Ryota Murata of Japan successfully defended his WBA middleweight title on Sunday with an eighth-round technical knockout of Italian Emanuele Blandamura.

Murata dominated from the outset at Yokohama Arena and sent his opponent to the canvas in the closing seconds of the eighth, when the referee stopped the fight.

Murata, the London Olympic gold medalist, improved to 14-1 and became the first Japanese fighter to successfully defend a world championship in the middleweight class.

Blandamura dropped to 27-3.

In an earlier bout, Nicaragua's Cristofer Rosales was crowned the new World Boxing Council flyweight champion after beating former titleholder Daigo Higa of Japan with a ninth-round TKO.

Higa was stripped of the title the previous day after failing to make weight.