Tokyo, Japan: Welter: Keita Obara (20-3-1) W TKO 3 Alvin Lagumbay (10-3). Feather: Taiki Minamoto (16-5) W TKO 9 Tatsuya Otsubo (12-9-1).

Obara vs. Lagumbay

Revenge is sweet for Obara as he halts Filipino southpaw Lagumbay to regain the WBO Asia Pacific title. The local fighter was determined to win decisively. Obara put Lagumbay down with a right in the first. In the second Lagumbay was swinging hard but Obara was showing a tight defence and countering with hard accurate shots. Obara stormed out in the third hurting Lagumbay early and a savage attack saw Lagumbay forced to the canvas and the referee stopped the fight. Obara, 31, lost to Eduard Troyanovsky in a challenge for the IBF super light title in 2016. His loss on a second round kayo against Lagumbay in April was a major shock and a very unusual ending. Both fighters went down simultaneously from a punch but whereas Lagumbay made it to his feet Obara did not. Filipino “Time Bomb” Lagumbay had won 8 of his last 9 fights but now gets his second inside the distance defeat.

Minamoto vs. Otsubo

Minamoto comes from behind to halt challenger Otsubo and retain the National title. Otsubo attacked hard from the start getting past Minamoto’s jab and flooring the champion with a wicked straight right in the third. That acted as a wake-up call for Minamoto and he outscored Otsubo in the fourth and fifth to close some of the gap on the three cards to 46-48. Otsubo looked to be tiring in the sixth and Minamoto took that round and the seventh to level the scores. Minamoto weakened Otsubo further in the eighth and when an exhausted Otsubo went down in the ninth the fight was stopped. Minamoto failed in a challenge for the Japanese super bantam title in 2015 then moved up to feather and won the National feather title. This is his sixth win in a row and his first defence of the title. First loss by KO/TKO for Japanese No 3 Otsubo and second unsuccessful challenge for this title.