Nihito Arakawa successfully defends his OPBF lightweight gold against Ryuji Migaki – Boxing news
Nihito Arakawa, the Japanese number one lightweight, successfully defended his Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) lightweight title in a 12-round bout against his fellow countryman and former OPBF lightweight champion, Ryuji Migaki.
The event was conducted by Hachioji Nakaya Promotions on February 28, 2012 and the ring was set up at Korakuen Hall situated in Tokyo, Japan.
Arakawa had been in a total 23 bouts. The southpaw has won 21 brawls and 14 of them by knockout. The 30-year-old is basically considered as a resilient brawler who does not strive hard to get a knockout win but pounds his opponent heavily to wear them out.
Migaki, on the other hand, has not only held the OPBF lightweight title but also defended it successfully against three opponents. The 30-year-old orthodox has been in a total 19 brawls and came out victorious in 17. The Japanese number three pugilist has
collected 13 of his total wins by knockout and is considered as a lethal knockout pounder in Japan.
Arakawa who recently grabbed the vacant OPBF title from Jay Solmiano commented before the brawl, “Without defeating Migaki I’m not a champ yet.” The left-hand pounder later on proved that he was true in each and every word that he uttered.
Migaki from the very beginning of the brawl did not allow Arakawa to open his arms and strike him freely. In the first two rounds, the former champ placed well targeted punches that rattled the defending champion’s world.
Interestingly, Migaki who is basically a right-hand punch thrower changed his stance altogether and started brawling like a southpaw hence throwing weak, ill-targeted punches with least force that gave Arakawa ample chance to score as many point possible
by jabbing Ryuji heavily.
As a result of this golden chance Arakawa gifted Migaki wounds in the fifth and sixth rounds. Till the end of the tenth round the defending champion had a visible upper hand but with the start of the eleventh round things changed a bit because of Migaki’s
huge right hand punch that connected Arakawa’s gut and eventually shattered his momentum.
After that, in the whole eleventh round Migaki kept on pummelling Arakawa every now and then. The challenger continued to target Arakawa who was unable to inflict substantial damage since he was unable to follow the former champion’s footwork.
The scores allocated by the judges also proved that the bout was a close one and Arakawa won the skirmish and the 135-pound apex title by collecting 77-75, 78-75 and 78-74 scores. Arakawa now has 22 wins in his account and Migaki has collected his career’s
third loss.
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