Title Double header announced for March's Dynamic Glove
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Earlier today Teiken announced two main bouts for the "30th WHO'S NEXT DYNAMIC GLOVE on U-NEXT", which will take place on March 1st at Korakuen Hall. Neither of the bouts is a surprise, with both being Champion Carnival bouts, but both are mouth watering bouts that are expected to be incredibly entertaining.
One will be at Bantamweight as destructive Japanese Bantamweight champion Riku Masuda (6-1, 6) [増田 陸] takes on Kaisei Matsumoto (9-0, 5) [松本海聖]. For Masuda the bout will serve as his second defense of the title, as he looks to build on an excellent 2024, which saw him going 3-0 (3) and score a notable win over Jonas Sultan, claim the Japanese title with a win over Fumiya Fuse and score his first defense, over veteran Yoshihiro Utsumi. He took just 12 rounds to score those 3 wins, and will be hoping to get some good ring time this year, whilst continuing a charge towards a world title fight. As for Matsumoto he went 2-0 last year, scoring wins over Yoshiaki Sakamoto and Wilbert Berondo and comes into the bout the bout as the #1 ranked JBC challenger, though notably didn’t fight in a domestic eliminator, like many others did.
On paper this is a massive step up in class for Matsumoto. It will be his first title bout and only his second bout at Korakuen Hall, with the other being a win in the 2022 All Japan Rookie of the Year back in December 2022 when he stopped Yuya Kumagai. As for Masuda it looks like a stepping stone to bigger and better things, including a potential rematch with WBA world champion Seiya Tsutsumi (12-0-2, 8) [堤聖也], who gave him his only professional loss.
The other bout looks like an even better match up as former amateur stand out Kuntae Lee (8-0-1, 2) [李健太] looks to make his second defense of the Japanese 140lb title, taking on hard hitting mandatory challenger Mikyo Watarai (6-0, 4) [渡来美響] in what looks like a great clash of styles.
Lee, who was a stellar amateur, won the title last year, when he, as the mandatory challenger, defeated the hard hitting Homura Fujita in April. He recorded his first defense when he beat Ryan Joshua Yamamoto in September, in a performance that saw him looking somewhat underwhelming, especially on the back of an excellent performance against Fujita. Although clearly very talented Lee’s style doesn’t seem to have quite translated into that of a professional, yet, and although he’s unbeaten he does look like someone who will struggle due to his relative lack of power. Someone who doesn’t lack power is Watarai, who scored both of his 2024 wins with 4th round TKO's, stopping the unbeaten pairing of Ali Canega and Kotaro Sekine, with the win over Sekine booking him a shot at Lee as the mandatory challenger. He’s technically solid, heavy handed, and exciting, and whilst this is a step up for him, and technically a tough bout, it’s one where he is perhaps coming into it with a point to prove.
One will be at Bantamweight as destructive Japanese Bantamweight champion Riku Masuda (6-1, 6) [増田 陸] takes on Kaisei Matsumoto (9-0, 5) [松本海聖]. For Masuda the bout will serve as his second defense of the title, as he looks to build on an excellent 2024, which saw him going 3-0 (3) and score a notable win over Jonas Sultan, claim the Japanese title with a win over Fumiya Fuse and score his first defense, over veteran Yoshihiro Utsumi. He took just 12 rounds to score those 3 wins, and will be hoping to get some good ring time this year, whilst continuing a charge towards a world title fight. As for Matsumoto he went 2-0 last year, scoring wins over Yoshiaki Sakamoto and Wilbert Berondo and comes into the bout the bout as the #1 ranked JBC challenger, though notably didn’t fight in a domestic eliminator, like many others did.
On paper this is a massive step up in class for Matsumoto. It will be his first title bout and only his second bout at Korakuen Hall, with the other being a win in the 2022 All Japan Rookie of the Year back in December 2022 when he stopped Yuya Kumagai. As for Masuda it looks like a stepping stone to bigger and better things, including a potential rematch with WBA world champion Seiya Tsutsumi (12-0-2, 8) [堤聖也], who gave him his only professional loss.
The other bout looks like an even better match up as former amateur stand out Kuntae Lee (8-0-1, 2) [李健太] looks to make his second defense of the Japanese 140lb title, taking on hard hitting mandatory challenger Mikyo Watarai (6-0, 4) [渡来美響] in what looks like a great clash of styles.
Lee, who was a stellar amateur, won the title last year, when he, as the mandatory challenger, defeated the hard hitting Homura Fujita in April. He recorded his first defense when he beat Ryan Joshua Yamamoto in September, in a performance that saw him looking somewhat underwhelming, especially on the back of an excellent performance against Fujita. Although clearly very talented Lee’s style doesn’t seem to have quite translated into that of a professional, yet, and although he’s unbeaten he does look like someone who will struggle due to his relative lack of power. Someone who doesn’t lack power is Watarai, who scored both of his 2024 wins with 4th round TKO's, stopping the unbeaten pairing of Ali Canega and Kotaro Sekine, with the win over Sekine booking him a shot at Lee as the mandatory challenger. He’s technically solid, heavy handed, and exciting, and whilst this is a step up for him, and technically a tough bout, it’s one where he is perhaps coming into it with a point to prove.