AFTER being made to wait over 12 months for his shot at Anthony Cacace, Eduardo Nunez travelled to Yokohama to challenge Masanori Rikiishi for the vacant IBF super-featherweight world title. ‘Sugar’ made the wait worthwhile with a unanimous decision win.
Regarded as the biggest puncher in the division, Nunez, now 28-1 (27 KOs), faced a difficult opponent in Rikiishi, 16-2 (11 KOs), who boasted significant physical advantages and was on a five-fight knockout streak of his own ahead of the clash between the two hard-hitting 130-lbers.
Despite his size, it was clear to see from the get-go that Rikiishi was intent on staying well clear of the Mexican and boxing at range to utilise his size best and avoid the explosive power of the front-footed visitor.
However, although appearing to win the early rounds by staying on the move, the intensity of this approach took its inevitable toll on the body of Rikiishi, who noticeably slowed down in the fourth round as a result of the unrelenting pressure from ‘Sugar’.
Unable to get out of trouble, Nunez began to stalk the home fighter rather than chase him. From this point onwards, it was clear that Rikiishi would need to trade fearlessly with his foe rather than box him on the back-foot – a daunting proposal against a brawler such as Nunez.
Consequently, Nunez began to take control and dictate how, where and when the fight was fought. This resulted in a brutal, high-intensity scrap in which Rikiishi did well but simply did not do enough to win the rounds.
Knowing he was behind on the cards, a tremendous final round ensued where Rikiishi threw everything that his body would allow him to at Nunez, in a last gasp attempt to get his hands on the belt, but to no avail.
Credit must be given to Rikiishi, who proved to be tougher than a two-dollar steak by taking Nunez’s best shots and lasting the distance.
Although when the scorecards were read out, there was only ever going to be one winner, as Nunez achieved a first decision victory (115-113, 116-112, 117-111) of his career to pick up the IBF super-featherweight strap and truly announce himself to the rest of the division.
