Ryota Murata felt he was "lucky" after reclaiming the WBA middleweight title by beating Robert Brant on Friday.
Murata, 33, landed a second-round TKO win in Osaka to secure the title he gave up to the American in October last year.
The nature of the win was unexpected for Murata, who improved to 15-2 and reclaimed the title he first won in late 2017.
"I came in with the impression that he would be very hard to knock out, so I think this was kind of lucky," he said, via The Japan Times.
Murata, the 2012 Olympics middleweight gold medallist, took control of the fight early in the second round and never looked back.
Brant (25-2) gave up the title in just his second defence of the crown.
