Another bantamweight title has made its way back to Japan.

Ryosuke Nishida dropped and outclassed Emmanuel Rodriguez to win the IBF bantamweight title. A strong start early, punctuated by a fourth-round knockdown, paved the way for a clear-cut unanimous decision. Scores were 117–110, 115-112 and 115-112 for Nishida in their ABEMA TV-aired main event Saturday at EDION Arena in Osaka, Japan.

Puerto Rico’s Rodriguez (22-3, 13 knockouts) entered the bout as The Ring’s number three-rated bantamweight. Saturday’s bout marked the first defense of his second IBF reign, as well as his first career fight in Japan.

Things jumped off to a rough start for the 31-year-old Boricua. Nishida (9-0-1, 1 KOs), No. 9 at 118, was dominant early, particularly to the body. A left hook downstairs produced the bout’s lone knockdown, as Rodriguez was floored midway through round four.

To his credit, Rodriguez rallied back in the middle rounds and did enough late in the fight to get the benefit of the doubt in every close sequence. Judges Gil Co (115-112) and Carl Zappia (115-112) had the fight much closer than most home viewers who followed the fight online.

Nishida appeared to remain a step ahead in the second half of the fight, as both fought through fatigue. Rodriguez desperately tried to rally late but did not have enough left to fend off the 27-year-old southpaw.

Nishida closed the fight strong to seal his most significant victory to date. The win marks the eighth consecutive distance fight for the five-year pro, who went twelve rounds for the fifth time in his young career. He became the ninth fighter from Japan to currently hold a major title with Saturday’s feat.

Rodriguez is now just 3-3 with one No Contest over his last seven fights.

His second title reign ends in less than nine months and without a successful defense. Rodriguez won the belt in a twelve-round shutout over Melving Lopez last August in the greater Washington D.C. area.

He was an unbeaten IBF bantamweight titlist at the time of his May 2019 title defense versus Naoya Inoue. Their World Boxing Super Series semifinal bout became a whitewash, as Rodriguez was floored three times in a second-round stoppage defeat.

Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) went on to fully unify the 118-pound division and also claim The Ring championship. He repeated the feat at 122, where he is the current RING, WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO champion.

The Ring championship remains vacant at 118. Three of the four major titles in the division are already back in Japan with Saturday’s verdict.

Junto Nakatani (27-0, 20 KOs) won the WBC title earlier this year with a sixth-round knockout of Alexandro Santiago.

Takuma Inoue, Naoya’s younger brother, holds the WBA belt and defends versus countryman Sho Ishida on Monday in Tokyo. The same show houses Naoya Inoue’s RING/undisputed championship defense versus Tijuana’s Luis Nery.

Australia’s Jason Moloney (26-2, 19 KOs) also appears on the show as he attempts to defend his WBO 118-pound title for the second time. The Ring’s No. 2-rated bantamweight faces unbeaten Yoshiki Takei (8-0, 8 KOs), an Inoue stablemate. A win by Takei will provide a bantamweight sweep for Japan.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Follow @JakeNDaBox

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