WORLD BEAT
the tremors settled, many were already preparing to head to the venue. At the last moment, with safety in mind, the show was canceled. Not every fighter struggles in this system. Some rise above it. Take Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (58-6-1, 47 KOs), the former Ring/WBC junior
unified his WBC 112-pound belt with the WBA version held by the game Seigo Yuri Akui. Teraji, a former unified Ring Magazine 108-pound champ, had to rally hard to score a dramatic stoppage in the final round of the unification bout at Ryogoku Kokugikan, the national sumo arena
fair battle between the two boxer- punchers – former training partners who had sparred around 20 rounds before Akui won the WBA title against Artem Dalakian in January 2024. Referee Katsuhiko Nakamura seized the perfect moment to save a hurt and reeling Akui from irrevocable damage
pressure, solid jabs and a straight right that connected with regularity. Many ringsiders were surprised to witness the WBA titleholder fare so well in the biggest fight of his career after admitting that he had been beaten up and disheartened by Teraji during their past sparring sessions. But he started strong and took the momentum away from the more experienced and highly regarded WBC titlist. When Teraji’s head trainer, Kenta Kato – the man Teraji calls “my commander” – saw that his boxer was not able to fight his fight in the first half of the bout, the coach let him make a move they explained during the post-fight presser: “We figured that simple exchanges would not overpower him, so we tried not to square up with Yuri’s timing and confused him with more complex combinations.” Akui was still in top gear going into the late rounds, but he had already absorbed a lot of punches, especially Teraji’s right hook, which had caused severe swelling around his left eye by the 11th round. On the other hand, Teraji’s face suggested that he had fuel in reserve for the final frame. “I just want to say Yuri was strong,” Teraji said during the post- fight press conference. “I was a little upset by his resolution to come forward at first. I was not sure about who was winning on points [by the late rounds]. So I am proud of myself for giving it all that I had in the final round to finish it when the time came. This win taught me that sparring and fighting are totally different. Boxing is never easy.” Akui had to go straight to a hospital after the fight, holding his thoughts until a presser the following day. “Kenshiro had been the best fighter I ever faced [in the gym], and he still is after everything,” said Akui, a father whose third child is due in June. “I prepared 100% for him, and I gave it 100% in the ring to overcome him, but I was not good enough to maintain it until the end. I have no
objection to the referee’s decision, as actually I was getting hit even though I was still determined to hit harder. I am glad that my family saw me walk out the ring on my own feet. I must thank the ref for that.”
encourages his younger brother, Masanori Rikiishi, who’s scheduled to fight Eduardo Nunez for the vacant IBF 130-pound title in Yokohama on May 28. It’s the brothers’ dream to be world titleholders simultaneously.
H H H
H H H
bantamweight champion. Once homeless and fighting just to survive, he lost his first two pro bouts in Japan before being signed by Nakornluang Promotions. He developed under Thailand’s matchmaking system and went on to beat Roman Gonzalez twice, shocking the world and becoming one of Thailand’s greatest boxing exports. Then there’s Knockout CPF (25-1, 9 KOs), who followed a completely different path. He skipped the traditional buildup entirely, debuting straight into a 10-round WBC youth title fight. He transitioned to 12-rounders soon after that, won the WBA strawweight title and defended it 12 times. His unbeaten run ended in a unification loss to current Ring champion Oscar Collazo (12-0, 9 KOs). Two very different paths. Same destination. Unpredictable matchmaking,
Just two weeks later, Japan gained a new flyweight world titleholder when Masamichi Yabuki, the reigning IBF 108-pound beltholder at the time, scored another final-round stoppage to lift the IBF 112-pound belt from Angel Ayala at Sky Expo in Tokoname on March 29. Yabuki had a great start, knocking Ayala down with a left hook at the end of the first round. The lanky puncher dropped the Mexican again with a right hand in the second frame. A head clash in the third round caused severe bleeding from cuts on both fighters – one on Yabuki’s right cheek and one between Ayala’s eyebrows – and made the fight a little complicated (if not a bit wild), but the two-time junior flyweight titleholder kept it one-sided with the cleaner shots. The referee halted the contest not long after Ayala got up from another bad knockdown (courtesy of Yabuki’s big right hand) in the 12th round. “It was a tough fight, as I expected,” said Yabuki, who proudly displayed IBF belts on both shoulders during the post-fight interview. “I had to be very careful when I got inside, because the champion had hard punches.” Yabuki had to get through a lot of setbacks – including losses to Nakatani (2016) and Akui (2018) in the early stages of his career – before coming into his own with upset victories over Teraji (for the WBC 108-pound title in 2022) and Sivenathi Nontshinga (for the IBF junior flyweight belt in 2024). Between the first Teraji victory and the Nontshinga win, he had to bounce back from a rematch loss (via stoppage) to Teraji and an Achilles tendon rupture (in 2023). He now
On the last day of March, the Japan Boxing Commission’s 2024 Awards Ceremony was held in Tokyo, where Teraji and Akui had a chance to reunite and talk. “I thanked him for the great fight,” Teraji told the press after the ceremony. “Now we are closer friends, or comrades. And we’ll have sparring again when we have a chance.” Teraji also expressed pride in being the third Japanese boxer to be ranked in The Ring’s pound-for-pound top 10 (at No. 10), behind Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani. “I am very happy and honored,” said Teraji, who brought up future opponents that could possibly advance him in the pound-for-pound rankings. “That gave me a new motivation to do my best to go higher in the list.” He dismissed the goal of becoming the undisputed flyweight champion on the grounds that he’s already fought the other 112-pound titleholders – Yabuki and WBO beltholder Anthony Olascuaga, whom he stopped in nine rounds in a defense of the unified Ring 108-pound championship in 2023. “The fights I want are in the 115-pound division,” said Teraji, who publicly called for a challenge to Ring/WBC junior bantamweight champ Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, who resides four spots ahead of Teraji (at No. 6) in The Ring’s pound-for- pound rankings. It’s a totally healthy and ideal ambition for the new pound-for- pound player to call for the biggest money fight with a fellow elite fighter. And that’s always what boxing fans are starving for.
Teraji with the Ring championship belt he earned at 108 pounds.
in Tokyo. The victory not only vaulted Teraji to the No. 1 spot in The Ring’s flyweight rankings, but it was also enough for him to crack the magazine’s pound-for-pound top 10. It was impressive enough that Teraji unified titles in a second weight class, but his effort in doing so was also admirable. Teraji and Akui combined to produce an early Fight of the Year candidate, and the win was up for grabs going into the penultimate round, with each fighter leading on one scorecard and tied on the third. It was an unbelievably ruthless but
canceled shows, rising stars and aging warriors chasing one last payday – this is boxing in Thailand. Messy, beautiful and resilient to the core.
before Teraji could land a clean follow-up right to the head. After the exhaustive fight, as an emotionally devastated Akui openly wept, Teraji spoke honestly to the interviewer: “It was such a tough fight. I might have given in without the team behind me.” It was Akui who forced the busy action from the beginning with great
JAPAN BY YURIKO MIYATA Japan’s little giants continue
building the national boxing scene. In March, the flyweights took center stage. On March 13, Kenshiro Teraji
92 RINGMAGAZINE.COM
RINGMAGAZINE.COM 93
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs