Anson Wainwright, confirming an earlier report from Brunch Boxing, brings word that Nonito Donaire will challenge Seiya Tsutsumi for the WBA bantamweight title in the main event of a December 17th Teiken
Promotions title tripleheader in Tokyo.
A bit of backstory on this one: Tsutsumi (12-0-3, 8 KO), who took the belt from Takuma Inoue last year and defended it in a March draw with Daigo Higa, was subsequently named champion in recess due to injury. This elevated interim titlist Antonio Vargas to full champion, a title he defended with his own draw against Higa in July. Tsutsumi and Higa were meant to collide in a title consolidation, but Vargas withdrew due to the passing of his mother. Thus, 42-year-old interim champ Donaire (43-8, 28 KO) gets the call.
I’ll be honest, I am not entirely clear on who’s the actual champion here. Brunch Boxing claimed it would be Donaire, while Wainwright isn’t super clear one way or the other. Either way, Donaire gets the opportunity to become the oldest champion the division has ever seen.
In other championship action, WBA light flyweight champ Kyosuke Takami (10-0, 8 KO) takes on WBO titlist Rene Santiago (14-4, 9 KO) in a unification. Takami has the look of a next-generation standard-bearer at 23 years old, handily routing Toshiki Kawamitsu and Erick Rosa in his last two fights. Santiago, who fell short against “Bomba” Gonzalez in his first tile bid, is coming off a shock upset of Shokichi Iwata in hostile territory this past March.
The opener sees Anthony Olascuaga (10-1, 7 KO) return to the Land of the Rising Sun to defend his WBO flyweight title against OPBF champ Jukiya Iimura (9-1, 2 KO). Olascuaga is 2-0 this year, edging out Hiroto Kyoguchi in March before knocking out Juan Carlos Camacho-Rivera in September, while Iimura avenged his lone pro loss to Esneth Domingo in May to cap off a six-fight winning streak.
