In a brutal slugfest with almost zero defense on display, former titleholder Takashi Miura scored a 12^th-round knockout of Miguel Roman on Saturday night in Indio, California.

Fighting from opposing stances, the two men jabbed at each other for a round before rolling out the power punches. The southpaw Miura (31-3-2, 24 knockouts) consistently landed right hooks to the body of Roman (56-12, 43 KOs), who found success on the inside with hooks from both sides. Miura’s well-known left-handed power also crept into his attacks and he seemed to stagger Roman at the end of Round 4.

As the fight escalated to a typical Miura brawl, Roman surged to win the fifth and still had the momentum in the sixth, and the Japanese fighter’s face was showing the damage. In Round 7 an exhausted Miura’s swings had more of a desperate look while Roman’s crude but effective assault continued.

By Round 10 it had become a grueling test of endurance but Miura’s heavy punches were finding the mark, and with only a few seconds left he landed a monster left to the body that dropped Roman. Halfway through the 11^th, Miura beat him down to the canvas again, but Roman was again able to survive. Not so in the 12^th, when Roman went down from a left hand — his enormous heart could no longer get him to his feet and he was counted out by referee Thomas Taylor.

A full report from RingTV Editor Doug Fischer will follow.