by Brian Yalung
Veteran boxer Kazuto Ioka of Japan captured the WBO super flyweight championship at the Makuhari Messe Event Hall in Chiba City, Japan on Wednesday after scoring a 10-round TKO win over Aston Palicte of the Philippines.
The win allowed Ioka to become the first Japanese to capture world titles in four different weight classes. The 30-year-old pug also holds the minimum weight, light-flyweight and flyweight belts.
The 28-year-old Filipino actually had a good start but slowed down in the 7th round. It was all the opening that Ioka needed, landing shots to the head and body of Palicte.
Come the 10th round, Ioka landed a heavy counter blow to Palicte and followed it up with a barrage of punches that forced referee Kenny Chevalier to stop the fight with 1:14 left in the round.
Ioka improved his record to 24-2, 14 by KO. Palicte, on the other hand, fell to 25-3-1, with 21 KO wins.