Tomoya Tsuboi provided an emphatic response to those who insisted he was taking on too much, too soon into his young career.
The prodigious former amateur standout was dominant in recording an eighth-round stoppage of former WBC 115lbs champion Carlos Cuadras. An assortment of power punches, punctuated by a right hand, forced the end at two minutes, 59 seconds of their junior-bantamweight crossroads bout on Monday at the Toyota Arena in Tsuboi’s hometown of Tokyo, Japan.
Tsuboi, 3-0 (2 KOs)m came flying out of the gate, determined to prove he wasn’t crazy in taking a drastic step up in competition for just his third pro fight.
Mexico City’s Cuadras, 44-6-1 (28 KOs), is on the wrong side of his prime but still very much a serviceable contender. He struggled to drive home that point against the 29-year-old Tsuboi, whose skill set and clean combinations provided him with a clean sweep of the first three rounds.
Cuadras was comparatively better in the middle rounds. Tsuboi was more defensively responsible, thus his offense not quite as active, though still dangerously potent. Cuadras was the busier fighter, alternating between working behind the jab and offering lead hooks. Tsuboi saw every punch coming and often had a response in the form of rapid-fire combinations.
In addition to falling well behind early, Cuadras was also forced to contend with swelling around his right eye. The damage came from a mix of Tsuboi’s power shots down the middle and a clash of heads.
Tsuboi worked the body of Cuadras in the sixth round. A left hook to the ribs stopped Cuadras in his tracks, though the veteran former titlist remained upright. A subsequent trip to the canvas by the visiting boxer was correctly ruled a slip, having caused by their feet getting tangled.
Cuadras tried to take the lead in the seventh round. Tsuboi immediately responded via a swarm of power shots upstairs. There was no quit in Cuadras, who let his hands go even though he mostly caught air or Tsuboi’s gloves. A series of jabs by Tsuboi paved the way for a straight right, after Cuadras missed wide with all his punches during that exchange.
Tsuboi was relentless in what proved to be the final round of the contest. Cuadras spent most of round eight in retreat and on the defensive as a steady swarm of clean punches landed from Tsuboi. A blizzard of straight shots forced Cuadras on to his heels towards the end of the round, and a final right hand was enough to cause the referee Nobuto Ikehara to intervene.
Tsuboi led 70-63 on all three scorecards at the time of the merciful stoppage.
Cuadras snapped a five-fight win streak with the heartbreaking setback. Prior to Monday, he was the last notable fighter from his memorable era – one that includes Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, Juan Francisco Estrada and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai – who was still an active contender at 115lbs. Gonzalez is hovering around but near the end of his career, while Estrada is at bantamweight. Monday’s defeat leaves the 37-year-old Cuadras in a career tailspin.
At his peak, he held the WBC 115lbs title for more than two years before Gonzalez ended his reign in 2016. He remained relevant through the years, including when earning a 12-round, unanimous decision win over Pedro Guevara in their interim title fight in November 2023. The end, however, appears near.
Tsuboi, meanwhile, is just getting started on his journey. The win caps a productive first year in the pro ranks, which began on the undercard of the Kenshiro Teraji-Seigo Yuri Akui undercard in Tokyo on March 13.
Riku Masuda had hoped to kick off the four-fight stream with another knockout. Instead, the fast-rising bantamweight was forced to settle for his first decision win when he claimed a technical majority decision over Mexico’s Jose Miguel Calderon. The scores of 49-46 and 48-47 overruled a 48-48 tally to provide Masuda, 9-1 (8 KOs), with his sixth consecutive victory.
The bout was stopped midway through round five, when a clash of heads left Calderon, 14-3 (6 KOs), with a cut over his right eye. It was deemed too severe to continue, because it flowed into his eye as well as into a prior cut over the bridge of his nose.
Masuda’s lone other bout to go to the cards came when he lost a 10-round, unanimous decision to Seiya Tsutsumi in August 2023. Tsutsumi went on to win the WBA 118lbs title and was seated ringside on Monday, though while more interested in the Tenshin Nasukawa-Takuma Inoue WBC title fight in the main event.
