Anthony Olascuaga Knocks Out Riku Kano In 3rd Round, Wins WBO Flyweight Title
Anthony Olascuaga arrived in style.
The two-time title challenger is now a first-time beltholder after a third-round knockout of Riku Kano. A hybrid left hook-uppercut put Kano down for the full ten count at 2:50 of round three Saturday at Ryoguko Kokugikan in Tokyo.
With the win, Olascuaga claimed the vacant WBO flyweight title.
“That’s the punch that my coach [Rudy Hernandez] said would be successful tonight and it hit,” Olascuaga said after the fight. “It was very successful.
“I’m very happy. It’s a dream come true.”
Olascuaga (7-1, 5 knockouts) was far more prepared for his second shot at a major belt. His first attempt came on short notice and outside his normal weight division versus the very best. He replaced an ill Jonathan Gonzalez to challenge then RING/WBC/WBA 108-pound champ Kenshiro Teraji (23-1, 14 KOs), who stopped Olascuaga in the ninth round.
That night was the first of three straight fight in Tokyo for Los Angeles’ Olascuaga, who was far better prepared this time around.
Kano stood directly in front of Olascuaga for much of the brief affair. His plan was to always be in range to land his right hook, which carried degrees of success. The tradeoff was that he could not avoid Olascuaga’s left hook, both to the body and upstairs. The visiting American forced an aggressive pace early and never relented.
Olascuaga continued to apply heavy pressure in the second round. Kano connected over Olascauga’s low left guard but could not slow down his attack.
The same pattern held up for much of the third round through its highlight reel ending. Olascuaga backed up Kano and pitched forward with a left hand that flattened the Japanese fighter. Kano remained on his back as referee Jose Rivera reached the count of ten to end the fight.
Kano (22-5-2, 11 KOs) snapped a ten-fight unbeaten streak with the defeat. He is now 0-2 in major title fights; Katsunari Takayama outpointed his countryman in their Aug. 2016 WBO strawweight title fight.
Olascuaga now has an opportunity to make noise in a division in need of a new hero. The belt he won was vacated by Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs), who moved back up to 115 where he is The Ring/WBC champ.
“I want to be an exceptional fighter coming forward,” insisted Olascuaga. “I’m very happy to be representing the WBO. They will be very happy that I became champion tonight.”
Olascuaga-Kano aired as part of a four-fight show on ESPN+ in the U.S. Earlier on the card, Issel Aramoto (1-0, 1 KO) enjoyed a successful pro debut with a sixth-round knockout of Mongontsooj Nandinerdene (2-2-1, 2 KOs). A left hook put Nandinerdene down to force the immediate stoppage at 1:09 of round six in their super middleweight bout.
Headlining the event, WBC bantamweight titlist Junto Nakatani (27-0, 20 KOs)—Olascuaga’s stablemate—defends versus Vincent Astrolabio (19-4, 14 KOs).
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