A new champion was crowned on May 28 at BUNTAI Yokohama, where Eduardo “Sugar” Nunez went up against Masanori Rikiishi. The pair squared off in the main event bout, with the vacant IBF super featherweight title on the line.
27-year-old Nunez (28-1, 27 KOs) of Mexico put on a dominant performance, defeating 30-year-old Japanese southpaw Rikiishi (16-2, 11 KOs) by unanimous decision. The contest went the full 12-round distance, marking the first time Nunez heard the final bell. The judges scored the fight 115-113, 116-112, and 117-111. Both fighters made their first attempt at capturing one of boxing’s four major belts.
Among the Rikiishi vs Nunez undercard bouts, Japan’s Yoshiki Takei (11-0, 9 KOs) defeated Thai Yuttapong Tongdee (15-1, 9 KOs) via first-round TKO and made the second successful defense of his WBO bantamweight title. The bout was originally scheduled for the Inoue vs Goodman undercard in January but was postponed to this event after the representative of the host country suffered a shoulder injury.
Plus, Tsubasa Narai (16-2, 11 KOs) stopped Yuna Hara (14-4-2, 8 KOs) in the eighth round of their rematch at super featherweight. With the win, Narai retained his Japanese strap.