ONTARIO, Calif. – Featherweight Katsuma Akitsugi of Los Angeles remained unbeaten Saturday night, defeating gatekeeper Jose Gonzalez by technical decision at Toyota Arena.

No scores were announced as Akitsugi improved to 10-0, 1 KO. The fight was on the undercard of the Golden Boy Promotions card headlined by Gilberto Ramirez vs. Dominic Boesel.

The southpaw Akitsugi was the busier and more-effective fighter from the opening bell, mixing his attack to the head and body. The shorter Gonzalez attempted to get on the inside of Akitsugi’s guard, finding some success with an occasional right or left to the head. 

Midway through the third round, an accidental clash of heads opened a cut over the right eye of Gonzalez. After a lengthy check of the ringside physician, the fight continued, but blood continued to stream from the right eyelid of Gonzalez. 

At one second of the fourth round, referee Robert Hoyle called the ringside physician a second time, who again checked the cut of Gonzalez. After several moments, the physician recommended for Hoyle to stop the fight after Gonzalez reportedly stated he had difficulty seeing out of his eye.  

Akitsugi last fought on April 9 in San Antonio, defeating Gregory Morales by unanimous decision in a clash of unbeaten featherweights. 

Gonzalez, who resides in Guadalajara, Mexico, drops to 23-10-1, 13 KOs. He is now winless in his last six fights. 

Non-televised action:

Junior lightweight Jorge Chavez battered journeyman Eduardo Melendez (6-32, 2 KOs) of Puerto Rico until Melendez’s corner threw in the towel at 1:57 of round 3. Chavez, a San Diego resident, improves to 3-0, 3 KOs.

Featherweight Japhethlee Llamido remained unbeaten, dropping Edgar Figueroa (4-3-1, 2 KOs) of Palm Beach, Florida with a left hook to the body, eventually forcing Figueroa’s corner to throw in the towel at 1:35. Llamido, who resides in nearby Norwalk, improves to 7-0, 3 KOs.

In lightweight action, Carlos Nava of Pasadena, Texas improved to 8-0, 5 KOs by stopping Miami’s Yampier Hernandez (1-1) at 1:57 of the sixth round. Saturday marked Nava’s third win of 2022. 

In the opening bout of the Golden Boy Promotions card, cruiserweight Kareem Hackett defeated Mexico’s Josue Obando (20-34-2, 15 KOs) by decision over six one-sided rounds. All three judges scored the fight 60-54 in favor of Hackett, who improves to 10-0, 5 KOs. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing