Elwin Soto stops Katsunari Takayama in ninth round
An entertaining back-and-forth fight between Elwin Soto and Katsunari Takayama on Saturday might be remembered for a questionable stoppage.
Soto, the WBO junior flyweight titleholder, stopped the former three-time strawweight champion at 2:44 of the ninth round on the Canelo Alvarez-Billy Joe Saunders card at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
However, many of those who watched undoubtedly were surprised when referee Laurence Cole stepped in to stop it.
Soto (19-1, 13 KOs) landed the bigger punches throughout the fight, including in the moments before the stoppage. But his 37-year-old Japanese opponent, who hadn’t been stopped since 2003, had not been down in the bout and was fighting back when Cole ended it.
Takayama (32-9, 12 KOs) was fighting for the second time after a four-year hiatus from the sport and took the fight on short notice, which would’ve made a title-winning victory remarkable.
And he certainly fought as if he desperately wanted to become a two-division titleholder, outworking Soto from beginning to end. His problem was that his punches were much lighter than those of Soto, who stunned Takayama with many powershots.
The Mexican, making his third defense, might’ve been able to take out Takayama without the help of Cole. We’ll never know.
