12th Round Dramatic Stoppage TKO In Flyweight Title Chase

Teraji retained his WBC flyweight world title in his first defence and added the WBA flyweight world title to his collection in Tokyo, Japan, with just 90 seconds remaining on the clock in the 12th round.

It was a wonderful day for Kenshiro Teraji (25-1, 16 KOs) as he became unified flyweight champion after he produced a dramatic finish to a very well contested fight against Seigo Yuri Akui (21-3-1, 11 KOs). The match had to go all twelve rounds for some magic to happen.

The bout headlined a Teiken Promotions card at the Ryogokun Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan. The boxing fans in the country were entertained with a mouth-watering clash that saw both fighters give it their best shot since the winner would leave the ring being a unified WBC and WBA flyweight champion.

Before the 12^th round, the scores read 105-104, 105-104 to Akui and 106-103 to Teraji at the time of stoppage. This meant that Teraji had to produce some magic because he needed at least a knockdown to swing the fight in the final round.

Akui (29 years old), who had not lost since his last two defeats in 2018, made a solid and courageous start to the bout. He managed to fire shots and combinations towards Teraji (33 years old), from both left and right during the first and second rounds.

With the two fighters familiar with each other from sparring, Akui had the better of Teraji in the early rounds which prompted Teraji to take a long early look at what was in front of him. In the third round Akui came in even harder with more right-hand hooks which rattled Teraji and even caused him to reverse.

In the fourth round Teraji had to pull himself together and get involved becoming the busier of the two. He filed work to the body and brought his left hook into play.

In the fifth round it was a back and forth as both fighters swapped big right hands as Akui started taking more shots but could still manage to throw some of his own and land them. It was as if whenever Teraji landed a punch, he was never far off paying a price which meant that Akui landed his own and then swarmed towards him.

The sixth and seventh were hard rounds, it was hard to separate the two fighters but the only question that lingered was whether Akui would be able to maintain the energy he had started the fight with.

When it got to the tenth round, Teraji decided to mix his attacks to body and head, but Akui’s technical efficiencies still made him a constant threat managing to slide in a left hook that caused Teraji’s hair to flick back in the air.

In the 12^th round, considering Akui was leading on the score cards, Teraji came in like a possessed man, fighting like his life depended on it. He started throwing punches with hands and forwards unrelentingly and Akui struggled to stay with him.

After a vicious combination up against the ropes, Akui moved to the centre of the ring, but Teraji followed and landed a right hand which stumbled Akui badly. The referee had seen enough. He stepped in and halted the contest, ending Akui’s dreams in the process.