Thailand’s unbeaten Amnat Ruenroeng defeated former world champion Kazuto Ioka by split decision on Wednesday to retain his IBF flyweight title and deal the Japanese his first loss.
Amnat — taking advantage of a longer reach — employed a variety of blows that prevented Ioka from boring in with a high guard, leaving him to contemplate his first defeat in 15 matches as a professional.
There was no knockdown in the 12-round bout at the Prefectural Gymnasium in the western Japan city of Osaka as Amnat defended the 50.8kg class title for the first time.
Photo: AFP
The 34-year-old became champion in January, when he outpointed Filipino Rocky Fuentes in a bout for the title vacated by South African Moruti Mthalane.
Polish and US judges Pawel Kardyni and Eddie Hernandez scored the fight 119-108 and 115-112 in the Thai champion’s favor. Hilton Whitaker saw Ioka as the winner by 114-113.
“I was convinced of victory. Ioka came out fighting but could not come inside possibly because he was afraid of my uppercuts as I kept attacking,” Amnat said.
The Thai’s unblemished record stretched to 13 wins, five of them by knockout.
A win would have made 25-year-old Ioka, the ninth IBF contender, the winner of world titles in three different divisions.
Instead, he had his first defeat after winning his last 14 matches, nine of them inside the distance. In 2011, he won the unified WBC and WBA minimumweight title, as well as the WBA light-flyweight crown.
“I did not sense a huge difference in our strengths,” the Japanese said. “But I realized anew how difficult it is to reign in three divisions. There must be lessons I can learn from defeat. I will use them and definitely come back.”
With a 9cm reach advantage, the Thai champion kept Ioka at bay with sharp left jabs, right uppercuts and other kinds of blows from the opening bell.
At times, Amnat switched from conventional to southpaw style, lowered his guard and danced around to outfox the Japanese, whose punches did not seem to carry much steam.
In the third and fourth rounds, the Thai’s sharp right uppercuts caught Ioka’s jaw.
The champion slowed down and often resorted to crafty clinches in the later rounds.
In the 10th round, Amnat was slapped with a one-point deduction for clinching. Ioka’s left body blow in the 11th round was one of his few punches that surprised the champion.
In another IBF bout on Wednesday, Japan’s Katsunari Takayama retained his minimumweight title by beating compatriot Shin Ono with a unanimous decision.
Takayama knocked down Ono twice in the 10th and 12th for his second successful defense of the 47.6kg class title.
Whitaker and Hernandez scored the fight 115-111 for Takayama, while Kardyni scored it 117-109.
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