SAITAMA (Japan), May 18: Japanese challenger Osamu Sato knocked out defending champion Yoddamrong Singwangcha of Thailand in the eighth round to take the World Boxing Association (WBA) super bantamweight title here Saturday.

The Japanese challenger, ranked sixth in the WBA, sent the champ to the canvas twice in the seventh round and delivered the knock-out blow one minute and 58 seconds into the eighth.

“I was able to win today, but he was a very tough champion,” said Sato.

“In the beginning, I was perplexed with his speedy, short punches and I couldn’t get into my rhythm. I could hear my coach’s advice, but I couldn’t move well at all.

“I tried to hit his body in the latter rounds and I felt I did him some damage in the sixth round. I just tried to calm myself down in the following rounds to give him more damage,” he added.

Sato connected with several lefts to the body in the first of the 12 scheduled rounds.

But the champion’s left hooks combined with left jabs and sudden straight rights to the face made him the early favourite.

Yoddamrong’s quick left jabs kept Sato at bay as the challenger tried to come in close in the fourth round, and he hit some sizzling left hooks to the face in the following two rounds.

But the momentum suddenly turned in Sato’s favour when he floored the champion with a right straight followed by a left hook in the seventh round.

Yoddamrong, who had never before been knocked down as a professional, was sent crashing down again by a Sato left hook later in the same round.

Sato, roared on by the partisan crowd, fired a left to the body to finish off the struggling champion in the eighth.

It was a second crack at a world title for Sato, 25, who drew with American Willie Jorrin in the World Boxing Council super bantamweight title match in February this year.

Sato stretched his record to 26 wins, including 15 KOs, against one defeat and two draws.

For Yoddamrong, 21, it was the first defence of the title he took in February. It was also his first defeat after 27 wins, including 12 KOs, and a draw since his professional debut in January 1996.—AFP