YOKOHAMA, Japan -- Thailand's Veeraphol Nakonluangpromotion retained his WBC bantamweight title Saturday with a draw against Japan's Toshiaki Nishioka.

Facing the champion for the second time in a little more than a year, Nishioka was on the defensive for much of the 12 rounds at Yokohama Arena.

Veeraphol, who beat Nishioka in a decision last year, dominated the middle rounds but looked tired near the end and missed several chances to put the challenger away.

Among the panel of American judges, Terry Smith scored the fight 116-113 for the champion while Tom Kaczmarek scored it 115-113 for Nishioka. Lou Filippo called the bout even at 114-114.

The 32-year-old champion has a record of 33 wins, 24 by knockout, one loss and one draw. Nishioka has 22 wins, 13 by knockout, along with three losses and two draws.

This was Veeraphol's seventh defense of the title he won from Japan's Joichiro Tatsuyoshi in December 1998.

In another bout, Shoji "Celes" Kobayashi of Japan retained his WBA super flyweight title with a 2-1 decision over Jesus Rojas of Venezuela.