SOKA, SAITAMA PREF. – Naoko Shibata defended her IBF light flyweight title on Saturday for the fifth time, defeating second-ranked Maria Salinas by a 2-0 decision.
The fight was a rematch with the Mexican, whom Shibata drew with last November. The victory sees Shibata’s record improve to 16-3 with five knockouts and one draw.
In a WBA light minimumweight title match on the same card, top-ranked Yunoka Furukawa beat second-ranked Satomi Nishimura in the third round by technical knockout to be crowned the new champion. Furukawa improved to 8-1-2 with six KOs.
