Ito, Shiro, Inoue win in Tokyo

The three Japanese fighters all won at home.

Masayuki Ito, Ken Shiro, and Takuma Inoue all won their fights today in Tokyo, with no upsets on the card and, one would guess, the fans going home happy.

Ito (25-1-1, 13 KO) stopped previously-unbeaten Evgeny Chuprakov (20-1, 10 KO) of Russia to retain his WBO super featherweight title. The official time of stoppage was 2:11 of the seventh round. The 27-year-old Ito had come to the U.S. this summer to win the then-vacant title, beating Christopher Diaz, and wraps up his 2018 going 3-0 overall on the year.

Shiro (15-0, 8 KO) scored a wide decision win over Mexico’s Saul Juarez (24-9-2, 13 KO), retaining the WBC 108-pound title on scores of 119-109, 119-109, and 120-108. Shiro, 26, won his title in May 2017 from Ganigan Lopez, and has now successfully defended it five times.

Inoue (13-0, 3 KO) was also a decision winner, beating Thailand’s Petch Sor Chitpattana (48-1, 33 KO) on scores of 117-111 across the board. The win gives the 23-year-old Inoue the interim WBC bantamweight title.