Anthony Olascuaga arrived in fashion.
The 2-time title challenger is now a first-time beltholder after a third-round knockout of Riku Kano. A hybrid left hook-uppercut put Kano down for the total ten rely at 2:50 of spherical three Saturday at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.
With the win, Olascuaga claimed the vacant WBO flyweight title.
“That’s the punch that my coach [Rudy Hernandez] stated would achieve success tonight and it hit,” Olascuaga stated after the battle. “It was very profitable.
“I’m very completely satisfied. It’s a dream come true.”
Olascuaga (7-1, 5 knockouts) was way more ready for his second shot at a serious belt. His first try got here on brief discover and outdoors his regular weight division versus the easiest. He changed an unwell Jonathan Gonzalez to problem then RING/WBC/WBA 108-pound champ Kenshiro Teraji (23-1, 14 KOs), who stopped Olascuaga within the ninth spherical.
That night time was the primary of three straight battle in Tokyo for Los Angeles’ Olascuaga, who was much better ready this time round.
Kano stood immediately in entrance of Olascuaga for a lot of the temporary affair. His plan was to all the time be in vary to land his proper hook, which carried levels of success. The tradeoff was that he couldn’t keep away from Olascuaga’s left hook, each to the physique and upstairs. The visiting American pressured an aggressive tempo early and by no means relented.
Olascuaga continued to use heavy stress within the second spherical. Kano linked over Olascauga’s low left guard however couldn’t decelerate his assault.
The identical sample held up for a lot of the third spherical via its spotlight reel ending. Olascuaga backed up Kano and pitched ahead with a left hand that flattened the Japanese fighter. Kano remained on his again as referee Jose Rivera reached the rely of ten to finish the battle.
Kano (22-5-2, 11 KOs) snapped a ten-fight unbeaten streak with the defeat. He’s now 0-2 in main title fights; Katsunari Takayama outpointed his countryman of their Aug. 2016 WBO strawweight title battle.
Olascuaga now has a possibility to make noise in a division in want of a brand new hero. The belt he gained was vacated by Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs), who moved again as much as 115 the place he’s The Ring/WBC champ.
“I need to be an distinctive fighter coming ahead,” insisted Olascuaga. “I’m very completely satisfied to be representing the WBO. They are going to be very completely satisfied that I grew to become champion tonight.”
Olascuaga-Kano aired as a part of a four-fight present on ESPN+ within the U.S. Earlier on the cardboard, Issel Aramoto (1-0, 1 KO) loved a profitable professional debut with a sixth-round knockout of Mongontsooj Nandinerdene (2-2-1, 2 KOs). A left hook put Nandinerdene all the way down to power the quick stoppage at 1:09 of spherical six of their tremendous middleweight bout.
Headlining the occasion, WBC bantamweight titlist Junto Nakatani (27-0, 20 KOs)—Olascuaga’s stablemate—defends versus Vincent Astrolabio (19-4, 14 KOs).
