Sometime after Tenshin Nasukawa battles Takuma Inoue for the vacant WBC bantamweight belt, Junto Nakatani’s other title will be on the line between Jose Salas Reyes and Landile Ngxeke, as Jake Donovan reports that the IBF has ordered the two to begin negotiations.
Fernando Barbosa first broke the news late last month, claiming the two will lock horns this December in Mexico, Japan, or the U.S.
23-year-old Salas (16-0, 10 KO) was slated to challenge Ryosuke Nishida for the aforementioned belt in May,
but the bout fell by the wayside when Nishida opted to face Nakatani in an ultimately unsuccessful unification attempt. His record is rather soft, the sole highlight a 2023 knockout of Aston Palicte that marked the second of the Filipino vet’s five consecutive stoppage losses.
South Africa’s Ngxeke (16-1-1, 8 KO) has never fought outside his home country and is likewise light on big-name foes, but did pick up a couple trinkets in June with a one-sided decision over Eric Gamboa.
We’ll see if either of them has what it takes to stop Japan from re-establishing its hegemony over the division.
