WBC#15 Nakajima finishes Wake, keeps OPBF 122lb belt

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

In the main event of a regional title tripleheader, WBC#15 Kazuki Nakajima (16-2-1, 13 KOs), 122, successfully kept his OPBF (Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation) super bantam belt when he caught up with former world challenger Shingo Wake (31-9-2, 22 KOs), 121.5, and finished him for the count at 2:11 of the second round in a scheduled twelve on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan. Nakajima once had the WBO AP belt, but was dethroned by TJ Doheny (who will have an ambitious shot at Naoya Inoue’s unified 122-pound belts a week later) via TKO route in June last year. The hard-punching southpaw Nakajima, 31, then acquired the vacant OPBF belt, and this was his first defense since. Veteran southpaw Wake, 37, also had a bitter experience in his failure to win the IBF belt with his eleventh-round TKO by defending champ Yonatan Guzman in 2016. In this fight Nakajima proved more energetic and powerful for the fading Wake, who badly hit the deck to be counted by the referee Nakamura.

Promoter: Ohashi Promotions.

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