Standout Japanese boxer Kenshiro Teraji unified the WBA and WBC titles when he came on strong to stop Seigo Yuri Akui in the final round of an early front runner for Fight of the Year, last month, in Tokyo.

Teraji, rated at No. 1 by The Ring at flyweight, had to dig deep to beat his countryman.

"Yuri was very strong both mentally and technically," Teraji (25-1, 16 knockouts) told The Ring "I am glad that I won as this fight will definitely add some essence to my future boxing career."

The 33-year-old was behind, by a point on two of the scorecards, entering the 12th round. And while it felt close watching the fight, Teraji didn't feel he needed the stoppage to win.

"I focused on trying to get solid points," he said. "I didn't think of trying to finish him until I saw he was hurt."

The dramatic win also saw the two-weight world champion enter The Ring's mythical pound-for-pound top 10.

"I am very happy that I was ranked number 10," he said proudly. "I feel that I joined the top boxers at last. I want to fight with stronger boxers and move up the ranking.

"I do not have any specific target. But just want to fight with strong boxers and win, including [Jesse] Bam [Rodríguez]."

What makes Teraji's run all the more impressive is that after making eight successful defenses of his WBC junior flyweight title, he lost his title to Masamichi Yabuki (TKO 10), he came back, upped his game, to an elite level and stopped Yabuki (KO 3) in emphatic fashion in a direct rematch.

That was followed by taking apart Ring/ WBA ruler Hiroto Kyoguchi (TKO 7). Three defenses followed before he elected to vacate and jump to flyweight.

In his two fights at 112-pounds, Teraji has beaten Cristofer Rosales (TKO 11) for the vacant WBC title and unified with WBA beltholder Akui (TKO 12).

Rumor has it, Teraji will return on a July date in Japan, against an opponent to be announced.