In Japan, a double-headed two-day event saw Japanese contender Kenshiro Teraji and WBA bantamweight champion Takuma Inoue battle against their respective opponents. The two-day event was held at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, and will continue today [Monday, October 14th] in the same venuey with Japanese WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani set to headline against Thai challenger Tasana Salapat.
Kenshiro Teraji Vs. Cristofer Rosales
Japanese flyweight (118 lbs) contender Kenshiro Teraji (24-1, 15 KO’s) and Nicaraguan contender Cristofer Rosales (37-7, 22 KO’s) battled yesterday over the vacant WBC flyweight (112 lbs) title. Both fighters are former world champions, though in the case of Teraji this involved him willingly vacating his WBC junior flyweight (108 lbs) title to pursue a belt at flyweight. As a result, both Teraji and Rosales were matched with each other to vie for the vacant WBC 112 lbs title given their respective standings [#1 and #2] on the WBC’s flyweight rankings.
During the match, it would be Kenshiro Teraji who would arguably dominate his opponent from start to finish,. Teraji pressured early to test Rosales and found early success, heavily damaging the Nicaraguan fighter in the 3rd round which spurred the Japanese fighter to maintain his pressure for the subsequent rounds.
While Rosales had spurts of offense that forced Teraji back several times, his own defensive shortcomings appeared inadequate for Teraji who threw a larger range of devastating punches. By the 11th round, Rosales sported an injured nose that forced the match to be stopped eventually, culminating in Teraji winning the match by technical knockout (TKO) in the 11th. As a result, the Japanese fighter won the vacant WBC flyweight title that had been up for contention, thereby allowing Kenshiro Teraji to become a two-time division world champion.
Takuma Inoue Vs. Seiya Tsutsumi
Takuma Inoue (20-2, 5 KO’s) sought to defend his WBA bantamweight (118 lbs) title for the second time of his career against his challenger, Seiya Tsutsumi (12-0-2, 8 KO’s), and it proved to be one of the toughest fights of his career as he ended up losing for the second time of his career.
The fight was close, with Tsutsumi pressurring Inoue early to grab an advantage, forcing Inoue to heavily rely on his technical skills as he was faced with multiple onslaughts over the course of the 12-scheduled rounds. Inoue did quite well in that regard, switching fluidly between defense and offense, but this gradually became less of an emphasis as the two Japanese fighters gradually engaged in heated exchanges up close.
It was in these pseudo brawls that Tsutsumi fully shined as his pace and work ethic paid off in this department as Inoue met with him up close. Notably, Inoue lost the majority of these exchanges, which would come to bite him following the last and 12th round when Seiya Tsutsumi was declared the winner by unanimous decision (UD) with scorecards of 117-110, 115-112, and 114-113.
The judge’s scorecard of 117-110 in favor of Tsutsumi is perhaps one of the most egregious scores for a boxing bout this year. While Tsutsumi trumped Inoue when it came to activity, it was a genuinely close match that should have been reflected as such.
Nevertheless, Tsutsumi deservedly won his contest against Inoue, earning him Inoue’s WBA bantamweight title and allowing the new champion to notch an important milestone of his career by attaining a world title for the first time.
Undercard Results:
At flyweight, Japanese WBA champion Seigo Yuri Akui (21-2-1, 11 KO’s) defended his title for the second time of his career against Thai challenger Thananchai Charunphak (25-2, 15 KO’s).
The two battled the full 12 rounds, fighting to a split-decision that Akui narrowly won, thus allowing him to retain his WBA title. Two of the judges’ scorecards were 115-113, 117-111 in favor of Akui, while another judge scored the fight in favor of Charunpak through their score of 114-113.
At junior flyweight (108 lbs), a new world champion was crowned as Japanese contender Shokichi Iwata (14-1, 11 KO’s) defeated Spanish contender Jairo Noriega (14-1, 3 KO’s) by TKO, stopping him in just the 3rd round of their 12-round bout to win the vacant WBO 108 lbs title.
