Masayuki Itō vs. Evgeny Alexandrovich Chuprakov & Kenshiro Teraji vs. Saúl Juárez Gil RBR

I'm thinking he stops Chuprakov.

 

Uglier fight than I expected.

 

Round 2

Itō blasting Chuprakov on the face with the jab on his way in. Chuprakov is barging in headlong with very little in the way of defense, just weathering as much as he needs to in order to glom onto the champion inside - but once there he still can't accomplish much. Itō puts his long arms to good use, zip-tying Chuprakov's, essentially keeping his gloves handcuffed behind his back like a perp in the cab of a squad car, and mitigating the body work that Chuprakov is attempting in the clinches. Flush jabs and straight & roundhouse rights on the outside by Itō when they separate.

10-9 Itō, dominant

20-18 Itō

 

Round 3

Chuprakov is getting eaten alive with textbook combos at medium-long range. Chuprakov is recklessly, artlessly diving in and gobbling down jabs, crosses and hooks galore without ever getting a lick in edgewise. On the inside, he fares little better, slapping the body weakly yet never able to pull his arms clear enough to get leverage with Itō keeping them either wound up painfully by his spine or pinned down. Nasty head clash, Itō cut. Pause to check it out. Time in. More dominance by Itō. Chuprakov a heavy-bag on a slow-moving airport lobby conveyor belt.

10-9 Itō

30-27 Itō

 

Like he doesn't belong anywhere near a world title fight, aye.

 

Round 4

Itō keeps up a high work-rate, slipping the lazy jab of Chuprakov and blasting him with a right hand lead, then chest-slamming into a clinch, repelling him with a shove and lighting him up with a mid-range 1-2 and some long yet crisp & starchy left hooks downstairs. Chuprakov tries some gazelle punches from odd diagonal angles but gets sliced & diced by straight counters all the same, Itō easily making adjustments to his footing to always be in position to catch him on the way in.

10-9 Itō, some of these rounds would be 10-8 if not for the prolonged stretches of inactivity when they wrestle in the clinch.

40-36 Itō