Riku Kano and Yuki Nonaka to defend WBO Asia Pacific titles in June!
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Earlier today Taisei Marumoto, the chairman of the Taisei Gym, held a press conference to announce the next show he would be promoting, and credit to him as he has managed to put together a pretty solid show for June 6th including two WBO Asia Pacific title fights.
The main event of the show will see Taisei promoted youngster Riku Kano (17-4-1, 8) [加納 陸] make his first defense of the WBO Asia Pacific Light Flyweight title, as he takes on the once touted Takumi Sakae (22-3-1, 16) [榮拓海].
Kano won the title last year, with a narrow decision win over Ryoki Hirai (13-7-1, 4) [平井亮輝] in November. It was among the biggest wins for Kano, who turned professional at a young age and was groomed for success, though has failed to come close to the heights expected of him. Although he's not gone all the way, as many had expected, he is still only 23 and has scored notable wins over the likes of Hirai, Merlito Sabillo and Pigmy Kokietgym.
Sakae impressed early in his career, winning the 2013 All Japan Rookie of the Year, and seemed to be getting groomed as the next big star from Fukuoka. Sadly however his unbeaten run came to an end in 2016, when he lost to Tatsuya Fukuhara in a bout for the Japanese national title. Since that loss he has gone 8-2-1, including losses to Ryoki Hirai and Norihito Tanaka. Notably he hasn't been seen in the ring since beating Stevanus Nana Bau way back in September 2019 and it will be around 21 months between that fight and this one one with Kano.
The other WBO Asia Pacific title bout will see veteran Yuki Nonaka (33-11-3, 10) [野中 悠樹] defending his WBO Asia Pacific Middleweight title against Koki Koshikawa (9-2, 6) [越川孝紀].
The 43 year old Nonaka, the oldest male boxer in Japan, has been out of the ring since September 2019, when he successfully defended his title against Korean challenger Hyun Min Yang. The following month he signed with American promoter Greg Cohen, but plans to fight in 2020 were dashed by the Covid19 pandemic, essentially costing Nonaka a potentially huge bout in the US. At his best he was a fantastically talented and relaxed boxer, but it's hard to know what he'll have after 21 months out, and aged 43.
Koshikawa on the other hand was a former amateur standout who turned professional with a decent amount of buzz but his career stumbled early on and now, aged 30 he desperately needs a break out win. He started his professional career under the guidance of former world champion Celes Kobayashi and in 2019 he challenged Japanese Light Middleweight champion Hironobu Matsunaga [松永 宏信], being stopped by the under-rated Matsunaga. Since then he has transferred from the Celes gym, and this bout will be his first since joining the Ichiriki gym in February.
As well as the two title fights this card will also feature 5 under-card bouts.
As with the last Taisei Show, from back in November, this show will be streamed in full on TV Osaka's official YouTube channel.
(Image credit - Boxmob.jp)
The main event of the show will see Taisei promoted youngster Riku Kano (17-4-1, 8) [加納 陸] make his first defense of the WBO Asia Pacific Light Flyweight title, as he takes on the once touted Takumi Sakae (22-3-1, 16) [榮拓海].
Kano won the title last year, with a narrow decision win over Ryoki Hirai (13-7-1, 4) [平井亮輝] in November. It was among the biggest wins for Kano, who turned professional at a young age and was groomed for success, though has failed to come close to the heights expected of him. Although he's not gone all the way, as many had expected, he is still only 23 and has scored notable wins over the likes of Hirai, Merlito Sabillo and Pigmy Kokietgym.
Sakae impressed early in his career, winning the 2013 All Japan Rookie of the Year, and seemed to be getting groomed as the next big star from Fukuoka. Sadly however his unbeaten run came to an end in 2016, when he lost to Tatsuya Fukuhara in a bout for the Japanese national title. Since that loss he has gone 8-2-1, including losses to Ryoki Hirai and Norihito Tanaka. Notably he hasn't been seen in the ring since beating Stevanus Nana Bau way back in September 2019 and it will be around 21 months between that fight and this one one with Kano.
The other WBO Asia Pacific title bout will see veteran Yuki Nonaka (33-11-3, 10) [野中 悠樹] defending his WBO Asia Pacific Middleweight title against Koki Koshikawa (9-2, 6) [越川孝紀].
The 43 year old Nonaka, the oldest male boxer in Japan, has been out of the ring since September 2019, when he successfully defended his title against Korean challenger Hyun Min Yang. The following month he signed with American promoter Greg Cohen, but plans to fight in 2020 were dashed by the Covid19 pandemic, essentially costing Nonaka a potentially huge bout in the US. At his best he was a fantastically talented and relaxed boxer, but it's hard to know what he'll have after 21 months out, and aged 43.
Koshikawa on the other hand was a former amateur standout who turned professional with a decent amount of buzz but his career stumbled early on and now, aged 30 he desperately needs a break out win. He started his professional career under the guidance of former world champion Celes Kobayashi and in 2019 he challenged Japanese Light Middleweight champion Hironobu Matsunaga [松永 宏信], being stopped by the under-rated Matsunaga. Since then he has transferred from the Celes gym, and this bout will be his first since joining the Ichiriki gym in February.
As well as the two title fights this card will also feature 5 under-card bouts.
As with the last Taisei Show, from back in November, this show will be streamed in full on TV Osaka's official YouTube channel.
(Image credit - Boxmob.jp)