By Jason Kim: WBA flyweight champion Takefumi Sakata (33-5-2, 15 KOs) was stopped in the 2nd round on Wednesday night by challenger Denkaosan Kaovichit (46-1-1, 20 KOs) at the Sun Plaza Hall, Hiroshima, in Hiroshima, Japan. Kaovichit, 32, from Thailand, landed a huge right hand to the head of Sakata near the end of the 2nd round, causing Sakata to stagger backwards and fall to the canvas. It took Sakata several moments to get up off his back, finally making it to his feet at the count of eight, but totally unsteady on his feet.
Referee Roberto Ramirez then chose to stop the fight, putting an end to it at 2:55 of the 2nd round. Sakata, 28, would have likely been destroyed if the fight had been allowed to continue, as he was never really in the fight and had little defense against the hard jabs and right hands that Kaovichit was landing in the two rounds of the fight.
For Sakata, who was making his 5th defense of his World Boxing Association flyweight title, he seemed at a loss what to do against the hard jabs and right hands that Kaovichit, his number #1 challenger in the WBA, was raining on him in the first round. Though both fighters were of the similar height and reach, around 5’4″, Kaovichit was able to get his jabs in faster than Sakata and keep him on the outside. Kaovichit threw constant jabs and right hands to Sakata’s midsection in the opening round, and not particularly interested in landing too many head shots.
However, when Kaovichit did land to the head, his jab was like a power punch, snapping Sakata’s head back violently each time Kaovichit chose to aim his punches upstairs. At one point in the round, Sakata, looking like he’d lost senses completely, turned his back on Kaovichit like an amateur and was promptly drilled square in the back by him. Later on, Kaovichit landed a big right that snapped Sakata’s head back.
However, Sakata came back in the last minute of the round, throwing a number of short, chopping right hands to the head of Kaovichit. It seemed as if Sakata fought his best while in close to Kaovichit, which allowed Sakata to get the maximum power on his shots. Unfortunately for him, Kaovichit preferred to spend most of his time on the outside throwing jabs and right hands, and not allowing Sakata to throw his short power punches all that often.
Looking really confident now, Kaovichit came out firing big shots in the 2nd round, nailing Sakata with right hands to the head and lefts to the body. Sakata, still throwing few punches, landed only a small handful of punches in the round and was mostly on the receiving end again like in the first round.
After taking a couple of left-right combinations from Sakata, Kaovichit began blasting him with repeated right hands to the head, backing him up and then tagging him with a huge right hand that twisted Sakata’s head around, and causing him to stagger backwards and fall to the canvas, landing on his back.
The referee then began standing over him giving him the count. Somehow, Sakata made it to his feet before the count of ten, but he was far too hurt to continue and the fight was stopped immediately by referee Roberto Ramirez at 2:55 of the round.