By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda 
Mexican WBO#1 Christian Medina (26-4, 19 KOs), 117.75, surprisingly captured the WBO bantamweight belt when he quickly dropped defending champ Yoshiki Takei (11-1, 9 KOs), 118, in the opening session and halted him at 1:21 of the fourth round on Sunday in Nagoya, Japan. Medina, in the first round, caught the southpaw champ with a vicious right, flooring him on the deck as if he was lying with his head on the pillow of the lowest rope. Takei managed to come off the canvas to resume fighting, but the tide turned against him from the first knockdown on. The Mexican warrior kept on fighting aggressively and maintain the pressure to the defending champ, steadily piling up points. The fatal fourth saw Medina catch up with Takei again, pinning him to the corner and repeatedly connecting with solid right uppercuts to the chin. Takei couldn’t move out of the corner under Medina’s barrage of punches. The referee Ramon Pena, Puerto Rico, made a well-timed stoppage to save the damaged ex-champ from further punishment.
The judges scored before the trick happened—Ferenc Budai (Hungary) and Waleska Roldan (US) both 30-26, Sven Grafe (Switzerland) 29-27, all in favor of Christian Medina.
The newly crowned champ nicknamed “Crispa” said, “It was just the punch that I had practiced against Takei. I floored him with that shot in the first round. Then I aimed at his body to weaken him. I caught him with right uppercuts, which were also very effective.”
The crestfallen ex-champ Takei dejectedly said, “I could show nothing tonight. I feel sorry not to be able to show a good performance.”
Medina, who had often come to Tokyo to be invited by Teiken Promotions as a sparring partner of sensational ex-kick boxer WBA#1 Tenshin Nasukawa, previously fought here, losing a unanimous decision to Ryosuke Nishikawa in the IBF eliminator to decide the mandatory challenger in Osaka in August 2023.
Crispa was quite different from what he battled Nishida to become more powerful, skillful and tactical. The dethroned Takei might have underestimated Medina, who improved much since his Nishida contest. The Mexican showed his excellent judgement of distance and composure as well.
Medina also said, “I wish to fight WBA champ in recess Seiya Tsusumi.” It will be a very competitive showdown. For Medina, Japan might be a place to find a gold nugget.
Promoter: Ohashi Promotions in association with Teiken Promotions.
WBO supervisor: Erno Labega (Netherland).
https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/820937
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