Hozumi Hasegawa skipped a weight class to pick up the WBC featherweight title, and Takahiro Aoh claimed the WBC super featherweight belt this morning in Nagoya, Japan.
Hasegawa (29-3, 12 KO) rebounded from his April loss to Fernando Montiel at bantamweight, beating Mexican prospect Juan Carlos Burgos by 12-round unanimous decision. Scores were 116-111 and 117-110 (twice). Skipping a weight class is never easy and rarely advised, but Hasegawa made it work and at 29, has a new lease on his career. Word was he was struggling to make bantamweight, and the victory over Burgos (25-1, 18 KO) gives his career a new boost. The move up was quite a risk since he took a legitimate opponent, and it appears to make an already-good featherweight division even better.
In the co-feature, Takahiro Aoh (20-2-1, 9 KO) toppled Vitali Tajbert (20-2, 6 KO) to claim the WBC's super featherweight belt. The win makes Aoh a two-division titlist. Tajbert went down in the third round and lost on scores of 115-112, 116-110 and 117-112. After the fight, Tajbert claimed he injured his hand in the second round, and said he wants a rematch. Humberto Gutierrez is the mandatory challenger for Aoh.