Ito Forces Team Churakov To Throw In The Towel/Shiro Retains WBC Crown

WBO junior lightweight champion Masayuki Ito, 25-1-1-(13), retained his title via seventh round retirement against Russian challenger Evgeny Chuprakov, 20-1-(10), in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday.

The end came after 2.11 of the seventh round when his cornerman threw in the towel

Ito was in control from the start as Evgeny was unable to deal with the champion’s speed and accurate punches.

On the same card Ken Shiro, 5-0-(8), retained his WBC light-flyweight crown by out-pointing Mexican Saul Juarez, 24-9-2-(13), over 12 one-sided rounds.

The official scores were 120-108 and 119-109, twice.

Takuma Inoue, 13-0-(3), won the vacant WBC interim bantamweight title by out-pointing Petch CP Freshmart, (48-1-(33), over 12. All three judges score the fight 117-111.

The scores indicated an easy night for Inoue but the fight seemed a bit closer than the scores indicated. Freshmart mounted a serious attack in the 12^th round in a last ditch effort to turn the fight around but Inoue held his ground to secure the victory.