Daigo Higa salvages majority draw with unbeaten ex-amateur rival Seiya Tsutsumi in Tokyo

Ex WBC champ Higa draws

By Joe Koizumi

Former WBC flyweight champ, currently WBC bantamweight #8 Daigo Higa (16-1-1, 16KOs) struggled to salvage a majority draw (95-95 twice, 96-94 for him) with unbeaten ex-amateur rival WBC #13 Seiya Tsutsumi (5-0-2, 4 KOs), over 10 hard-fought rounds in Tokyo.

Having tasted a couple of defeats when they were amateurs, 25-year-old Higa attempted to avenge his setbacks as professional but 24-year-old Tsutsumi, whose amateur mark was 84-17, with 40 stoppages, was too durable for the ex-champ to conquer.

The novice Tsutsumi took the initiative with his aggressiveness, but suffered a gash over the left eyebrow in round two. The third saw both streaming blood after an accidental collision of heads, and it became such a gory affair for the remainder of the contest. Higa occasionally scored with solid shots, but Tsutsumi retaliated hard with busier combinations. It was a hard-fought draw though Higa was a prohibitive favorite before the bout.

Higa, when reigning as WBC 112-pound champ, looked invincible as he wrested the belt from Juan Hernandez (TKO 6) and kept it twice against Thomas Masson (TKO7) and Moises Fuentes (KO1), then with an unblemished mark of 18-0, 18 KOs.

Daigo, however, shamefully failed to make the weight at the next defense against Cristofer Rosales, forfeited his on the scale and also suffered his career-first shellacking via ninth round stoppage in April 2018.

He was the very first Japanese boxer unable to make the weight in world title bouts in history, and was penalized a one-year suspension. It took Higa twenty-two months to overcome various personal troubles and he returned to the ring this February, when he demolished Filipino Jason Buenaobra in six.

His former manager and ex-WBA champion Yoko Gushiken closed his gym after they pitifully parted company. The COVID-19 pandemic thus delayed his next bout for eight months since like this.

Attendance: 782 (because of the JBC’s regulations at the Korakuen Hall). Promoter: Dangan Aoki Promotions.

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