MANILA – Joshua Pacio of the Philippines captured the world strawweight title after a unanimous decision win over Japanese Yoshitaka Naito at the ONE: Conquest of Heroes on Saturday at the Jakarta Convention Center in Indonesia.
Pacio, who captured the ONE world title after losing in his first try two years ago also against Naito, became the third Team Lakay fighter to win a title this year after Kevin Belingon and Geje Eustaquio.
Pacio tested his opponent early in the first round before unloading a left punch to the body to stun Naito. In the second round Pacio connected with his body kick but Naito countered with some punches late in the round.
Naito got aggressive early in the third round as he took Pacio down but failed to finish off the latter. The Japanese fighter took down the Filipino twice in the fourth but Pacio survived.
In the fifth round Naito attempted to complete his comeback as he tried to lock Pacio with a rear-naked choke but the latter countered with a submission hold to prevent the former with his finishers.
With the outcome, the 22-year-old Igorot improved to a 16-2 win-loss slate while Naito lost the title for the second time and fell to 13-2.
Another Filipino, Danny Kingad, did just enough to score a unanimous decision victory over Japanese Yuya Wakamatsu in the highly entertaining three-round nontitle match.
After a slow start in the opening round, Kingad made it up with a strong showing in the second before taking advantage of the gassed out Wakamatsu as he took the fight to the ground.
The victory allowed Kingad, a standout from Team Lakay stable, to improve his record to 10 wins and one defeat. Wakamatsu, meanwhile, suffered his third loss as against his 10 victories.
Zamboangueña atomweight fighter Jomary Torres, meanwhile, suffered her first defeat in a unanimous-decision loss to Priscilla Hertati Lumban Gaol of Indonesia. Torres dropped to a 4-1 record as Lumban Gaol rose to 4-3./PN
