Japan’s traditional year-end title bonanza appears to be underway, as U-Next announced a trio of championship bouts on November 29th at Tokyo’s venerable Ryogoku Kokugikan.
Leading the way is some variety of WBA bantamweight title rematch between “world” champion Riku Masuda (11-1, 9 KO) and former titlist Seiya Tsutsumi (13-0-3, 8 KO), who beat Masuda by unanimous decision when both were on the rise in 2023. The timeline here is, as best as I can tell:
- Tsutsumi takes the belt from Takuma Inoue and defends it with a draw against Daigo Higa.
- Tsutsumi, unable to face interim champion Antonio Vargas due to unspecified health issues, is named champion in recess.
- Vargas, now the full champion, draws with Higa in his first defense before himself suffering some form of malady and becoming champion in recess.
- Tsutsumi gets his title back and snags a split decision over Nonito Donaire.
- Injuries suffered against Donaire send Tsutsumi back to the bench. He and Vargas once again trade statuses.
- Masuda knocks out Donaire in a final eliminator while Vargas lines up a voluntary defense against “Bam” Rodriguez.
- Rodriguez runs over Vargas and claims the full belt.
- Masuda follows the trend and beats Higa by split decision. For some reason, the WBA’s secondary “world” title is revived for the first time since Guillermo Rigondeaux ditched it in 2011 and granted to the winner.
And now, here we are. Tsutsumi, who by all rights
should be owed a shot at Rodriguez, fights for a crappier version of the belt he never lost in the ring.
On the bright side, odds are we’re in for a treat. Two aggressive finishers with history between them should make for fireworks.
Three pounds south, multi-weight champion Kenshiro Teraji (26-2, 16 KO) makes his first super flyweight title defense against no. 10 contender Jassiel Ramon Amador Gamez (15-0-1, 13 KO). The 25-year-old Amador fights for the first time outside his native Mexico and for just the second time outside his home state of Baja California Sur; his strength of schedule is about what you’d expect, but unheralded Mexican knockout artists cause stirs on the regular and Teraji’s lost a step, so who knows.
Also at 115, WBA champ David Jimenez (18-1, 12 KO) faces former flyweight titlist Seigo Yuri Akui (23-3-1, 13 KO), whom you may remember from his Fight of the Year candidate against Teraji last year. There’s some f***ery at play here; the sanctioning body ordered Jimenez to rematch mandatory challenger John “Scrappy” Ramirez, only to turn around and grant Jimenez a “special permit” for this voluntary defense, claiming it “has the authority to modify mandatory defense deadlines and grant special permits under justified circumstances.”
At no point in the press release does it say what those “justified circumstances” are. It claims that the winner must fight Ramirez within 120 days, but note their purported authority to “modify mandatory defense deadlines.”
