Tsutsumi stops faded Moreno at Korakuen Hall

Earlier today we had the latest show on Abema, LIFETIME BOXING FIGHTS 20, which took place at Korakuen Hall.

The card was, over-all, an enjoyable one, though it was the two main bouts that really deserved attention.

In the chief support bout we saw Ryuto Owan (12-2, 7) [大湾硫斗] score a wide decision over Filipino Gary Tamayo (9-3, 5), who came off second best through the bout but showed his toughness, determination and grit to see off the 8 rounds. Early on things were competitive, but as the fight went on Owan's power showed as he seemed to hurt Tamayo in almost every round, and came close to dropping him in round 8. To his credit Omayao showed his toughness, trying to counter off the ropes and did have moments, but those moments were few and far between and he was tagged with both hands, especially in the final rounds. After 8 rounds the judges had this pretty clearly in favour of Owan, with scores of 78-74 and 79-73, twice.

In the main event we saw Hayato Tsutsumi (5-0, 2) [堤 駿斗] easily deal with former Bantamweight world champion Anselmo Moreno (43-7-1, 15), stopping Moreno in 3 rounds , and joining Shinsuke Yamanaka and Julio Ceja, as the only men to have stopped "Chemito". Sadly however the win is something of a tainted one, as Tsutsumi came in 3.5lbs overweight yesterday at the weigh in. Whilst the weight didn’t really look like it mattered in the ring, it did seem obvious that the 38 year old Moreno was a shadow of the fighter he had once been. In fact it really looked like Moreno was beyond washed, and that he should retire. 

In round 1 Tsutusumi took his time, and it seemed like he was holding back. In round 2 he began to let shots go, before dropping the veteran with a left hand in round 3. Moreno beat the count but was dropped a second time later in the round. After the bout Tsutsumii apologised to the fans and Moreno’s team for missing weight, and said he was going to focus on working hard to return to the ring. 

It should be noted that for failing to make weight it’s expected that Tsutsumi will have a 6 month suspension from the JBC.

Other bouts on the show included Shun Sekine (10-1-1, 8) [関根駿] stopping Thai fighter Attanon Kunlawong (22-14-1, 15) in the 3rd round; and Tsuyoshi Sato (11-2-1, 6) [佐藤剛] returned to the ring for the first time in over 3 years, as he stopped Thailand's Thanakon Chanphiman (2-1, 1) in 2 rounds; and Kyohei Sugeta (1-0, 1) [菅田恭平] scoring an opening round win over Koki Ishii (0-2) [石井幸折] in a 2 and a half minute shootout.