OSAKA, Japan -- Yuh Myung-Woo of South Korea pelted Japan's Hiroki Ioka over the final four rounds Wednesday to regain the World Boxing Association junior flyweight on a majority 12-round decision.
Yuh, 28, improved to 37-1 by outpunching Ioka in a rematch of his split decision loss last December that gave Ioka the title.
'After losing my title almost a year ago, I have been training with my eyes focused solely on this fight,' Yuh said after the win at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, the same venue where he lost the title last year.
Ioka, 23, failed to take advantage of his 4-inch reach advantage as Yuh punished him with left-right combinations.
'My condition was good,' said Ioka, who is 21-3-1 with nine knockouts. 'But both mentally and physically I was inferior to him. That's why I lost.'
Yuh, who has 14 knockouts, took control of the fight from the ninth round. Ioka began to bleed heavily from a cut by his left eye and was mostly on the defensive from there on.
Judge Antonio Requena of Venezuela scored the match 119-111 and Manuel Gonzalez called it 117-112 for Yuh. American Lou Tabat scored the fight a 114-114 draw.
It was Yuh's 20th world title fight and his first since losing the title to Ioka last year.
