Seigo Yuri Akui Claims WBA Flyweight Title In A Controversial Win Over Artem Dalakian

Seigo Yuri Akui defeated Artem Dalakian to win the WBA Flyweight Title in a unanimous decision marred by controversy.

The Ukrainian was fighting in Japan and coming into enemy territory, having been the champion since 2018. But it all ended in defeat, as the Ukrainian may have felt hard done by, given how the fight played out.

In the early rounds of the bout, Dalakian appeared comfortable. He used his footwork to maintain his distance and make Akui come to him. The Japanese had a higher work rate, but his punches failed to hit the target in the first half of the fight. The champion’s lateral movement allowed him to tag the Japanese when he came in on the inside.

But that changed during the halfway stage of the fight. Akui’s right hand began to land more frequently as the 36-year-old was feeling the pace. Dalakian made changes as he landed some left hooks on Akui, who was attempting to walk him down. 

However, the Japanese found some significant success in round eight. He got Dalakian towards the ropes before landing his right hand, followed by his hooks. A big round also followed in the 11th as Akui made the stronger finish to the fight. Despite being a tense affair, the nature of Akui’s win was huge. The scorecards read as follows: 116-112, 117-111 and 119-109.

The decision divided the fanbase on social media. A certain subset felt that the decision did not reflect the fight, given that Dalakian had boxed himself to a victory. Meanwhile, other observers felt Akui had done enough to win the fight since he was pressing the action. But even if Akui had won the bout, some felt the scorecards were too wide. This was reflected in the varied responses.

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Full Results

Kenshiro Teraji def. Carlos Canizales via a majority decision to win the WBA, WBC, and The Ring Light Flyweight Titles: 114-112, 114-112, 113-113

Seigo Yuri Akui def. Artem Dalakian via a unanimous decision to win the WBA Flyweight Title: 119-109, 117-111, 116-112

Tenshin Nasukawa def. Luis Robles Pacheco via a third round TKO – Super Bantamweight

Juiki Tatsuyoshi def. Yuki Yonaha via a majority decision – Super Bantamweight

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