On 2 July of that year, Rose returned to Tokyo to defend his title against Takao Sakurai. He beat Sakurai with a 15-round decision. On 6 December, he fought against Chucho Castillo in Inglewood, California. Rose beat Castillo by decision, but the verdicts in favour of him made many in the crowd angry, as they supported Castillo. A riot began, the referee and 14 fans were injured.