Hozumi Hasegawa successfully defended his WBC bantamweight title against unbeaten South African challenger Simpiwe Vetyeka in the main event of yesterday's card at Tokyo's Ariake Colosseum, winning a unanimous decision by scores of 116-112, 116-112 and 115-113. Hasegawa (22-2) won the belt against Veeraphol Sahaprom in 2005. This was his fourth defense of the title. Vetyeka falls to 16-1.
On the undercard, Alexander Munoz regained the WBA super flyweight title in a unanimous decision win over Nobuo Nashiro. Scores were 118-109, 117-111 and 117-112. Munoz first won the belt in 2002, before losing it to Martin Castillo in 2004. He lost again to Castillo last year, and six months after Castillo/Munoz II, Nashiro beat Castillo in Japan for the title, in just his eighth professional fight. Munoz improves to 30-2, and Nashiro is now 9-1.
And finally, Edwin Valero (22-0) racked up knockout number 22 in the eighth round against Nobuhito Honmo (29-5-2), marking just the second time in his career he's gone past the second round. Everyone wants Pacquiao/Marquez II for the Pacman's next fight, but would anybody pass on Pacquiao/Valero in Japan? Talk about an explosive matchup.