Russian boxer Dmitry Pirog retained his WBO middleweight belt on Tuesday, beating Japanese contender Nobuhiro Ishida on points.
The final bell came too soon for the Russian, who had steadily softened up his opponent in twelve rounds for a knockout blow that never came.
Nonetheless, it takes Pirog's perfect record to 20 win, 15 by way of knockout. It was an eighth career loss for Ishida, who has 24 wins in 34 fights.
"Everything we planned with the team - huge thanks to them - we pulled off with top marks," a bruised but lucid Pirog said after the fight. "I've said time and again that this is a really tricky opponent, and that the No. 1 goal wasn't just to have an exciting match, but to win, and we did that."
Pirog said a unification fight with Australia’s IBF champion Daniel Geale was "90 percent certain" to take place in the United States in late August.
Tuesday's bout wasn't straight forward for the Russian, however, who is going some way to justify his tag as the country's top pound-for-pound fighter.
Pirog connected with a right jab in the first round and a left in the second first as the fighters jockeyed for dominance.
The action picked up in the third as a Pirog left spurred a flurry from Ishida in response, with a few punches landing. A right hook from Pirog and a second later in the round swung it in his favor.
The Japanese boxer scored with close-range combinations in the fourth but it was Pirog who landed the best blow, a juddering left hook.
The bout continued in that vein with Pirog picking Ishida off from range, prompting Ishida to up a gear just to stay in the hunt.
There was another big left that likely handed the Russian round six, and more rained down in the seventh. Pirog got cocky and shrugged at the judges when Ishida appeared to connect with a pair of jabs.
The fight evened out in the later rounds as both boxers tired, though again it was Pirog who scored the top shot in the ninth, rocking Ishida's head back with a straight right.
The tenth saw Pirog step it up, opening with several combinations that left Ishida stunned and the Russian engaging in more gamesmanship, twizzling a right glove before launching into an attack.
The closing stages of the eleventh saw Pirog land a big right from distance, though he appeared to lack the energy to round off the attack.
In the last round, Ishida sought every corner of the ring for a place to hide from Pirog's attacks, but survived to avoid a knockout.
He took the WBO belt in 2010 by conquering American Daniel Jacobs by way of a fifth-round knockout.
Pirog's last bout was a tenth-round technical knockout of compatriot Gennady Martirosyan in the Russian city of Krasnodar in September.
Ishida last fought in February, beating U.S. fighter Paul Williams on a unanimous decision to take the vacant WBA International Silver middleweight title.
