Ryohei Takahashi suffered a technical knockout in his first world title fight on Friday.
The 28-year-old Takahashi was attempting to wrest the IBF super bantamweight title from Ireland's TJ Doheny, but he was stopped 2 minutes, 18 seconds into the 11th round at Madison Square Garden. It was Doheny's first title defense since the southpaw seized the title from Ryosuke Iwasa in August.
Takahashi suffered a knockdown and the referee stopped the fight when he was getting pummeled in the 11th.
"There were problems beyond count with my fight," Takahashi said. "He was able to get in over my guard and land punches. The gap in our abilities is absolute."
Takahashi's record fell to 16-4 with one draw. The knockout was Doheny's 15th as the 32-year-old improved to 21-0 in his pro career.