By Jason Kim: WBA Ordinary World super flyweight champion Nobuo Nashiro (13-1, 8 KOs) took out Konosuke Tomiyama (18-2, 6 KOs) in the 8th round on Saturday night at the Prefectural Gymasium, Osaka, in Osaka, Japan. Nashiro, 27, dropped Tomiyama with a left-right combination in the 8th. After Tomiyama got back up, Nashiro finished him Tomiyama with a series of right hands to the head causing referee Mark Nelson to step in and stop the bout at 1:22 of the round.
Nashiro was knocked down in the 6th by a powerful left hook from Tomiyama. However, beyond that, Nashiro easily dominated the fight with his power shots.
In the 1st round, Tomiyama, sporting bleached hair and purple trunks, rushed across the ring and immediately began throwing flurries of punches. Nashiro stood his ground under the onslaught, covering up and staying patient as Tomiyama threw everything but the kitchen sink at him in the round.
Though Tomiyama threw an enormous amount of punches in the round, he had little power to speak of and Nashiro wasn’t the least worried by the punches.
Nashiro took control over the bout in the 2nd round throwing hard left hooks and right hands to the head of Tomiyama. Nashiro kept Tomiyama under pressure for most of the round and forced him to fight harder than he wanted to. In the 3rd round, Tomiyama continued out-landing Nashiro by a significant margin of at least two to one, but Nashiro was landing the much harder shots and they seemed to be having an effect on Tomiyama.
Early in the round, Nashiro landed a nice left-right combination that snapped Tomiyama’s head back. He then attempted to retaliate with a right hand of his own but missed badly. The remainder of the round saw Nashiro do the better with behind his short powerful right hands, which Nashiro had little problem landing.
Tomiyama began to show signs of tiring in the 4th round, which had to be from the fast pace that Nashiro was setting in the fight. Tomiyama was hit with some big shots in the round and didn’t look good in taking them. At the same time, Tomiyama was beginning to throw fewer and fewer punches as he was wearing down.
In the 5th round, Tomiyama began to throw more punches as he tried to get back in the fight. However, Nashiro was ready for him and met his attacks each time with huge right hands to the head. Again, this was another relatively easy round for Nashiro.
Early in the 6th round, Nashiro was caught with a powerful left hook from Tomiyama and dropped to the canvas. It seemed more of a case of Nashiro being caught off balance after throwing a punch rather than being hurt. As if to show that he wasn’t hurt from the punch, Nashiro savagely attacked Tomiyama for the next minute, landing big rights. Tomiyama must have known that he wasn’t hurt because he barely threw a punch for the remainder of the round.
In the 7th, Tomiyama was looking more and more tired, as he took a lot of punishment from Nashiro for the entire round. Nashiro teed off on him with big right hands, landing them one after another. Tomiyama attempted to fight back but he had nothing on his shots by this time in the fight.
Early in the 8th, Nashiro hurt Tomiyama with a tremendous right hand that almost dropped him, sending him down to within inches of the floor in a crouch. Nashiro then battered Tomiyama with right hands until Tomiyama finally hit the canvas after being pushed down by Nashiro.
The referee mistakenly ruled it a knockdown, but it didn’t really matter because Tomiyama was hurt and needed the short break that the knockdown gave him. After Tomiyama got up, Nashiro drove him to the corner and drilled him with a storm of shots, prompting for referee Mark Nelson to step in and stop the fight at 1:22 of the round.