an elusive Nakagawa, who boxed with finesse while landing his own punches.

In the 3rd chapter, both fighters let their hands go with everything in their arsenal, striking each other in the head and body with brutal explosions.

Fukunaga detonated a perfect right hook in the 4th stanza, rocking Nakagawa to the core, scattering him on the canvas.

But the national champion got up and fought back while avoiding a second counterattack, battling fire with fire.

In the following rounds, Fukunaga lowered the intensity, but still taking advantage of Nakagawa, scoring cleanly on him from different angles.

In the 8th, Fukunaga intensified the action once again, exploding bombs to the head of his foe which appeared to hurt Nakagawa again.

And once again, the national belt-holder fought with effective defense, avoiding for a while Fukunaga’s momentum, firing back, putting his heart and spirit in the combat.

As the fight reached the 9th episode as it was already obvious that Nakagawa could not deal with Fukunaga’s power while receiving unnecessary damage, giving back very little in return.

In the 10th round, Fukunaga fired point-blank at the much-reduced and damaged Nakagawa who was out of gas, forcing the referee to stop the action.

It was an outstanding win for the 34-year-old Ryoji Fukunaga whose effort rewarded him with 3 regional super flyweight belts.