By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Negrense boxer Roy Sumugat failed to keep his winning run this 2022 following a sixth round knockout loss to Japanese fighter Taiga Imanaga at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan on Monday night, December 26.

It was a stinging defeat for the Bacolod City-native Sumugat after winning his first two bouts this year against fellow Filipino fighters Jufel Salina and Ivor Lastrilla.

The 30-year-old Sumugat, who is known for his moniker of RoyRoy D’ Hammer, managed to keep in step with the aggressive Imanaga in the early rounds of their match, but it was the Japanese who was ahead on points.

The Japanese slugger heightened his aggression in the fifth round as he pummeled the Negrense with volume hits before going for the kill in the sixth round to end the non-title bout.

With the loss, Sumugat saw his boxing record dropped to 14-13-1 win-loss-draw, including seven stoppage wins, while the 23-year-old Imamura kept his unblemished slate of 3-0-0, all via knockouts.

Sumugat was the second Filipino boxer to be knocked down by upstart Imamura this year, following his fourth round stoppage victory over John Laurence Ordonio last August at the same venue.

In the undercard bout, Filipino Esneth Domingo racked up his second straight victory on Japanese soil, following his fourth round knockout victory over hometown fighter Kosuke Tomioka.

The Sultan Kudarat, Lebak-native Domingo was in the zone in the match scheduled for eight rounds before he went for the knockout blows in the fourth frame to stun the much younger Tomioka.

It was the second consecutive victory for the 23-year-old Domingo at Korakuen Hall following his sixth round stoppage win over another Japanese fighter, Jukiya Iimura, last October.

Domingo thus kept his impressive record of 18 wins and two losses, with 10 victories by way of stoppages, while the 20-year-old Tomioka saw his boxing record dropped to 6-3-0 with five knockout wins./ASC, WDJ