Tokyo, Japan (SportsNetwork.com) - Akira Yaegashi retained his WBC flyweight title Sunday with a ninth-round knockout of Odilon Zaleta, while Adrian Hernandez lost his WBC light flyweight crown after suffering a sixth-round TKO against Naoya Inoue.
Yaegashi improved to 20-3 with 10 knockouts and made his third successful title defense, first by knockout. He had beaten Edgar Sosa and Oscar Blanquet in unanimous decisions after taking the belt from Toshiyuki Igarashi last April.
Zaleta, the eighth-ranked contender, fell to 15-4. He was counted out at 2:14 of the ninth round.
Inoue thrilled the home fans with his TKO of Hernandez, who was making his fifth title defense. He won the belt in October 2012 from Kompayak Porpramook.
It was just the sixth professional bout for Inoue, who remained undefeated and earned his fifth knockout. Hernandez fell to 29-3-1. He had won seven straight fights since a loss to Porpramook in their first bout in December 2011.
[SportsNetwork.com]
