On October 13 and 14, the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, will host a spectacular event featuring seven title fights in two days, including undefeated WBC bantamweight titleholder Junto Nakatani, WBA bantamweight titleholder Takuma Inoue and WBO junior bantamweight titleholder Kosei Tanaka.
Promoted by Japanese company Teiken Promotions and streamed by ESPN+ in the US, the fight spectacle is a testament to the country’s deep talent pool.
Headlining the first day is Inoue (20-1, 5 KOs), the younger brother of pound-for-pound elite and four-division champion Naoya Inoue. Takuma Inoue will face third-ranked Seiya Tsutsumi (11-0-2, 8 KOs).
Other fights on October 13 include Kensiro Teraji (23-1, 14 KOs) against Christopher Rosales (37-6, 22 KOs) for the vacant WBC flyweight belt, WBA flyweight titleholder Seigo Yuri Akui (20-2-1, 11 KOs) against Thananchai Charunphak (25-1, 15 KOs) of Thailand and Shokichi Iwata (13-1, 10 KOs) of Tokyo against Jairo Noriega (14-0, 3 KOs) of Spain for the vacant WBO junior flyweight belt.
Nakatani (28-0, 21 KOs) has plans for a possible showdown with Naoya Inoue in 2025.
In his headliner on October 14, he will face Thai Petch Sor Chitpattana (76-1, 53 KOs), who also fought at Petch CP Freshmart.
The only non-title fight is the bantamweight bout between former kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa (4-0, 2 KOs) and Gerwin Asilo (9-0, 4 KOs).
Nasukawa is best known for fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. in an exhibition fight in 2019, losing and then mourning his defeat.
Prior to his fight, Tanaka (20-1, 11 KOs) will defend his WBO junior bantamweight belt against Phumelele Cafu (10-0-3, 8 KOs). The fight could move Tanaka toward a 2025 unification against the gifted Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, the undefeated WBC titlist from Texas.
Los Angeles WBO flyweight titleholder Anthony Olascuaga (7-1, 5 KOs) will open the fight on October 14 by defending his WBO flyweight belt against Puerto Rico’s Jonathan Gonzalez (28-3-1, 14 KOs).
Lance Pugmire is the senior U.S. writer for BoxingScene and associate producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has been covering boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the 2022 Nat Fleischer Award from the Boxing Writers’ Association of America for career excellence.
