 He successfully defended the WBC belt 7 times (8 total, including his defense prior to the disqualification against Velázquez), most notably against former WBC lightweight champion Guts Ishimatsu, whom he knocked out in six rounds.He was knocked out by Sang Hyun Kim in the 13th round to lose his world title on December 30, 1978.He fell into relative obscurity from then on, losing both of his fights in 1979, one of which was a third-round knockout loss to Thomas Hearns.