Tenshin Nasukawa vs Yuki Yonaha
Teraji-Gonzalez & Nasukawa-Yonaha to be part of five-fight card at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan
Three light flyweight world titles will be on the line in a high-stakes unification fight on Saturday, April 8, at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
WBC/WBA champion Kenshiro “The Amazing Boy” Teraji and WBO champ Jonathan “La Bomba” Gonzalez will collide in a 12-round battle that will put one man closer to becoming the division’s undisputed king.
The five-fight card will also feature Tenshin Nasukawa’s debut as a professional boxer. The former multi-division kickboxing world champion will face Yuki Yonaha in a six-round junior featherweight attraction.
Teraji-Gonzalez, Nasukawa-Yonaha and additional bouts will stream live and exclusively in the U.S. in the early morning hours on ESPN+.
Teraji vs Gonzalez
Teraji (20-1, 12 KOs) captured his first world title by defeating Ganigan Lopez for the WBC 108-pound strap. Teraji made eight defenses before losing the belt via 10th-round TKO to Masamichi Yabuki. The 31-year-old avenged the loss by stopping Yabuki in the third round of their rematch to regain the title. Teraji then notched his most impressive victory last November by stopping Hiroto Kyoguchi in the seventh round to unify the WBC and WBA championships.
Gonzalez (27-3-1, 14 KOs) spent years fighting top opposition at flyweight, including a failed challenge for Kosei Tanaka’s WBO world title in 2019. The slick southpaw is unbeaten in five fights since moving down to light flyweight in 2020. In October 2021, Gonzalez upset Elwin Soto for the WBO title, which he defended last year against Mark Anthony Barriga and Shokichi Iwata.
Nasukawa vs Yonaha
Nasukawa began his pro kickboxing career when he was only 15 and compiled an unbeaten record in more than 40 fights. Nasukawa also competed in mixed martial arts, but he has always maintained a strong interest in boxing. In 2018, the 24-year-old participated in a boxing exhibition against Floyd Mayweather Jr., but his April 8 fight will mark his first official professional outing. Yonaha (12-4-1, 8 KOs) is a nine-year veteran who is Japan’s fourth-ranked bantamweight. The 32-year-old is 5-1 in his last six fights.
In other scheduled action on the ESPN+ stream:
Takuma Inoue (17-1, 4 KOs) vs. Liborio Solis (35-6-1, 16 KOs), 12 rounds, vacant WBA Bantamweight World Title—The younger brother of pound-for-pound phenom Naoya Inoue has won four straight fights since challenging Nordine Oubaali for the WBC crown. Solis, a former junior bantamweight world champion, will be making his fifth attempt at a bantamweight world title.
Kiko Martinez (44-11-2, 31 KOs) vs. Reiya Abe (24-3-1, 10 KOs), 12 rounds, IBF Featherweight World Title Eliminator—Spanish warrior Martinez is a two-weight world champion who hopes to regain the IBF featherweight crown currently held by Top Rank’s Luis Alberto Lopez. He is coming off a stunning fourth-round stoppage over European champion Jordan Gill. Abe has won five straight fights and has never been knocked out in the paid ranks.
Jin Sasaki (14-1-1, 13 KOs) vs. Keita Obara (26-4-1, 23 KOs), 12 rounds, Sasaki’s WBO Asia Pacific Welterweight Title.
