Thursday, March 28, 2024  |

By The Ring | 

Opening Shots

It wasn’t quite a St. Valentine’s Day massacre, as Kenta Nakagawa (above right) secured a regional junior bantamweight title with a comfortable but hard-earned decision over countryman Akio Furutani on February 14 in Tokyo, but the ring canvas definitely got the Jackson Pollack treatment. Just another night at Korakuen Hall. Photographer Naoki Fukuda was in the splatter zone at ringside:



On the same card, junior welterweight rookie Mikyo Watarai notched his third professional win with a sixth-round stoppage of South Korea’s Moo Hyun Kim:

The incredible Amanda Westcott captured these photos of the junior lightweight title bout between O’Shaquie Foster and Rey Vargas on February 11 in San Antonio. Foster took home the vacant WBC belt with a commanding performance, winning by wide unanimous decision:

On the Foster-Vargas undercard, a battle of undefeated heavyweights saw Cuban southpaw Lenier Pero find the angles to score an eighth-round TKO victory over Ukrainian Viktor Vykhryst:

(Photo by Amanda Westcott/Showtime)

(Photo by Amanda Westcott/Showtime)

And welterweight Mario Barrios bounced back from a pair of defeats (at the hands of Gervonta Davis and Keith Thurman) with an eighth-round stoppage of Jovanie Santiago:

(Photo by Amanda Westcott/Showtime)

(Photo by Amanda Westcott/Showtime)

Seigo Yuri Akui, who currently occupies the No. 10 slot in The Ring’s flyweight rankings, blew out Jayson Vayson on February 4 at Korakuen Hall, calmly winning every round on all three judges’ scorecards. Photos by Naoki Fukuda: