The match between Japanese WBA bantamweight champion Takuma Inoue and Filipino challenger Jerwin Ancajas has been postponed after Inoue suffered an injury [rumored to be a fractured rib] during training. Their fight was set for November 15th at the Kokukigan Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
The entire event has been postponed as a result of Takuma Inoue’s (18-1, 4 KO’s) injury, meaning that all the rest of the matches set to occur on November 15th will also be rescheduled.
Takuma Inoue, younger brother of pound-for-pound superstar Naoya Inoue (25-0, 22 KO’s), was set to engage with Filipino contender Jerwin Ancajas (34-3-2, 23 KO’s) in what would be his first-ever world title defense. Inoue conquered the WBA bantamweight belt after defeating Liborio Solis (37-7-1, 18 KO’s) by unanimous decision (UD) in April this year. The WBA title had been left vacant in the wake of Naoya Inoue’s decision to move up to 122 lbs, and was subsequently made available for his younger brother Takuma Inoue to win when he faced Liborio Solis.
The postponement of the fight card also pertains to the co-feature between Ukrainian WBA flyweight champion Artem Dalakian (22-0, 15 KO’s) and Japanese flyweight contender Seigo Yuri Akui (18-2-1, 11 KO’s). Like the Inoue-Ancajas match-up, the two are likely to resume their fight on the rescheduled date of the original fight card.
As the main feature and co-feature fights revolved around world title fights, the fights will be rescheduled at later dates regardless of whether the two matches appear on the same fight card or not.
It is yet unknown why the Dalakian-Akui fight could not feature on November 15th instead as it is a world title fight and could potentially stand alone as its own event without compromising the rest of the undercard fighters that had originally been scheduled to fight on November 15.
Takuma Inoue confirmed the news himself on his Twitter account where he expressed his disappointment at the event being postponed due to the injury he suffered.
“Due to my injury during practice, the performance on November 15th has been postponed,” Inoue said.
“We apologize to all the boxing fans who have been looking forward to it, the Ancajas camp, the fighters who were scheduled to compete at the same event, and everyone involved. Right now, I would like to try to recover from my injury first.“
