Three bantamweight firefights, together with a pair of world title showdowns, are set for Monday, Feb. 24, at Ariake Area in Tokyo.
In the primary occasion, pound-for-pound star Junto Nakatani will defend his WBC crown towards unbeaten Mexican puncher David Cuellar. Newly topped WBA champion Seiya Tsutsumi makes his first protection towards former flyweight king Daigo Higa within the all-Japanese co-feature.
And, in a 10-round particular function, kickboxing legend Tenshin Nasukawa continues his burgeoning boxing journey towards Australian former world champion Jason “Mayhem” Moloney.
Nakatani-Cuellar, Tsutsumi-Higa, and Tenshin-Moloney will stream reside and completely within the U.S. on ESPN+ as a part of a particular early-morning presentation.
Nakatani (29-0, 22 KOs) enters 2025 coming off a prolific yr that noticed him ascend the bantamweight mountaintop. He dethroned Alexandro Santiago by sixth-round stoppage to win the WBC title in February, made his first protection in July with a first-round stoppage over Vincent Astrolabio, and notched a sixth-round TKO over Thailand’s Tasana Salapat in October. From Querétaro, Mexico, Cuellar (28-0, 18 KOs) turned professional in 2017 and can make his first skilled look outdoors his house nation. He’s 5-0 since transferring as much as bantamweight in 2023, together with a stoppage win over former world champion Luis Concepción.
Tsutsumi (12-0-2, 8 KOs) and Higa fought to a 10-round majority attract October 2020 at Korakuen Corridor in Tokyo. A longtime Japanese bantamweight champion, Tsutsumi bested Takuma Inoue by unanimous resolution in October to seize the WBA title. Higa (21-3-1, 19 KOs) reigned as WBC flyweight world champion from 2017-2018. He’s 5-2 for the reason that defeat to Tsutsumi, most just lately dropping a aggressive resolution to WBO bantamweight world champion Yoshiki Takei in September.
Tenshin (5-0, 2 KOs) turned professional in April 2023 and is ranked within the prime 10 by three sanctioning organizations. He went 3-0 in 2024, capping off his marketing campaign with a 10-round resolution over Gerwin Asilo for the WBO Asia Pacific belt. Moloney (27-3, 19 KOs) turned a crowd favourite in Japan when he fought Takei in Could on the Toyko Dome. Regardless of shedding a unanimous resolution and his WBO bantamweight title to Takei, he had Takei badly harm within the closing seconds of the twelfth spherical. He returns towards one among Japan’s mainstream sporting heroes in hopes of incomes one other title alternative.
