Kenshiro Teraji vs Cristofer Rosales
By James Blears
Kenshiro ‘Amazing Boy’ Teraji is finally saying goodbye to the light flyweight division to fight Cristofer ‘Latigo’ Rosales for the vacant WBC World flyweight title on Sunday, October 13th at the Ariake Arena, Tokyo.
This Green and Gold Belt was vacated by Julio Cesar ’Rey’ Martinez, who is moving up to super-flyweight and so opportunity knocks for Ken and Cris.
Teraji is part of a golden trio Japanese Boxing in this era, namely Naoya Inoue 28-0, 25 KO, Junto Nakatani 28-0, 21 KO and himself 23-1, 14 KO.
In music, we had The Three Tenors. With this trio, we might well have The Three Spiders, as when they’re fighting, each appears to have eight arms. Between them they have amassed sixty KOs… and counting.
Unlike Naoya, who has stormed up four divisions, and Junto, who has already progressed through three; Teraji has remained in the 108 pound category until now.
Highly disciplined, he’s never missed the weight, but as time moves on and age racks up, he’s finding it increasingly difficult to make light-fly, so the extra four pound will prove vital.
Kenshiro Teraji debuted in 2014 and won the WBC light-fly title in only his eighth fight via MD against Ganigan Lopez in the Ariake Stadium.
Three fights later, they fought again and, by this time, Teraji had mastered the southpaw stance and won via KO in round two via a searing right to the body, with the Mexican unable to beat the count.
There were eight successful defences and then the only hiccup in Teraji’s career. He hadn’t fully recovered from a bout of COVID and, still weakened by it, he struggled, leaden legged against compatriot Masamichi Yabuki, who fought the fight of his life to defeat the champion via an 11th round TKO. The fight had already been put back two weeks, before it finally went ahead and Teraji was visibly out of sorts from the outset.
In the immediate rematch, Kenshiro dispatched Yabuki in three. Since then, four successful defences in his second reign, including stopping WBA champion Hiroto Kyoguchi in nine to unify, after knocking him down in the fifth and the Referee intervening four later, as Hiroto was swaying and unsteady under intense one- way traffic bumper to bumper buffeting.
Kenshiro’s latest fight was against Carlos Canizales. He won a sizzler by MD, but had found it hard work to shed the last few pounds to make the weight. Prior to that a superb performance to TKO former two division world champion Hekkie ‘’Hexecutioner’’ Buddler in nine torrid rounds.
Now aged 32, Teraji still appears youthful, but it`s past time to move up a category. Five feet five inches tall with a sixty- four inches reach, he uses distance well, moving in, impacting with fast hands sometimes held relatively low and then retreats to avoid incoming. His speed and ring generalship are excellent. Outside the ring he`s a grinner, sociable and affable. Inside it he grinds and often as not he`s a winner.
With Cristofer Rosales he has a worthy, worldly opponent, who himself has been a world champion. Cris from Nicaragua, who`s knocked around a bit, as a road warrior, is five feet six and a half inches inches tall and outreaches Kenshiro by seven and a half inches. Two years younger he`s built a decent 37-6, 22KO`s record.
His pro debut was in 2013 and he developed to 26-3 record including winning the WBC Latino and International titles. His losses were Keyvin Lara, Kai Yafai and Andrew Selby, prior to his bout with Daigo Higa for the vacant WBC flyweight title.
Daigo missed the weight and Cristofer went on to stop him in the ninth. In his first defence he pounded twice Olympic bronze medallist Paddy Barnes. Paddy was down for a sinking body attack in the fourth and couldn`t beat the count. But then in defence number two, he lost the title by UD to smooth boxing Charlie Edwards. The fight was at the O2 Arena, Greenwich and Charlie`s jab was as spot on as its famed time signal.
Two fights later, he fearlessly took on the fearsome ‘’Everything but fear’’ JC Martinez. In a championship slugfest he was overwhelmed in nine grim rounds. It`s the only time he`s been stopped, with Referee Raul Caiz Jr mercifully moving in to save him. Abashed, but not undeterred he won his next three, lost a UD to Angel Ayala and has won his last five.
Kenshiro is going to have to resolve the puzzle of Cristofer`s considerable reach advantage. The man from Managua hits hard enough to deserve respect and attention. Kenshiro might well try to go for that long, lean, elongated torso to tenderize Cris, slow and then stagger his pace.
Kenshiro is stepping into unknown territory and it`ll be interesting to discover, if he brings his punching power up a division. Cristofer has fought most of his career at flyweight so this is nothing new for him. But he`s never faced an opponent as all round accomplished as ‘’The Amazing Boy.’’
Like so many Japanese champions, it isn’t easy to entice Teraji away from his homeland. Originally from Kyoto, he’s very much at home in Tokyo, where this fight will be. Cristofer doesn’t suffer from home-sickness. Quite a few of his fights have been in Managua, but, he`s already fought in Japan, USA, Venice, England, Ireland, Wales and Mexico. He knows his way around.
Unlikely that Teraji will venture higher in weight, so he needs as must, make a point and establish himself with this opportunity for the vacant flyweight title. As for Cristofer, it’s an important stage, set for another chance at the big time, albeit it against a formidable rival.
Kenshiro has said: ‘’With every punch, I write my legacy. Fresh challenges fuel my fire.’’ Although more taciturn, Cristopher is focusing on his own agenda and a win of this magnitude would be a global attention grabber.
Both hit hard and are efficient, ruthless plus proficient finishers. Each will be looking to making a punctuated, defining statement, which would suggest an inside the distance win.
Tale of the Tape
Kenshiro ‘Amazing Boy’ Teraji
Ranked WBC #1 at flyweight
Two-time WBC light-flyweight world champion, 12 Defences
Age: 32
DOB: January 6, 1992
Residence: Uji, Kyoto, Japan
Birthplace: Joyo, Kyoto, Japan
Record: 23-1, 14 KOs
Total rounds: 174
World championship fights: 14-1, 9 KOs
Height: 5’4.5” – 164cm
Reach: 64” – 163cm
Stance: Right-handed
Manager: Takeo Imamura
Trainer: Hisashi Teraji
Cristofer ‘Latigo’ Rosales
Ranked WBC #2 at flyweight
Former WBC flyweight world champion
Age: 30
DOB: October 6, 1994
Residence, birthplace: Managua, Nicaragua
Record: 37-6, 22 KOs
Total rounds: 274
World championship fights: 2-2, 2 KOs
Height: 5’6” – 168cm
Reach: 71” – 180cm
Stance: Right-handed
Manager, trainer: Eddy Reynoso
WBC Top 10 Flyweight World Champions
1. Miguel Canto (Mexico)
2. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam (Thailand)
3. Chartchai Chionoi (Thailand)
4. Efren Torres (Mexico)
5. Yuri Arbachakov (Russia)
6. Roman Gonzalez (Nicaragua)
7. Sot Chitalada (Thailand)
8. Akira Yaegashi (Japan)
9. Betulio Gonzalez (Venezuela)
10. Shoji Oguma (Japan)