Takei torches Tongdee, Nunez outguns Rikiishi

Yoshiki Takei defended his world title and Eduardo Nunez earned one of his own this morning in Yokohama

After two trips to the judges, WBO bantamweight champion Yoshiki Takei returned to his finishing ways this morning with a one-round mauling of undefeated Yuttapong Tongdee.

Tongdee (15-1, 9 KO), by all accounts, was not of Thai boxing’s many paper tigers who make their name by feasting on limited opposition. Takei (11-0, 9 KO) sure made him look like one, though, landing three knockdowns inside of 90 seconds before forcing the ref into action with a vicious flurry.

It’s a hell of a statement from Takei, who was making his return from injury. He’s expressed a willingness to battle WBA champ Seiya Tsutsumi in a unification bout that would almost assuredly land in Fight of the Year consideration, so hopefully that’s next while Junto Nakatani and Ryosuke Nishida settle their differences.

In the co-feature, which DAZN promoted as the featured attraction, Eduardo “Sugar” Nunez (28-1, 27 KO) picked up both the IBF super featherweight title and his first decision victory by overpowering Masanori Rikiishi (16-2, 11 KO) in what was by all accounts exactly the sort of donnybrook we expected.

It’s great to see Nunez pick up his first title after Anthony Cacace’s shenanigans kept him in a holding pattern for months. Eddie Hearn has raised the possibility of him defending against Raymond Ford, which I’m sure everyone here can get behind.

Rikiishi put forth a hell of an effort, made even more impressive by brother Masamichi Yabuki’s reveal that he took this fight with a bum shoulder that prevented him from sparring for the last month and will require surgery. Hopefully he gets more major opportunities like this.

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