In the main event, minor middleweight beltholder Ryota Murata delivered a highlight film knockout of Steven Butler in the fifth round.
Give Butler credit-for an unproven fighter that had somehow risen to the top spot in the WBO rankings (Butler passed up a title shot against Demetrius Andrade to fight Murata), he tried hard, engaged, and won the first two rounds on my scorecard.
However, Murata was too big and strong for the Canadian and his superior power soon had Butler retreating and it seemed that the question was how does Murata win the fight rather than if he wins.
One crunching right sent Butler falling to the floor with the referee ending the fight without a count.
I'd like to see Murata against better fighters in 2020, but it appears as it'll be a contractually obligated third fight with Rob Brant and possibly Brazil's Esquiva Falcao, whom Murata defeated to win his gold medal at the 2012 Olympics.
Neither of those excites me very much, but that's the state of boxing today.
Moruti Mthalane defended his IBF Flyweight title with a ninth-round knockout of Akira Yaegashi.
Yaegashi, a former champion in three divisions, fought gamely but was to be outgunned by Mthalane, who turned up the heat in the seventh and eighth rounds before the stoppage late in the ninth when a battered Yaegashi wobbled to the ropes followed by the referee stepping in to end the fight.
The 37-year-old Mthalane doesn't appear to be your usual fighter of his age and even though I'm not sure where the money would come from for this, a mini-tournament between the four flyweight champions (Mthalane, Artem Dalakian WBA, Julio Cesar Martinez WBC, and Kosei Tanaka WBO) might be as much action as boxing could offer in three fights.
Ken Shiro kept his WBC junior flyweight title after knocking late substitute Randy Petalcorin out in the fourth round.
Petalcorin won the first two rounds off his back foot, but Shiro found the weak spot of Petalcorin in the third when three body shots produced three knockdowns.
The fight likely should have ended in the corner, but the fight continued into the fourth for a short time- which was the first time that Shiro again landed to the body and that ended the fight.
Petalcorin was a replacement for IBF champion Felix Alvarado, which lost the division a unification fight.
Shiro-Alvarado would be a good fight, but the biggest fight would be another unification fight against WBA champ Hiroto Kyoguchi in an all-Japanese unification event.
The comeback for former multi-divisional champion and a top pound for pound contender Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez began with an eight-round fight against Diomel Diocos.
Gonzalez had fought only once since his stunning KO loss to Srisket Sor Rungvisai in 2017, so this was a chance to get some work against Diocos, a journeyman that had only been stopped once in his career against the then-undefeated bomber Daigo Higa.
Gonzalez wouldn't work for many rounds as he finished Diocos in two, which was an impressive result, considering the solid chin of the opponent and the time spent away from the ring by Gonzalez.
Gonzalez still might need another fight to be ready for a potential title challenge, but he doesn't look to be outmatched by any of the champions at 115 pounds.
In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored seven points on the evening to move the overall numbers to 319-285.
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