Before a hometown crowd in Fuzhou, China’s Xu Can defeats Japan’s Shun Kubo in first defence of his featherweight title
- Xu, who improves to 17-2, holds the lesser version of the WBA’s two featherweight titles
- The 25-year-old is just the third Chinese in history to hold a boxing world title
Chinese boxer Xu Can successfully defended his WBA featherweight title at the first attempt by stopping Japanese challenger Shun Kubo in round six on Sunday in Fuzhou.
The 25-year-old is just the third Chinese in history to hold a boxing world title, along with WBC minimumweight titlist Xiong Zhaozhong and WBO flyweight champion Zou Shiming.
Xu, who improves to 17-2 (3 KOs), holds the lesser version of the WBA’s two featherweight titles but the ruthless win is more evidence that he is a force to be reckoned with.
In another “regular” title fight, unbeaten Carlos Canizales of Venezuela held onto his WBA light flyweight crown with a unanimous decision over another Japanese, Sho Kimura.
Xu scored a stunning upset of Puerto Rico’s Jesus Rojas with a 12-round unanimous decision victory in January in Houston to announce himself on the world stage.
But he was in his hometown for his first defence and with the close-knit arena in Fuzhou, southeastern China, firmly on his side, Xu enjoyed success as early as the second round.