12 Utsuki Halts Wikham, Keeps WBO Asia 135lb Belt

By Joe Koizumi

Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Hard-punching WBO#12 Shu Utsuki (17-1, 15 KOs; amateur 81-27), 134.75, impressively retained his WBO Asia Pacific lightweight belt when he made short work of Thailand’s Wira Mikham (18-2, 12 KOs), 134.5, at 0:54 of the second round in a scheduled ten on Friday in Tokyo, Japan. Utsuki, muscular and pugnacious, swarmed over the Thai from the outset, dropping him with a vicious left-right combo in the closing seconds of the opening round. The champ quickly followed it up and badly sent him back to the canvas to prompt the referee’s stoppage.

We, in Japan, see many excellent little boxers in the lower divisions than the 126-pound category such as Naoya Inoue, Junto Nakatani and Kenshiro Teraji (though recently dethroned by Ricardo Sandoval), but are not boast of internationally remarkable boxers over the feather division. When we focus our view on the lightweight scene, we have witnessed crestfallen setbacks of our top boys—Masayoshi Nakatani at the hand of Vasyl Lomachenko, Shuichiro Yoshino by Shakur Stevenson, Hironori Mishiro by Andy Cruz and Jin Sasaki by Brian Norman. Already retired afterward are Nakatani, Yoshino and Mishiro.

Shu Utsuki is an active prospect with power punching, considerable skills and experience. Though once defeated and dethroned by Shuma Nakazato via third round TKO in April 2023, that’s his sole setback throughout his career and lately scored five victories all by knockouts since. We are looking forward to watching Utsuki’s future encounters against world name opponents to see his real power and strength.

https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/829717

The post 12 Utsuki Halts Wikham, Keeps WBO Asia 135lb Belt appeared first on fightnews.com.