WBO bantamweight champion Fernando ?Cochulito? Montiel whose title was not on the line when he battled WBC champion Hozumi Hasegawa in Tokyo Friday night since Japan does not recognize the WBO, scored a stunning 4th round TKO over the Japanese world champion who had earlier been expected to stretch his successful title defenses to eleven.
With the win Montiel asserted his supremacy in the division after earlier scoring a brutal first round stoppage of terribly over-matched Filipino Ciso ?Kid Terrible? Morales last February 13 at the Las Vegas Hilton.
Montiel improves to 41-2-2 with 31 knockouts while Hasegawa drops to 28-3 with 12 knockouts. Hasegawa had earlier hinted that he was having trouble making the 118 pound limit and would probably move up after the Montiel fight.
Montiel predicted in a pre-fight interview that his right hand would decide the fight and that he would bring back the WBC green and g old belt which was presented by WBC secretary general Mauricio Sulaiman, back to Mexico.
WBA interim champion Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire who has been aching to fight Montiel may now get a chance to face the new champion in a huge fight if his manager Cameron Dunkin and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum can work on it.
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