TOKYO - Japan's Takashi Miura battered Mexican challenger Edgar Puerta into submission with a sixth-round technical knockout Saturday to successfully defend his World Boxing Council super featherweight title for the third time.
World Boxing Commission (WBC) super featherweight champion Takashi Miura of Japan (left) exchanges punches with challenger Edgar Puerta of Mexico during their title bout in Yokohama on November 22, 2014
The 30-year-old overpowered the top-ranked challenge, sending him to the canvas in the first round before finishing Puerta off with a ferocious flurry of punches two minutes, 15 seconds into the sixth, a left-right to the body opening him up for a crunching left to the jaw which forced the referee to step in.
"It's a relief," a beaming Miura told reporters after dominating the fight in Yokohama. "He was a tough opponent. I'd like to have finished him off earlier but it doesn't always go to plan. I still have a few things I need to improve on. I wasn't completely happy."
The fight was part of a WBC doubleheader also featuring a flyweight title match between Nicaraguan champion Roman Gonzalez and Rocky Fuentes of the Philippines, who failed to live up to his hard-man name, also winding up the victim of a sixth-round TKO.
A devastating uppercut from Gonzalez sent the challenger sprawling to complete a successful first title defence for the South American in another one-sided bout.