Kazuto Ioka and Aston Palicte weren’t the only fighters fighting for the WBO super flyweight title in Chiba, Japan.
On the same card that was headlined by Ioka’s historic win over Palicte, Miyo Yoshida dominated Casey Morton to become the new WBO Female super flyweight champion. Yoshida won a 10-round decision, capturing the belt with scores of 100-90, 100-90 and 99-91.
Yoshida cruised throughout the entire bout, starting by outlanding and outworking Morton in the first few rounds. Although Morton became more aggressive in the middle portion of the fight, she failed to land much and Yoshida was able to connect punches easier. The rest of the fight saw more of the same with Morton trying to be aggressive and failing for the most part while Yoshida's left-right combinations and uppercuts found their mark.
The fight almost had some controversy the day before at the weigh-ins. Yoshida was able to make weight comfortably, Morton had trouble doing so. Originally, Morton missed weight on her first attempt, but after cutting some of her hair, she managed to come in at 114.9 pounds.
The belt was vacant as seven-division champion Amanda Serrano vacated the title without a single title defense. Serrano won the title in January with a 35-second stoppage win over Eva Voraberger at Madison Square Garden.
The fight was one of three world title fight bouts that took place on the card in Chiba. Aside from the two WBO super flyweight bouts, Hiroto Kyoguchi won a fairly lopsided 12-round decision over Tanawat Nakoon to retain the WBA light flyweight title.
