Kenshiro Teraji as soon as once more lived as much as his ‘Wonderful Boy’ moniker.
The 2-time and reigning lineal/WBA/WBC junior flyweight champion earned his fourth consecutive knockout, this one in a ninth-round stoppage of former two-division titlist Hekkie Budler. A barrage of punches left Budler defenseless alongside the ropes, as referee Lupe Garcia stopped the competition at 2:19 of spherical 9 Monday at Ariake Enviornment in Tokyo.
Budler jumped out to a powerful opening spherical, as he and famous coach Colin Nathan tried to use Teraji’s usually gradual begin nature. The visiting former two-division titlist discovered an early house for his proper hand, which Teraji took properly and remained dedicated to his crisp jab of their Amazon Prime Video/ESPN+ principal occasion.
Terrific two-way motion ensued in spherical two. Teraji settled into a gradual offensive groove and put collectively combos. A proper hand down the center snapped again the pinnacle of Budler, who got here again with a straight proper of his personal. Teraji landed left hooks and a stab jab downstairs whereas Budler did his finest to maintain tempo and land energy photographs of his personal.
Kyoto’s Teraji dedicated to a physique assault which noticed Budler present the primary indicators of slowing down in spherical three. A wind-up proper hand by Teraji landed just below Budler’s tight guard.
Budler saved his composure irrespective of the state of affairs or each time Teraji threatened to drag away. The 35-year-old Johannesburg native did his finest to make issues uncomfortable for the defending champ, who was reduce over the fitting eyebrow from a conflict of heads early in spherical 5. Teraji resumed motion and threw a gradual jab however was pressured to depend on his chin as Budler landed an overhand proper.
Teraji set traps in spherical six. Budler walked straight ahead after being urged to keep away from getting caught within the pocket. Teraji used his opponent’s aggression to his personal benefit as he stepped again, planted his ft and landed clear one-two combos upstairs.
Budler shook off a jab to land a counter proper hand upstairs in spherical seven. Teraji readjusted and went again to the stick with arrange his energy photographs. Budler continued to press ahead and landed a proper hand throughout an change.
Teraji loved far larger success in spherical eight. Budler relied extra on motion as Teraji persistently landed together with his jab and proper hand upstairs. Each boxers all however deserted their earlier dedication to a physique assault, although Budler ended the spherical with an tried proper and a left hook downstairs.
Any hope for Budler to show the tide was instantly erased within the fateful ninth spherical. Teraji went on the assault and Budler was now not capable of defend himself. A proper hand for Teraji crashed house towards his challenger earlier than the referee jumped in to rescue Budler from further punshiment.
Teraji improved to 22-1 (14KOs) and is now 13-1 (9KOs) in main title fights spanning two reigns. The win was his fourth in a row since he regained his WBC title in a revenge fueled third spherical knockout of countryman Masamichi Yabuki final March. The feat avenged his lone profession defeat, a tenth-round stoppage of their September 2021 Battle of the 12 months-level slugfest.
Budler fell to 35-5 (11KOs) in a failed bid to change into a three-time titlist spanning two weight divisions.
The previous WBA strawweight and WBA/IBF junior flyweight titlist earned this title shot with a twelve-round win over former WBO titleholder Elwin Soto of their WBC title eliminator final June 25 in Mexico Metropolis. He agreed to step apart earlier this yr when Teraji sought to additional unify versus WBO beltholder Jonathan ‘Bomba’ Gonzalez in April.
Gonzalez fell ailing and was pressured to withdraw, after which Teraji confronted Anthony Olascuaga whom he stopped within the ninth spherical. Budler and his staff instantly moved to have their necessary standing enforced, which led to Monday’s title struggle.
A minimum of one title has been at stake in each struggle for Teraji relationship again to his Might 2017 win over Ganigan Lopez in simply his tenth professional struggle. He’s now 7-1 in fights versus former or present titleholders.
The most important stays a stunningly one-sided seventh-round knockout of unbeaten countryman Hiroto Kyoguchi of their WBA/WBC unification bout final November 1 in Saitama, Japan. Kyoguchi defeated Budler through tenth-round stoppage of their New 12 months’s Eve 2018 conflict to start his title reign earlier than he conceded the belt to Teraji.
Jake Donovan is a senior author for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox