Nishida beats Rodriguez for IBF bantamweight title

Ryosuke Nishida becomes Japan’s third reigning bantamweight champion

Japan’s conquest of the lower weight classes continued in Osaka this morning when Ryosuke Nishida took a hard-fought unanimous decision over reigning IBF bantamweight champion Emmanuel Rodriguez.

Nishida (9-0, 1 KO), who entered as a slight underdog, reportedly leaned on a withering body attack to build an insurmountable early lead. He floored Rodriguez (22-3, 13 KO) with a left downstairs in the fourth, but had to weather some heavy artillery from the always-game Puerto Rican, leaving him with some grotesque swelling as a parting gift.

Nishida joins countrymen Takuma Inoue and Junto Nakatani at the peak of 118, giving Yoshiki Takei the chance to complete the Nippon Sweep if he can get past Jason Moloney on Monday. Rodriguez remains a quality operator and should have plenty more good fights to give us at just 31.