Yabuki (20-4, 18 KO) smashed his way to six consecutive finishes after Kenshiro Teraji evened their series at 1-1, including knockouts of IBF light flyweight champ Sivenathi Nontshinga, then-unbeaten flyweight champ Angel Ayala Lardizabal, and never-before-stopped Felix Alvarado. He couldn’t keep the streak going against Rene Calixto last June, but not for lack of trying, as he floored “El Indio” twice en route to a comfortable decision win.
The evening’s other title fight pits WBA minimumweight champ Takeshi Ishii (12-1, 9 KO) against TBA, the latter of whom is attempting a hellacious weight cut after many forays at heavyweight. Yabuki’s brother, Masanori Rikiishi (17-2, 12 KO), also sees action against a significantly weaker Filipino counterpart in Melchor Roda (10-6, 6 KO), while recently deposed bantamweight titlist Yoshiki Takei (12-1, 9 KO) takes another get-well bout against countryman Kenshin Oshima (9-5-1, 5 KO).