Jezreel Corrales upsets Takashi Uchiyama with second-round stoppage

Takashi Uchiyama's six-year reign as a WBA super featherweight champion is over, as "K.O. Dynamite" suffered his first career loss last night at the hands of Panama's Jezreel Corrales.

The full fight is currently available on YouTube for the interested.

Despite a negligible knockout percentage, Corrales (20-1, 8 KO) came out swinging, tagging the Japanese veteran with overhand lefts and swatting right hooks behind them. Uchiyama (24-1, 20 KO) struggled with Corrales' awkward switch-hitting, and his attempt to seize momentum resulted in him walking into a perfect counter left that sent him crashing down early in the second.

Uchiyama struggled to get back to his feet and had no answer for the resulting onslaught, going down twice more before the referee called a halt to proceedings.

This is an early contender for Upset of the Year, one which robs viewers of potential fireworks between Uchiyama and Javier Fortuna. Still, congratulations to Corrales, who has a bright future ahead of him at the age of just twenty-four.

Countrymen Kohei Kono and Ryuichi Taguchi had slightly more success in their own title defenses. Kono (32-8-1, 18 KO) took a wide decision over Inthanon Sithchamuang (28-8-1, 17 KO) at super flyweight, while Taguchi (24-2-1, 11 KO) stopped Juan Jose Landaeta (27-9-1, 21 KO) in eleven to retain his light flyweight title.