By Jake Donovan
Former World flyweight king Akira Yaegashi picked up his first win in more than a year after stopping Thailand's Songsaenglek Phosuwangym in two rounds Friday evening in Tokyo, Japan.
The bout served in chief support to Takashi Miura's 130 lb. title defense versus Billy Dib.
The fact that Yaegashi won is of no surprise - Phosuwangym was 1-11 coming in; with six of his 11 losses coming by way of knockout, all of which took place in four rounds or less. The bout was more about how much the 32-year old physically has left in the tank, as he made his debut in the 115 lb. divisoin for this fight.
It took all of five minutes to register the knockout win, battering Phosuwangym (1-12, 0KOs) into submission at 2:05 of round two.
Yaegashi had previously reigned as a strawweight titlist and World lineal flyweight champion. The latter reign lasted 17 months before running into the lethal fists of Roman Gonzalez last September.
A 9th round knockout loss to one of the very best fighters in the world was hardly surprising, or indicative of what the future had in store. More troubling, however, was his subsequent knockout loss to Pedro Guevara in their pre-New Year's Eve junior flyweight title fight left cause for concern. A relatively even fight turned violent when Guevara put Yaegashi away in the 7th round of their vacant title fight.
The ill-advised drop in weight for a vacant belt was viewed as Yaegashi's best shot at winning titles in three weight classes. A win would've made him just the second fighter ever from Japan to accomplish such a fight, with Koki Kameda the only other fighter at the time to have done so. Yaegashi's longtime Kazuto Ioka has since claimed that role, lifting a flyweight title earlier this month after havng reigned at strawweight and junior flyweight.
Now back in the win column and at a new weight, Yaegashi hopes to join Kameda and Ioka as the nation's third ever fighter to become a triple-division champ. His record now at 21-5 (11KOs), Yaegashi plans to set his sights on Carlos Cuadras or countryman Kohei Kono in pursuit of a super flyweight title.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
