Pictured: Jackson Chauke


On Thursday, September 22, two boxers ranked by TTR as being among the best currently fighting in their respective weight classes were in action. Jackson Chauke won to retain the South African flyweight title and Keita Kurihara lost, thus losing the OPBF bantamweight championship.


Tokyo, Japan-

Bantamwight Bout-
Kai Chiba (15-3, 9 KOs)
TKO-12 0:50
Keita Kurihara (The Ring #9, TTR #10; Transnational Boxing Rankings Board #10; 16-7-1, 14 KOs)
- Kurihara was making his first defense of his second reign as the OPBF bantamweight champion. He had regained the OPBF belt by stopping then defending champ Kazuki Nakajima in the third round on October 19, 2021.
- Chiba was challenging for the OPBF title for the second time. He had lost by UD 12 to Nakajima in a bout contested for the then vacant title on May 21, 2021.
- Kurihara started well and was leading by three 39-37 scores after four rounds.
- Chiba then won three of the next four frames as reflected by the three 76-76 scores announced after the 8th round.
- The challenger remained in control and was leading the tiring champion by the scores of 106-103, 105-104, and 105-104 going into the 12th round.
- Chiba poured it on in round 12 resulting in the referee wisely stopping the contest.

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa-

Flyweight Bout-
Jackson Chauke (The Ring #9, TTR #13; 23-1-2, 15 KOs)
Unan. Dec. 12
Sinethemba Kotana (8-3-2, 5 KOs)
- The scores were 116-112, 118-110, and 116-114.
- Chauke retained the South African flyweight title.