Japanese female champion Yuko Kuroki notched another belt in her campaign at atomweight to become the division’s sole unified champion after defeating Montserrat Alarcon by a close majority decision. The two put their titles on the line to unify on Saturday, August 5th at the Central Gym in Kobe, Hyogo.

Montserrat Alarcon (18-5-2, 0 KO’s) had been the WBA atomweight champion prior to stepping into the ring with WBO champion (and now WBA) Yuko Kuroki (22-7-2, 9 KO’s). Fighting in Kuroki’s native country of Japan, Alarcon showed tremendous mental fortitude as well as excellent fighting ability as she narrowly missed out on a win during what was an extremely close fight.

Kuroki only narrowly won with scorecards of 96-94 twice and 95-95 helping her edge out with a MD win. The two were evenly-matched in the ring on that night, and a long and grueling battle ensued over a course of 10 rounds. Though Alarcon put up a fight, Kuroki’s own determination to win, boosted by her supporting fans, saw Kuroki grab the majority of the rounds.

The fight featured on the undercard of the main event between minimumweight world title contenders Goki Kobayashi (6-1, 4 KO’s) and Jake Amparo (14-4-1, 3 KO’s). Kobayashi, who was the WBO Asia Pacific champion when he stepped into the ring with Amparo, suffered an upset UD loss to Amparo, incurring his first-ever defeat in the professional ranks. Amparo also became the new WBO Asia Pacific champion following his win over Kobyashi.

A junior flyweight match between Rikito Shiba and Toshimasa Ouchi also saw an upset defeat occur when Shiba was stopped in the 8th round of the 10-round match. Ouchi also became the Japanese (Boxing Commission) Junior Flyweight champion as a result of the previously-vacant title being on the line.

Yuko Kuroki’s feat currently verifies her as the division’s sole unified champion. Aside from Kuroki, there are two other atomweight champions in the division in IBF champion Mika Iwakawa (12-6-1, 4 KO’s) and WBC atomweight champion Fabiana Bytiqi (20-0-2, 5 KO’s).

Kuroki’s victory to win the WBA world atomweight title is also marked as her third world title win after she previously won the WBO atomweight and IBF world title at minimumweight.