Ryoichi Taguchi had a dominant performance at the Ota-City General Gym in Tokyo, Japan, and defeated Robert Barrera by TKO in the ninth-round to retain his World Boxing Association (WBA) Light Flyweight title for the sixth time.

Taguchi showed that beating the champion in his own home requires much more than what the Colombian was proposing. The uppercut was key to the Japanese since he used it to hurt his rival in both the middle area and the face as the fight went on.

The speed that Barrera showed in his combinations was not enough; in fact, he didn’t seem to have the power to damage the Japanese throughout the fight. In the seventh round, the Japanese began to get the South American in trouble and to take him to the ropes in several opportunities, whereas, in the eighth round, the punishment increased due to the combinations to the body. Taguchi came out determined to end the fight in the ninth round and, due to Barrera’s inaction, the referee decided to stop the fight at 00:24 seconds.

The champion had one of his best shows among his six defenses and left a record of 26 wins, 2 losses, 2 draws and 12 knockouts. For Barrera, this was the second fall of his career and he now has a balance of 18-2, 12 knockouts.

Photos: Naoki Fukuda.