Japan's 23-year-old star Kosei Tanaka captured his third division world title when he defeated via majority decision fellow Japanese world champion Sho Kimura at the Takeda Teva Ocean Arena in Nagoya Monday night in an brutal all action 12-round contest.
Tanaka wrested Kimura's WBO world flyweight title.
Judge Zoltan Yefendi of Hungary scored it 116-112 and Judge Danrex Tapdasan of the Philippines had it 115-113 both in favor of Tanaka while the third judge Don Trella of Connecticut saw it 114-114 draw.
Tanaka (12-0-0, 7KOs) captured the WBO world minimumweight title in his fifth professional fight at age 19 by defeating Julian Yedras of Mexico of May 30, 2015. He then stopped former Mexican world champion Moises Fuentes on Dec. 31, 2016 in Gifu, Japan to annexed the WBO world light flyweight title.
Tanaka's Monday night's feat also made him the third-youngest fighter in history to win a world title in three weight classes behind Tony Canzoneri and Wilfredo Benitez. Tanaka also tied the record set by Vasiliy Lomachenko for winning a title in three divisions in the fewest amounts of pro fights fought at 12.
Kimura suffered his second defeat in 21 professional fights. He captured the WBO flyweight title by defeating Chinese star Zou Shiming on July 28, 2017 in Shanghai and had successfully defended it twice against compatriot Toshiyuki Igarashi and Froilan Saludar of the Philipines before losing it to Tanaka.
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