OSAKA, Japan – Tepparith Kokietgym of Thailand defeated Japan's Nobuo Nashiro on Saturday to retain his WBA super flyweight title.
The 23-year-old Thai dominated the early rounds and survived a late surge by the challenger to win in his third defense of the title. Two of the three judges scored the bout in favor of Kokietgym, while a third called it a draw.
Kokietgym improved to 21-2-0 with 11 knockouts.
Nashiro dropped to 18-5-1 with 12 KOs. The 30-year-old challenger said before the bout that he would retire if he lost.
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