Date for Sasaki Vs Hiraoka, Nakajima to defend OPBF title against Kurihara
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Yesterday we saw heavy handed teenager Jin Sasaki (11-0, 10) [佐々木尽] successfully retain his Japanese Youth title at 140lbs, winning a thrilling 2 round shoot out with Kaiki Yuba (7-1-2, 5) [湯場海樹]. Following that win Sasaki was joined in the ring by fellow unbeaten fighter Andy Hiraoka (17-0, 12) [平岡アンディ], with the two men now set to fight for the vacant Japanese national title at 140lbs.
It's now been revealed that the date for their bout won't be September, as first anticipated, but will instead headlining a show set for October 19th.
On paper this is one of the best bouts we could get in Asia at 140lbs. Sasaki is a destructive, heavy handed, but flawed fighter. What he hits he hurts, but as we saw against Yuba he can be hurt himself and can be dropped, as he was twice at the weekend. He's incredibly dangerous, but very flawed. Hiraoka on the other hand will come in regarded as the better boxer, but will be facing a legitimate puncher for the first time in his career, and this could see him getting a genuine chin check.
Whoever wins will be expected to move on to bigger and better things in the next year or two. As for the eventual loser, they will be young enough to rebuild, develop and come again.
The bout will serve as the main event of an Ohashi promoted double header featuring a sensational co-feature between OPBF Bantamweight champion Kazuki Nakajima (10-0-1, 8) [中嶋一輝] and former champion Keita Kurihara (15-6, 13) [栗原慶太], in what should be a short lived but brutally entertaining shoot out.
The event, which will take place at Korakuen Hall and be available to watch live on Hikari TV, which is sadly only accessible within Japan
It's now been revealed that the date for their bout won't be September, as first anticipated, but will instead headlining a show set for October 19th.
On paper this is one of the best bouts we could get in Asia at 140lbs. Sasaki is a destructive, heavy handed, but flawed fighter. What he hits he hurts, but as we saw against Yuba he can be hurt himself and can be dropped, as he was twice at the weekend. He's incredibly dangerous, but very flawed. Hiraoka on the other hand will come in regarded as the better boxer, but will be facing a legitimate puncher for the first time in his career, and this could see him getting a genuine chin check.
Whoever wins will be expected to move on to bigger and better things in the next year or two. As for the eventual loser, they will be young enough to rebuild, develop and come again.
The bout will serve as the main event of an Ohashi promoted double header featuring a sensational co-feature between OPBF Bantamweight champion Kazuki Nakajima (10-0-1, 8) [中嶋一輝] and former champion Keita Kurihara (15-6, 13) [栗原慶太], in what should be a short lived but brutally entertaining shoot out.
The event, which will take place at Korakuen Hall and be available to watch live on Hikari TV, which is sadly only accessible within Japan