YOKOHAMA, Japan - Venezuela's Alexander Munoz defeated Japan's Katsushige Kawashima with a unanimous decision victory at Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium, retaining his WBA super flyweight title.

Munoz withstood a late flurry of punches from the challenger and held on for the win to improve to 32-2 with 27 knockouts.

The judges, and most ringside observers, saw the the fight close with scores of 115-114, 115-113 and 117-111 over twelve-rounds.

Former WBC champ Kawashima, 33, dropped to 32-7 with 21 KOs and announced after the fight that he intends to retire.

It was Munoz's second straight title defense since beating Japan's Nobuo Nashiro to reclaim the crown last May.