Taku Kuwahara Stopped Wulan in Tokyo

By Carlos Costa

Fast and Furious world-ranked Japanese Flyweight Taku Kuwahara 桑原拓 (13-1, 8 KO’s) stopped tough Chinese Wulan Tuolehazi (15-5-2, 7 KO’s) in four frames for a successful first defense of his OPBF 112 Strap Tuesday, July 11, in Tokyo.

The brave Wulan from the China’s far west Xingjiang Region tried to muscle his way in, but the smarter, faster and more-skilled Taku outboxed him, landing power shots on him till the fateful 4th.

In that stanza, Taku had his way with Wulan, staggering him with damaging blows that so quickly took its toll on the boxer promoted by China’s star promoter Liu Gang.

The tough end came at the 2:10 mark in chapter four with Wulan, 30, visibly hurt and unable to fend for himself forced Japanese third man Kazutoshi Yoshida to wave the battle off.

With the exciting win, Taku Kuwahara is more than likely to improve his world rankings. He has been WBC #9, as well as IBF # 8.

At the same time, it is likely that Taku might get included into the WBA world rankings in the flyweights because Wulan was WBA # 11.

All-in-all, it was an excellent win for Taku Kuwahara of Yokohama, claiming win over a world-ranked boxer, retaining his regional belt and improving his world rankings.

The 28-year-old Taku Kuwahara is promoted by former 105 world champ Hideyuki Ohashi of Yokohama.

The author Carlos Costa can be reached at carlos@philboxing.com