When all is said and done in 2025, the round-of-the-year contenders will include the ninth frame of the enthralling bout in Tokyo between WBA bantamweight champion Seiya Tsutsumi and Daigo Higa.

When it comes to controversial decisions, it is likely that their contest will figure highly, too.

A blood-soaked Tsutsumi, his left eye cracked open from a clash of heads in the fourth round, seemed to have done more than enough to defend his title with a victory but their fight was scored 114-114 – a draw across the board – from all three officials.

The champion didn’t criticize the scoring afterwards, but he was disappointed. Instead, he praised Higa’s strength and toughness and thanked him for the fight.

“Higa was so strong, I couldn’t think  this was a successful match that I had. I believe I want to be even stronger for upcoming fights,” said Tsutsumi.

In 2024 Tsutsumi was in a fight-of-the-year contender with Takuma Inoue. He and Higa had boxed before, sharing a 10-round draw in October 2020.

In Tokyo, Japan, at the Ariake Arena, Tsutsumi started well on the front foot, with Higa looking for feints and counters. Tsutsumi was throwing more, but Higa tried to make sure everything he landed counted by loading up with malice and intent each time.

Tsutsumi was pocketing the early rounds and staying busy, but Higa landed a warning overhand right to let Tsutsumi know he needed to attack with caution and not abandon. Still, heads clashed in the fourth, and Tsutsumi was left with a nasty cut over his left eye.

The doctor was immediately summoned to inspect the wound and, when Tsutsumi re-emerged from his corner, the blood flowed down the side of his face.

Higa promptly raked the damaged area with left hooks, and Tsutsumi fought with a sense of urgency, clearly concerned that his night was in danger of being curtailed.

The blood streamed down the right side of Tsutsumi’s face through the fifth and sixth, and Higa’s corner loudly cheered when he banged in a right hand.

But it wasn’t one way traffic. The champion threw a long right in round six and still forged forwards. He scored to the body, too, although he dabbed at the cut that clearly bothered him.

They jostled for position in the seventh, both trying to claim an advantage on the inside, but it was the bloody champion who held the upper hand. Higa was either waiting too long or loading up too much to be winning rounds.

By the time Higa had crashed in another meaningful right hand in the seventh, Tsutsumi had already outworked him through the majority of the round, and he had found a home for right uppercuts, too, which Higa had trouble blocking or evading.

The challenger needed to do more and throw more, but he was unable to follow up anything significant that he did manage to land.

Tsutumi was fighting with ambition and desire. He seemed more desperate to hold on to his crown than Higa appeared to claim it.

The cut was a factor, but it by no means distracted Tsutsumi from his mission.

Then, however, Higa lashed in a left hook that dumped the champion on to his shorts in round nine.

Tsutsumi rose and Higa steamed in to finish him. Higa cracked him with another right over the top and Tsutsumi was fighting hard to keep the marauding challenger off. But, in an instant, the fight seemed as though it could be all over. The emboldened Higa marched forwards and as he swung an uppercut with fight-ending intentions, Tsutsumi crunched him with a right hand that dropped Higa face first on to the canvas. It was astonishing.

Higa was hurt, and groggily was allowed to continue, and had to hold to hear the bell to end the ninth. What a round.

The action did not subside. Tsutsumi’s volume continued to earn points and the cumulative toll was beginning to show as Higa was rocked by a couple of rights in round 11.

Tsutsumi’s engine never faltered. He boxed with a constant enthusiasm and had no intention of falling at the first hurdle as a champion.

Higa’s moment of glory in the ninth was only brief, though he was in there pitching with his left hook throughout, and he was doing so with only seconds of the contest remaining.

Exhausted, they embraced at the final bell and Higa attempted to clean the blood from his rival’s eye at the end in a sporting gesture.

It seemed that the champion had done more than enough for victory. Higa also seemed far more satisfied with the result.

The champion, 29, from Tokyo, is now 12-0-3 (8 KOs). The Japanese veteran Higa, who also fights out of Tokyo, is 21-3-2 (19 KOs).