after an easy second round knockout against thai fighter petchnamchai sor sakulwong, hara was given a shot at the ibf world minimumweight champion, katsunari takayama, on september 27, 2015. during the fight, takayama suffered a cut above his left eye in round three, but eventually overwhelmed hara with power shots to the body and head. referee wayne hedgepeth stopped the fight in the eighth round to give takayama the victory.