ACCEL champion Chihiro Imoto retained her women’s title with a lopsided Unanimous Decision win this past Monday at ACCEL vol.25 in Kobe, Japan. The 16-year-old sensation picked up her 138th career victory by defeating former karate champion Megumi Igawa in a featured bout on the card.

Imoto became ACCEL’s first female champion in her December pro debut and made the first defence of her new title with a dominant win in May. She was equally impressive in her ACCEL return and remained a step ahead of Igawa in the striking battles en route to a clear-cut win after three rounds.

Imoto (135-18-1 amateur; 3-0-0 pro) set the tone early on with one-twos and left hooks that kept Igawa (4-5-1 pro) on the defensive. Igawa fired back with counter combinations and she landed right hooks to Imoto’s left eye. Imoto kept her distance and stayed out of range of most of her opponent’s punches, and she closed out the round strong with another solid punching combination.

In rounds two and three, Imoto controlled the fight with lead left hooks and hard right kicks to the body. Igawa landed occasional punches and kicks as the fight progressed, but Imoto continued to score at will with a varied arsenal of attacks. Imoto was unable to finish Igawa, but she left no doubt in the judges’ minds and all three scored the fight 30-27 in Imoto’s favour.

With her latest victory, Imoto kept her unbeaten professional record intact. She remains one of the most talented young kickboxers in Japan and has scored a number of key wins during her career including a decision victory over WPMF champ Saya Ito. Despite the win, however, Imoto was not satisfied with her performance and she stated after the bout that she still has a lot of improving left to do.

Winner: Chihiro Imoto by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) after three 2:00 rounds. She improves to 3-0-0 as a professional and remains the ACCEL Vassilis 48kg Women’s Champion.

(Photo Credit: Kokushi Gym)