Japan’s junior lightweight prospect Reito Tsutsumi improved to 4-0 (3 KOs) with an excellent fourth-round win over Mexico’s Leobardo Quintana Sanchez at the Mohammed Abdo Arena in Riyadh.
They opened the show headlined by Naoya Inoue-Alan Picasso and Tsutsumi did so impressively.
Quintana switched stances early and feinted trying to draw Tsutsumi into making mistakes, but the Mexican was also keen to take the lead. But Tsutsumi, such a gifted talent, looked sharp and seemingly could think on his feet to come up with answers when required.
He also landed a sharp left in the first that caught Quintana off balance.
Tsutsumi thudded in a solid right hook to the body early in the second and varied his work upstairs.
But Quintana’s ambition remained intact and he worked away on the inside hooking with both hands and firing in uppercuts.
Tsutsumi, though, scored with the pick of the shots – and he found a home for several straight left hands.
Quintana’s work looked a little more disorganized in the third. He still had some success and still forged forward, and he was seemingly throwing more. But the crisper work was done by the Japanese fighter.
The fight was taking a toll on both. Quintana’s eyes were beginning to swell and discolor while blood pumped from Tsutsumi’s nose.
Quintana wilted in the fourth. Tsutsumi started to crack him with lefts to the body and then fired in a volley of right hooks to drop the Mexican and the fight was waved off after 1:14 of the round.
Quintana is now 12-2 (5 KOs).
Tsutsumi, who has set the goal of winning a world title in 10 fights, said; "Today's match went better than I expected so I will go step by step and my ranking will be going up... and we will go to the next level."
