Kenshiro Escapes with His Belt, Dalakian Robbed of His
Upset was already in the air, but it just wasn't meant to be for Carlos Caznizles, who came up just short in his bid to dethrone Kenshiro Teraji. Teraji of Japan narrowly kept his WBA and WBC titles. In a much more competitive fight than was expected, both men hit the floor. Teraji 23-1 (14 ), who won by scores of 114-112 (twice) and 113-113, dropped Canizales with a beautifully placed right square to the head of the challenge in Round 2. In the very next round, Canizales, 26-2-(19), got even by flooring Teraji with a straight right of his own. By the fourth Canizalez, kept up the pressure and gained control of the fight at least temporarily, mixing up the body and headshots. Kept Teraji unable to get his offense cooking. The action kept up throughout the middle rounds. As Taraji would win the majority of the rounds and often allowed the relentless Canizales to rally and perhaps steal the rounds late with efective flurries in the closing seconds. The action remained event after Teraji woke up in the eighth, and going to the cards the issue seemed in doubt. The judges handed in a fair verdict narrowly in favor of the champion.
One of longest title reigns in the sport ended on Tuesday in Japan as Nativeman, 28-year-old Seigo Yuri Akui defeated the WBA flyweight champion Artem Dalakian on Tuesday, a native of Ukraine. Scores came in for the native fighter, but inexplicable scores from a diverse set of judges. Akui scores consistently with his right-handers. However, the Ukrainian landed effectively with the cleaner power shots, having moments throughout the 12-round affair with a thudding and accurate left hook that couldn't miss. In round eight, Aku started to find a rhythm and was scoring with his right hand. Having most of his success in those rounds. Other than that, a lot of the Japanese challengers aggression seemed largely ineffective as Dalakian slowed the pace, locked him up on the inside, and seemed to score with the better shots. Dalakian had Akui in a world of trouble with a left hook in the 10th round that badly wobbled the challenger. Dalakian ran out the 12th stanza, assuming the fight was in the bag on points. However, the judges handed in an egregious decision of 116-112 117-111 119-109 scorecard. The 119-109 card handed in by Judge Jeremy Hayes of Canada is perhaps the worst card ever handed in by a judge in a world title fight.
Dalakian was among the longest reigning world champion in the sport. He captured his title in February 2018 with a win over Brian Viloria. However, as of recently, he was hampered with inactivity caused by war and, before that, the covid pandemic it did look as if the layoff and age caught up to the 36-year-old a bit despite it appearing to most observers he had done more than enough to keep his title.
